Happy Good Friday everyone!
So with the superhero event concluded and EA bringing us some Easter goodness, I wondered if it was time to have another meeting of TSTO Anonymous. Are all our members bored now? Fretting over premium options that returned? Ready for the next event/level/tie-in? I figured there was no place like a digital TSTO Anon meeting to just come together and discuss whatever. Fair warning that this might just be another veiled attempt by yours truly to ramble. Only way to find out is to just grab a cup of coffee and get started.
Hi! I’m Wookiee and I’m a Tapped Out Addict. I play my game frequently and even blog about TSTO. The myriad faces you see from random people when you say you blog about a bunch of pixels is interesting. Some people are genuinely interested (and interesting) and others just look at you like you farted. “The Simpsons? Is that show still on? I’m more of a (insert other cartoon here) fan…” “How does that work? Surely there can’t be that many people interested in reading about a mobile game?”
I laugh whenever folks give me those strange looks. Of course a lot of us understand the love of this game and it’s hard to explain to non-Simpsons/TSTO fans what it is that precisely draws us to be almighty Skyfingers. Is it the bright colors? The witty dialogue? Just the fact that the game is based on the Best. Show. Ever.? Only YOU can really answer that question. Why people read all the ramblings of folks like me is a completely different topic. I honestly don’t know but I’m humbled people do. While I’ll never be rich or famous for typing my thoughts, it’s certainly neat that I can and people do read them. No matter the reason, I know that this blog and community keep this game fresh for me. To be connected by wi-fi and wordpress to folks from all over the world is truly amazing.
Of course, every once in a while saying you blog about the Simpsons mobile game is quite cool. Just yesterday, I met a guy at my work (Disneyland/Indiana Jones Ride) who actually interned for the Simpsons for one year, basically during most of Season 25. While we didn’t have long to chat, one of his various tasks was actually to figure out the dimensions of Homer’s clothes (i.e. inseam, etc.) if he was a real life person. I immediately knew this had to do with the Mythbusters episode. I certainly never feel like a celebrity for typing words into the ultraweb but I can tell you my new co-worker probably did feel special (or maybe weirded out lol) after I geeked out on his year with the animators and showrunners. Can you imagine seeing Homer strapped to a wrecking ball knowing the clothes he;s wearing were measured out by you? Awesome!
But what’s my point? Actually I’m not too sure. While nothing seems pressing, I just hope everyone is enjoying their games and tapping happily in the free world. What do y;all think of the return of all the Easter stuff? I’m glad it’s back and can be counted among the tappers who are gonna hoard all the freemium decorations for future designing. Besides theat new stuff, I’m not quite sure what else to ask or talk about. I guess I could just ramble on about one more thing and wrap this meeting up for your thoughts. Let’s address the only issue in my life lately… the Ho Ho incident.
So last week as often happens in my life… I found myself making a grocery list with the Wookieemama. We brainstormed all the normal food requests but what I really wanted was some Ho Hos. I’d seen an image of said Ho Hos and lately been anticipating them very much. I mean, who can’t appreciate their chocolaty goodness and delicious cream filling. The way they part when you bite in and the cream just titillates the palate. Of course, a picture only says so many words but then the best thing happened. Wookieemama said she was bringing home the Ho Hos.
I salivated over the future offering. Heck, others even told me the merits and drawbacks of said purchase. Could there really be good and bad about the Ho Hos I had yet to see with my own eyes. Oh the anticipation. Friday came and no Ho-Hos, Saturday and still my personal hostess was absent. I’m good, just a fuzzball without his sweet tasty cakes. Quivering with anticipation, I couldn’t wait to tell all my friends when my sweet desert cakes arrived.
Then Sunday… I swear I saw a message from my Mom that the Ho Hos had come home but upon looking in the kitchen… I found myself still Ho Ho-less and wondering what the heck was going on. My friends called and asked but just like Old Mother Hubbard, my cupboard was bare. How is this fair? All month I’d seen snippets of Ho Hos and looked forward to chomping them to tiny chocolate bits with my masticatory prowess but here I sat with only my normal quota of hot air filling my mouth. How could I be promised said deliciousness and get nothing? Sure I could go guarantee fulfillment in real life by buying real Ho Hos or enjoying other food I already had but I’m a walking carpet who wants what he wants.
Fine… no Sunday Ho Hos. I can deal. I’m sure they wouldn’t have been that good anyways and there’s plenty of other tasty snacks I can gnosh on. Cheetos, Doritos, sourdough pretzels… More than enough without the stupid Ho Hos. Then it’s Monday. Oh my goodness… the Ho Hos actually finally came! How much did they cost mother? Oh Mary, Joseph and Jebus… they cost that much? Jeesh… I love me some Ho Hos but I’m not sure they’re worth that. Weren’t other tasty snacks bought previously for less? Did they at least come with a bonus snack? A fancy box? Nope… just Ho Hos that you can enjoy while sunbathing on your back.
Oh well… sometimes Ho Hos come when they do no matter how much you wish them to go at a different time. We’re all really just snack eaters at the mercy of when the Hostess factory brings the goods. Some Ho Hos are cheap and others not so much. Of course I bought the Ho Hos and boy were they delicious but I completely know not everyone can afford them. Some people like expensive Ho Hos and others are more into Twinkies or cupcakes. Heck, others just stick with off brands. To each their own. I suppose the important thing is to just realize some snacks are better than others and ultimately it’s up to the eater if they’re okay with being a bit poorer or grinding the day away Ho Ho-less.
In the end, the Ho Ho incident wasn’t too big a deal. It could be worse and we could talk all about my friend’s beachhouse incident but I suppose that’s a story for another day. Before I ramble away too much, I guess I should wrap this meeting up. I’ve talked away a bunch so now it’s your turn. Got a favorite snack cake? What did you think of the Superhero Event? Happy Easter stuff showed up? Buy a hundred fences or more? What do you think is coming next? Got a funny story you’d like to share with a semi-captive audience? Any Season 25 questions you want me to ask my co-worker? Sound off below. As always, we end this meeting with the TSTO Anonymous Serenity Prayer:
“EA, grant me the serenity to accept the updates I cannot change, the courage to recommend the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Stay classy, much love and TTFN… Wookiee out!
PS
if you’re reading (or watching) the news regarding what happened at Universal Studios Hollywood Friday, then you will be aware a tragic soul committed suicide adjacent to the Despicable Me ride. I like to think of theme parks as a happy place, a safe place for all to let go of life’s troubles and a place to have a great time. I am sorry for one person this was not the case.
I’d like to thank both Universal Studios and the LAPD for handling this situation better than the local news media (suicide is not a solution, neither is promoting it for television ratings in the news). With LAPD immediately handling the situation, along with Universal Studios Hollywood continuing to keep the theme park open, most part guess were unaware of the tragedy and were able to enjoy their day.
My last thought is the safety of part guest entering a theme park (and I have no doubt that Universal Studios Hollywood will review what it does to paek guests before entering the theme park with regards to security measures). Regardless of what you celebrate holiday twice this month I wish my fellow Tappers a safe one always.
Hey did any of you addicts notice that the cat lady has a 24 hour throw bunnies task?!?!
Yup it’s back from last year
I have been having some health issues of late, and somehow my phone got turned on mute . My hubby tried several times to check on me..since I did not answer my phone, he called my daughter who lives not too far and ask if she had heard from me.. She said wait at moment.. she checked her TSTO and saw that I had not played for 11 hours.. and told hubby she would go right over, there had to be something wrong..I was fine,just sleeping.. but now I know how to get my kid to come see me more often.
We both love the game. I just turned her on to it about two weeks ago.
About the Easter pretties.. was so glad to see last years returned. I started after it was over and just love the trees.. and yes I am hoarding them as well as the fences.
Thanks for the papers you take time out to write for us to enjoy and share.
wookie,
how much you wanna Bet that EA Creates HoHos Occasionally to Urge us to Stay Excited?
If you get my drift 😉
I wouldn’t be surprised. I just prefer to know Ho Hos are in stock before I salivate over them.
Hi, everyone and single one of you!
I came to this meeting of TSTO Anonymous because I have a problem.
I’m a freemium player and I start to play TSTO at Xmas 2014, so as you may guess, I could have some but not all of the Xmas 2014 freemium stuff I could… Also, I was a lonely player for many days and only a week before the event ended I started to add friends, so that I could get 1 or 2 more prizes. It worked, I did!
I was amazed how poor I was no matter what I did. I followed your TSTO tips (great site, by the way!!!) but I couldn’t afford anything. When the Stonecutters 2015 mini-event arrived, so that you can understand, the $2500 tube sliders were completely out of reach for me. I considered them very expensive and they gave no money in return (besides conform-o-meter). Bought none, of course. Today, I look back and smile but it wasn’t that long ago, was it?
When Valentine’s Day 2015 arrived I was struggling to get the freemium characters I needed to do it (and I did).
I was very excited when I reached level 20 because I read somewhere in this site, levels 20+ is when you start to have some money. To be honest, I didn’t feel any different. The builldings the game asked me to buy also had bigger prices and many times I had first to get money during 2 or 3 days before I could buy it and go on with the game.
And of course, the Squidport was completely out of reach. The sea was pricey and besides that I needed to buy the boardwalk and the buildings…
I don’t remember when but I started to buy a white house every day. I figured out one white house would give me $400/day, so after 20 days I would have 20 white houses and $8000/day of income and that would give me a new house (land not included, of course). I don’t like the farming visual, so they are placed like with roads between them.
I also played a lot of levels at the same time (12 or 13 tasks at the same time going on), so after all that time, I started to move quickly with levels. Playing hourly also helped, of course.
At the middle of the super heroes event I finally had money to try to have a better tree and vanity scores, since I had an extra money to spend besides buildings and other things required.
All the times I felt tempted to buy some premium stuff with the rare donuts I won to give me some % xp and money, I always remembered this site saying characters are better and between all of them Duffman. I finally get him this week. The only premium I bought. It will take several months before I get the second on the list, Otto.
The super heroes event was great. No major problems. I got every freemium things. It was the first major event I could play since the beggining and with all the characters I needed. And I guess I was going to be bored after it was over…
Although you may think I have a lot of extra cash from what you read before, think twice; I still find nowadays $200000 kind of expensive, so I stopped advacing at level 40, to see if the Vulgari building price goes down when level 51 arrives.
But now I did buy all the freemium Easter things the store has. So much has changed, since the beggining. But, of course, I bought it, place it, and was bored again.
Now I have the money to build the Squidport, so I’m doing it right now, but I’m bored because it takes so much time to build…
I don’t buy white houses since the last update. The next one would cost me $192000, instead of the usually $7700. And the tax is the same as before… Remember when I said $200000 for Vulgari was too much for me? 🙂 I’m also bored because I don’t have a way of buying more houses that would keep me giving some extra cash in the long way.
So, there you have it. When I was starting to really have fun with this game (super heroes event was really a blast!), the new houses policy, the level 41 prices, and the squidport time to be built, took the fun away from me and I’m bored, altough I still play hourly.
Do you have some great tips for me? All the community support will be very welcome!
Thank you for reading!
And a special message to the newbies: “keep going, you will make it!”
Im not sure if this trick still works when you are finished making a tile for squidport dont collect it let neighbours tap it let hand shakes build always leave 1 handshake every handshake is a tile 🙂 had all tiles in matter of weeks on my game..
Unfortunately that glitch went away quite some time ago.
Hi, Eddie! Thank you for the tip! The glitch was way gone before I even start to play the game 🙂
My problem with the Squidport nowadays is that takes forever to build each tile. I have nothing else to do (I’m still waiting for level 51 to see if the Vulgari building drops more or not the price), that’s why I’m kind of bored. I’m still doing some Krustyland tasks (last building I bought was the hotel, but that is a place where the few tickets I have also make it slow).
🙂 didnt realise it was gone since i can’t build more tiles they should of kept that paticular glitch
Oh that’s just great now I want ho hos and maybe a Twinkie and some chocolate chip cookies
It looks like Crazy Cat Lady has a 24 hour “Throw Bunnies?” task. Don’t know if that’s related to any larger Easter stuff but I only noticed it this morning.
Yup temporarily back from last year
Hi. Wasn’t sure where to ask this but is anyone else missing out on there friendship points in their own town? I get 3 and then after that none. My town not when I’m visiting others.
Contact EA. Others are reporting same.
I have spent over two hours rearranging things in my Springfield. I’ve put Kane Manor on the shore with the other mansions and surrounded it with stonecutters fences and training walls ( the colors match nicely) and made an Easter Egg hunt area…and do you know what? Not a single member of my family is going to think its cool. If I share what I’ve done they will just shake their head and wonder at how I could spend all that time doing this. Only you guys understand…hi, my name is BusyButHappy and I’m a TSTO addict.
Have to admit a TSTO addict, and Family Guy. But TSTO by far the most fun. Who can resist Homer’s crazieness, Lisa’s cleaverness, Bart’s miscievousness, Maggie’s cuteness, and Madge who holds the family together with her togetherness, not forgetting what every story needs a baddie in Mr Burns with his baddieness, ( hey give me a break having trouble thinking up new words) every caraciture they intriduce are brilliant. Simpsons writers are adsolute geneious, and EA have captured it in a great game. This is deffinatly a Ho Ho game.
Can’t believe you waited so long …… I would have walked to the convenience store 5 mins ….. 😜
Dont know why you put ideas in this empty head……Mini rolls now on the flickr page !
On that subject, if anyone has a good Easter display or anything else to share with fellow tappers…..take a screenshot and put it on the flickr page 🍻
Methinks this posting should have been titled “TSTO Anonymous–The Epic Ho-Ho Allegory!”
As for addictions, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not so much addicted to TSTO as to tstoaddicts.com — yep, I can say that if it wasn’t for this site, I would probably have quit the game months and months ago, but if the game were to be shut down tomorrow, I’d probably be one of the last to leave this silly lil blog of yours!
*bzzzt* (That was for Bunny!) 😉
The picture of your ho -hos looks exactly like our Cadbury mini rolls we have here in U.K. they are available anywhere and are as “cheap as chips” (Popular saying here. ) sorry to rain on your parade lol. Sending you some in this e_mail (I wish) My fave snacks nik naks or a banoffee slice. mmm need snax (drool aarrgh) oo visitors gotta find pants hehe.
Googled your Cadbury mini rolls and agree they look like nearly the same thing, at least in appearance and size. (10pk is only 4 grams different in total net weight.) Appears they don’t have retail distribution in the US though, but I did find them available on Amazon for a bit over US$13 — ouch.
Which flavour nik-naks?
now you got me thinking about it…. I bet I could find a forgotten packet in the snack cupboard 🐽
I love trying snacks and candies from other countries…when a friend/co-worker Off mine is traveling too another county, I always ask him/her to bring me back something from a vending machine there!
Oh, and then there was the time that I met an Australian internet friend of mine in New York to show him the sites and he brought me some Tim Tams…OMG! There’s nothing worse than getting addicted to something that’s almost impossible to get I one’s own country without spending tons of money for shipping! The funny thing is, when I first started eating the first one, I kinda thought “meh,” but they really grow on you as you eat them!
Lately I have had an absolute addiction to chocolate milk! But not just any chocolate milk. Specifically Shamrock farms vitamin D chocolate milk packaged in the quart sized plastic container. I even stopped typing this just now to get a quick drink before bed. Too good.
2 things,
1. Can’t you just buy Ho-hos at the grocery store?
2. I seem to not be visiting my friends as much, since I just got the Canyonero, and there isn’t event going on right now that requires me to visit them. Is this a normal occurrence, or am I in the minority of Tappers?
1) the Ho Hos in question may have been a humorous metaphor.
2) a lot of folks tend to slow down when there are no FP prizes or an event. Just don’t forget the opportunity to win free sprinkles by visiting friends.
3. And don’t forget that your friends may need you to visit them so that they can get *their* Canyonero (and/or the money and XP they get from clearing your handshakes).
It’s also a good idea to visit friends since I think your obedience (righteousness?) rating drops if you don’t visit your friends after a while.
Once I got the Canyonero, I didn’t visit my friends for about 3 days and lost half a star. Not a big deal, but losing my coveted 5-star rating (even for a few moments) was heart-breaking.
As a fan of The Simpsons, I really enjoy this game app … but I have a love hate relationship with it and it’s all EA’s fault (when they do an awesome job on The Simpsons Tapped Out? they deserve the praise. when they mess up? they deserve the criticism) …
How many krusty dollars do I need on reserve? Already have all the land etc… Thank you for your help!
Do you mean tickets?
This is my favorite blog, it is the only one I read and I check it daily. I appreciate all the work the three of you do, you guys rock!
Ho Ho? No! Yodels all the way, baby! And the proper way to eat them is to peel off the chocolate (eating it, of course), then unrolling it. But just the first one…the second one in the lack should be eaten “normally” for contrast.
Just thought you should know…. 😉
As for my addiction, I just posted my latest “You know you’re an addict when…” story in another thread, so I won’t repeat it here. I will say, though, that I was pretty psyched today to find that the mall’s Wi-Fi was good enough to do a quick game check-in while I ate dinner in the food court tonight…I find that some public Wi-Fi blocks such bandwidth intensive apps (like the one my doctor’s office has).
Sandra, I love the “You know you’re an addict when…” posts, so I went looking for yours. Couldn’t find it. Which thread did you post it in and did it get past “moderation” yet?
Lol – you saw it and responded to it (“Use em up!”)!
It was in the weekly thread.
^^^ ok yes! My husband thinks I’m crazy. I prefer Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls but very similar to Ho Hos. I like to eat them by peeling the chocolate off and eating that, then eat the cake and cream. Anyway, I’m glad to know someone else has peeled off chocolate.
I do love this group and you guys totally enhance TSTO for me.
I didn’t know that Wookie works at Disneyland! That must be the most amazing job ever! What ride/attraction do you work at?
Indy
Hi Craig!
Great. Now I want Ho-Hos…
Great story but now I’m curious. I did seriously miss ho ho’s when hostess went out of business. And I was happy when someone bought the recipes. And it did feel like forever before they brought ho’ s back. But are they not available where you live?
There is more to the story than meets the eye. 😉
Like most of you I too am an addict 1 day my friend said to me hey you gotta see this cool game and ever since its tap tap tap I wake up and tap I tap on my lunch break I tap at dinner I tap in the bathroom. It so bad I went on vacation and gave my friend my login cuz I didn’t want to miss anything on the superhero event. Help please!!
There is no cure.
Hi. Had a laugh reading this as it reminded me of the south park episode “freemium” in which Jimmy is paid by a big corporation to get all his friends playing and addicted to the Terence and Philip game.
Wookiee, Wookiee, Wookiee,
Using the Serenity Prayer – Please – “EA, grant me the serenity to accept the updates I cannot change, the courage to recommend the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
There needs to be a revolution not complacency with this new building pricing scheme. This is an obvious tactic by EA to prevent house farming thus trying to get players to spend valuable donuts on game cash. Well BULLY on them.
Every tutorial written on TSTO says this is a major don’t. With the higher and higher building prices at later levels this truly would just cause people to quit due to frustration or go to other non-ethical means. Also this hurts newer players starting out when trying to draw visitors to their Springfield. Without economical buildings such as the brown houses set up for visiting friends to tap on, then what are they left with? Who would want to have them as friends if the had nothing for them to tap on.
People this needs to be a revolution. Let the voices ring out that this is UNACCEPTABLE not acceptable. Herman has been called to “arms” and is even now drawing up the Battle Plans to storm EA by force if needed. So Marge urges us to let our voices be heard so it does not have to come to that.
wkratcliff161
Hello. My name is Bob, ordinarily, and I’m a TSTO Addict. Unfortunately, I think I’ve hit a wall. I’ve been neglecting my TSTO friends and family. I haven’t made any friend visits in over a week. When I log on, it’s “only” about once or thrice a day. I set my 135 PCs to 24 tasks so I have to tap them fewer times a day (less those required for the Easter event, of COURSE).
I have reached a point in my Springfield, where I own all available land and sea, but I can’t place any of the new buildings I’ve got over the last few updates/events, because I’ve run out of proper “zones”… Ok, they’re in-game, but sort of crammed in one corner. I really want to nuke it all (for the first time!) and rebuild, but I’ve a month left on my corn, and I don’t want to abort it. Witch Marge is busy rushing it, constantly deducting 4hr intervals from the total, but it’s dragging by… And each time I press her into service, I can’t help but here her sub-vocal groans and mutters of disappointment in my city management skills.
I feel added pressure because I just bought hundreds (literally!) of neat new Easter, Supers, St. Pat’s Day goodies (fences, trees, apartment buildings, shamrock topiaries, etc) that I can’t wait to decorate with, but until I reboot, I’ll stuff them away into inventory…
Sigh.
I can’t help but know I’m doomed.
But each day, I wake up. Keep breathing. Keep tapping.
Addicts give me strength…
I’m just as bad as Craig. I don’t work (embarrassed to say I’m retired), and would get up during the night to tap for the events and never miss a day tapping my neighbors. Now that things have settled down I have started keeping track of my neighbors that never visit me. I think I’m going to be deleting those neighbors that don’t visit. Too bad I didnt do this before the events so that I could have had more goodies. It took over an hour to visit neighbors during the events, now it’s 35 mins. But I have gotten as many as 5 donuts in one day during those visits. So it has been worth it since I’m a freemium player (except when I am gifted an iTunes card). All is well. Happy Easter to all and thanks Bunny, Alissa and Wookie. Y’all are the best! 🌷🌷🌷💐💐🌷
A tap- a tap – a tap -tappaholic knows how addictive this game can be. At first you’re playing this game giving it little to no thought. A homer here, a Lisa, APu & Ned. No big whoop. Then, what’s this? Pppppppp-premium items!!!! There’s Jimbo, Kearney, SVT & omg…Sideshow Mel!!! You animals!!! Faaah!! It’s freemium. You ain’t getting my dough. For 010111101111’s. Then, “we do, we do” Stonecutters event. Holy FiretrUCK, one of my favorite episodes. The skins, the quests, the alien!!! Pow!!! Boom!!! Diddily!!! Arnie Pye (85); Jasper (150); Frink (150); Disco Stu (180); #51 (100); #2 (60 *crazy for a skin); #314 (12 *cheapest skin I can remember). Now, almost 1 year later…got all characters (except Shauna). Buildings. Limited time stuff, event stuff, tie ins, etc. Crazy to think of how much real $$$ one can put in a meaningless game…but for the love of me I like it. My only regret: these frucking Gil deals for asinine amounts of donuts. Once in a while is cool. But Radstation, the Homer, the Blarney Castle (before that Princess Castle), Radioactive Mans Beach House & Easter Island in a month.
Great story Wookiee. Note only am I a TSTO addict but I am also a Cosmic Brownie addict. I just can’t seem to get enough of those sweet, chocolate, guey squares from heaven. I got addicted to TSTO from the moment I came across it by accident (randomly googling Simpsons) I started right in the middle of the Stonecutter event. For me the game is a way to relax and get some laughs. The collector side of me also enjoys it. I am on a personal quest to have each character. This is why I enjoy EA bringing back items from past events. I know it gets a little frustrating for those who have everything already but for us who do not it is a great way to catch up. I am very happy with the Easter mini event because I am able to pick up 4 characters I was missing! Hoping they bring out Father Sean sometime in a future event or sale. This game is a blast and yes, very addicting! You, Alissa and Bunny are doing a great job! Love your site! Thanks for all the hard work!
Hi, my name is Craig and I’m a TSTO Addict. It has gotten so bad a late that my shoulder starts to hurt because I am holding my upper arm so still so that I can tap with precision so I don’t perform artwork on somebody’s Moe’s or School. During events, I wake up and grab my iPad so I can get more event “currency” such as the criminals in the last event. Thank you for listening.
Hi Craig!
😉