Hey there Grumples.
Here we are, Phase 2 of the Event …. and here you all are panicking you just can’t make it or get enough of items to complete the requirements. Well, as usual, here is some Math to help you out and see how YOU can make it by just playing the TSTO Christmas Event.
All the information is very similar as in past events. The more time you spend in your game, the more characters you have to complete Bell Earning Actions, and the more Neighbors you visit daily, along with you just playing daily… you get will all contribute to YOUR individual results.
Now for the Breakdown
BELLS FROM ELVES IN YOUR TOWN
You will start collecting Elves and Bells pretty quickly, however the Elves won’t help payout Bells much until you get to Part 4 in the Project After-Party questline, place the Cannon, and are able to shoot Elves out of the Cannon. No worries though, until that point you can still collect Elves in the bottles and those counts will still show up once you get to Part 4 and complete the main Phase 2 info.
The Spawn Rate breaks down as the following:
3 Elves about Every 15 mins changed to 30 mins
40 MAX allowed in your town at a time
20 Bank if you go beyond the MAX. You will have to clear the MAX before they will start to show.
This works out to roughly 12 6 Elves an hour…but again, this all depends on where in the spawn YOU hit within that hour. For instance, if you visit just after a spawn and return just before a spawn…you will see a difference of Elves. You won’t know where they spawn, you have to look for them. Just watch your town and see if there is a pattern where they show up. (If you are quick enough, you will actually see the Bottles launched from above down into your game, and smash down releasing the Elves, who scatter once they’re released.)
BELLS FROM ELVES FROM THE ELF TUNNELS
Every 8 hours (as long as you are NOT maxed out on Elves), you will be able to tap on your Elf Tunnel and release and addition 4 Elves to bottle in your town. (Now I did see in my town something cool, but I do not know if it will stick or a glitch. The Tunnel continued to collect even though I wasn’t in my town. In other words I hit the 8 hrs twice and went into my town see TWO Elf head icons on my Tunnel. When I tapped on them, 8 Elves 
were released. Again, this may be a glitch so do not count on it.)
You will NOT see the Elves released from the Tunnels either. They auto appear randomly around your town, just like the others. You have to find them.
No matter how you get the Elves or how many you have bottled, they won’t help until you actually fire them out of the Cannon. To start off, you will have a total of 3 shots for 9 Elves @ 2 Bells each every 3 hrs 45 mins.
So, let’s break this down…
1 shot of 9 Elves @ 2 Bells each =18 Bells
18 Bells x 3 Shots = 54 Bells
So you could roughly earn 54 Bells under 4 hours daily. That is only the start. This is roughly 324 Bells Daily just starting out. Not bad at all.
This will change as you Upgrade your Cannon, but that info will be gone into more in depth in another post. The short of it is this, get as many Bells as you can to get the Cannon Control Building. Once you do, you will get Cogwheels from Elves too. Cogwheels upgrade the Cannon, upgrades equal faster Cannon fire times, upgrades equal MORE Bells for Elves fired, upgrades equal more Elves being able to be fired.
Upgrades are a good thing and will help determine just how fast you get through this Phase. It won’t happen overnight, so just focus on one Level at a time.
BELLS FROM PLAYING DAILY
In addition, if you play 5 days in a row…each day will add MORE Bells and on the 5th day Cogs to use to upgrade your Cannon and the ability to get even MORE Bells. 
Day 1: 5 Extra Bells
Day 2: 10 Extra Bells
Day 3: 50 Extra Bells
Day 4: 100 Extra Bells
Day 5: 50 Cogwheels
Do not worry if you do not have the Cannon Control Building yet, the Cogwheels will still sit in limbo until you place it, then the ones you win will be added right away.
BELLS FROM CLEARING HANDSHAKES
If you have Neighbors visiting and tapping on your Elf Tunnel and Cannon, you will get some Bells for clearing those handshakes. I am seeing 5 Bells paid out on mine.
Now you have a basic idea of how to get Bells from just playing daily. Now for more extras that will add to your Bell Totals.
BELLS FROM NEIGHBORS
As with previous events, you can visit your neighbors to get help with the Event Currency. This Phase it is the Bells. Now, just like any other time, you will be limited on actions as you visit Neighbors. The following is the Breakdown of your Neighbor Visit Actions.
30 actions, 5 Bells per action (Double for Elf Cannon & Elf Tunnel)
30 actions, 3 Bells per action (Double for Elf Cannon & Elf Tunnel)
30 actions, 2 Bells per action (Double for Elf Cannon & Elf Tunnel)
30 actions, 1 Bells per action (Double for Elf Cannon & Elf Tunnel)
So that is a total of 120 Actions every 24 hours. YOUR Bell payout will depend on what you tap on at what point in the collections.
Going off the basics and NO extras, you can get at least 330 Bells Daily.
This is just from visiting neighbors, but do not stop there. If you have your FP at the MAX, you can also get that additional random FREE Donut from visiting neighbors. The amounts vary daily on what you get. The more you visit, the better the odds.
BELLS FROM COMPLETING QUESTLINES
Playing through the questlines will help you earn Bells too. Starting from Project After-Party Part 3, you can earn them from completion. 200 Bells each time. So clearing them out will help too.
So there you have it. MANY ways to hit the end target as well as earn the Personal Prizes for Phase 2. YOU just need to put in the time and effort. It may seem like you can’t keep up as first, but as you continue to unlock more and more and get further along, it will get easier and easier.
Where are YOU on the Bellss count? What items have YOU won so far from the Personal Prizes? Did this help you out to not worry so much? Let us know.
~Bunny
Somewhat dissapointed that for nearly a week with cannon upgrades there are not enough Elves to fire and get maximum bells in return, with 21000 bells in the bank it’s a kick in the teeth.
Does the island do anything other than be an eyesore stuck near the beach?
If not, I’m going to lump it with the useless hovercopter and not worth bothering with.
Nope that’s all it does…
Not even a bonus %??? Wow… Sucky
I’m making it; staying ahead of the calendar, but it seems to be by the skin of my teeth. Every day it does seem harder and harder to get enough elves to fill the cannon every 150 minutes.
1600 Elves blown into polar space.
15700 bells collected (none purchased)
I really want that island.
i contacted ea, as if you are not above 19000 at this stage it looks like donuts will be used
That can’t be. Send them the calendar 🙂
with only 7 days to go and everything drying up level14 cannon is as high as likely unless you buy over 6000 donuts and bells are getting scarce with all missions completed and elves hard to come by with only 6 per hour
I see everyone has been complaining about the elf cannon and the respawn rate. it wasn’t until now that I’ve reached zero elves and have to search for all of them before I can use the cannon; however, either my cannon on level 12 and having fired 1737 elves total, I’m having them respawn at 3 per 15 min. I’m not sure if they were ever coming in at a lower rate as it hadn’t been an issue for me until now. Am I the only one to be lucky enough to have this respawn rate? Is everyone else just getting 3/half hr?
I wonder if it is because you hit zero elves?
I have been saving up elves until I get cannon upgrades, but if hitting zero elves changes the respawn rate, then maybe I need to re-think my strategy…
To Anderson BMX….great suggestion to only tap cannon/cave for double bells and to go,back later for another chance at each. But I have noticed that I am not getting double bell payout on the cave the second time around. Has anyone else noticed this?
So, has anyone else noticed: the prizes are supposed to be done on the 13th, but if you click on the question mark down at the bottom left corner – where the counts are – it ends on the 18th – if my math and memory are correct. . . 5 day extension? Hmmmmm. . .
Yea that’s EA for you…someone didn’t double check the date. It’s supposed to end on the 13th
is it normal that after you go through a certain amount of neighbors that the game stop giving you bells and just the FP/XP and money?
Yes. There is a cap…and I believe it’s at 40 neighbors.
I guess I’m confused, by this math we max out at 660-760 bells a day, but need 1185? Where do we get the extra 400-500 bells? Do you have to purchase?
Not really. This is just the basics. As you progress, your chances increase with Bell production in the Cannon. As you visit friends…the payout depends on what YOU tap. Etc.
Since yesterday morning, when I click on my elf cannon… Nothing happens!!!! I waited, hoping it would fix its self, but no such luck. Anyone else having this problem?
Report it if your cannon is not functioning as it should.
Hey Bunny , I’m not receiving any bells for clearing hanshakes and at some point after receiving only 1 bell per house on my neighbour’s town, I don’t receive any more bells! I have 100 neighbors so now is not worthy to visit all of them, is it a glitch?
You are hitting your max actions. In fact, if you look at this very post you are commenting on, you will see your answer
Hi. Love the site it helps a TON. Question: I am not getting any bells today from handshakes in my town. Is this a glitch or is there a timer on these like there are for visiting neighbors? I’ve also not received any bells from Neighbors today (assuming I haven’t reached the magic 24 hour period and have no idea what time I will). Thanks for the help 🙂
Also, I just started adding neighbors and have lots of room if anyone wants to be my friend. Level 28. Daily player playing since mid October. I am Freemium only I dont pay for donuts.
*****
If you take a peek at this very post you are commenting on, you will see your answer to Neighbor Bell counts.
As for friend requests, only on the ADD ME pages please or they flood posts with necessary info on them. 🙂
Could you PLEASE explain how prior to cannon upgrade we were able to accumulate more than the 27 required within cooling down period but after upgrading we only get 24 and this takes 15mins longer,It now takes over 5hrs to get the 33 for a full load for the cannon but according to your blog we haven’t dropped on our hourly elf spawning rate and at this rate level 20 cannon is impossible
Because when you first jumped into the game…they seemed to drop that FULL Max right away. So you had plentiful Elves running around. BUT…as you keep going and clearing…you really start to notice the spawn rates. 3/30 mins. What I do is allow them to collect. You do not HAVE to fire them all the second you get them. Or HAVE to fire a full load. It is all in how you want to play.
Outside that, if you want MORE to spawn…suggest it to EA. 😉
Hi and Happy New Year (nearly!) Has anyone else had problems with the Elf Cave. Since Part 2 started, I haven’t been receiving my 4 elves when I tap on the cave. I’ve been clearing my elves and checking the counter but when I tap on the cave the counter isn’t changing. Should I contact EA or is there something going on? Thanks for your help.
??? You do realize that it is releasing them into your town to bottle? Not just adding them to your counts? 😉
How do I trade in my elf bells for prizes
It’s automatic. Once you hit the number it’ll automatically unlock for you. For example..
http://tstoaddicts.com/2014/12/30/elf-bell-prizes-breaking-down-the-north-pole/
Hello have over 40000 elf bells and continue to collect daily but I was wonderinghow to trade the bells in for prizes where do i do that ?? Please help!
It’s automatic. They should be in your inventory.
If you didn’t use a lot of donuts my understanding of this event is limited and I’m missing 27,000 bells 🙂
I’m @ 9920 bells arm but I have neighbors that are at more than 20000 how is that possible?!?
It is not impossible. Easy to pay to do it. I am sitting at…just under 40,000 myself?
I noticed something, it maybe useful for someone. Amount of Elfs per day is less than the amount of Elfs shotted wih the Cannon per day (assume that You use the Cannon 5 or more times per day).
So You can put off the Cannon for a while and upgrade the Cannon to Level 20. After that You earn more Elf Bells per Elf and maybe You can use the Cannon one more time per day (it’s possible with 2hrs Cool Down but up it’s up to You how You play).
You can do easy math, sum up the Elfs You get during the day and after night (I get 78 + 40 (max) + 20 (bank)) and multiply the amount of Elfs You can shooted with the Cannon now (sum up all from the three shots) with the amount of times You can use the Cannon per day (I get 33 x 5). So for me it’s arround 138 Elfs per day with possible 165 Elfs shotted per day, so I stopped and wait.
Of course use the Cannon when the task ask for It. And the tip is useful only for those who are waiting for the bonus after last prize. This optimize the amount of Elfs Bells in a long term.
I don’t see how everyone else is getting to the bottom of their elf stash. I constantly play and fire my cannon any chance I get. But the lowest I’ve gotten was 71. And that was before bottling all the new elves in my town. My cannon is on level 8. Averaging cogs about every 3-5 elves for me.
I like reading all the comments on here; helps me better plan my tapping.
Didn’t even think to, but placing my elf cave next to my cannon makes it easier for friends to tap them.
Thanks for the suggestion Batty327!
😉
Me again,How many neighbors are we allowed?I just read here that one person has 110 neighbors! I had 38 and deleted two and cannot add any more..game will not allow me to.
100 Origin. Facebook and the “other” Springfield do not count. You also need to take in account all those pending. Either ones you sent out or ones sent to you. Clear them out to add more.
How are we supposed to catch up with this event if our games were glitched and we couldn’t join phase 2 of the event on time???
Just keep tapping. If you feel that you are not going to make it, let EA know. Explain the glitch you experienced and the loss of Bells/items. Be kind. They usually are good about helping out on known issues to players.
I don’t always get double bells. It’s super frustrating. Why.
That all depends on WHEN you are tapping it. What level of neighbor actions you are at. Etc.
I’ve been maxed on FP for over a week now, but haven’t gotten donuts from friends actions in at least four days. All I get is triple cash and XP.
Donuts from actions in other player’s towns is random.You may not get any for a while, and then you may get 5 a day. 🙂
Blast! I’m confused. I read the post on the Add a Friend post and it says that hitting the cannon or the cave door is vandalism. So I haven’t been hitting the cannon or door. Is it good or bad?
It functions like vandalism but is VERY good to do in this event. It doesn’t damage like normal vandalism does.
It’s taken me no joke close to 4hrs to get into the game for longer than 5mins. It is resetting the time for my neighbor visits and I missed a cannon shooting option. Knowing now that I’m in, that it will take me at least 2hrs to get though all my 100 neighbors, has turned this from a fun game into a realllllllly tedious slog. 🙁
Thank u, thank u for this! EA changed the number of elves all of a sudden, which let me very confused. I though it was a glitch. I still see the Bart screen every day. It doesn’t last long, thank goodness!