Some changes were made to the Community Prizes on 7/7, these changes have been updated on the post below. You can also check out more details on the change post here.
Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Act 2 of Tap Ball launched last week and with it we saw the return of Community Prizes!
Initially launched in October 2013, Community Prizes was another aspect of events designed to get the Tapped Out Community to work together for a goal, in each case the goal was a group of prizes. They were short lived though, as we only saw them for Halloween 2013 and Christmas 2013 (You can check out details from Halloween here and details from Christmas here). After that EA tried a bunch of different methods to engage people in the games, but there were always cries for Community Prizes to return. So now those long time Tappers have their wish and they’re back!
Of course being that they were only around for the last two major events in 2013, I know many of today’s Tappers have no clue what they are, how they work, or what the heck is going on. I also know that the numbers can seem overwhelming, they always have. So let’s break down the ins and outs of Community Prizes and how exactly they work for this event….
As always let’s start with the basics…
What Are Community Prizes?
Community Prizes are a group of prizes that can be won in your Springfield if the ENTIRE Tapped Out Community reaches the goals set by EA.
Is the Counter Just For Me and My Neighbors, or Is It Tapped Out Players World Wide?
It’s the collective total of ALL Tapped Out Players World Wide, so not just you and your neighbors.
How Do I Unlock the Community Prizes?
Community Prizes will unlock at Part 9 of the Act 2 questline. You’ll get a prompt that says this:
That will unlock your ability to see the prizes and start collecting Sports Balls.
How Do I Collect Sports Balls?
There are a few of different ways to get Sports Balls:
-You can purchase them in the Amateur Shop for 500 40 
-You can earn them from Daily Training Tasks (there are three in Daily Training (and each one should unlock several balls for you to throw), but won’t appear for a little while)
-You can earn them by collecting balls your neighbors send you. (we’ll cover this more in depth below) If you see a ball bouncing around in your town tap on it. You have a 20% 68% chance that that ball you collected will earn you a ball to throw at your neighbors town.
How Does it Work?
It’s pretty simple really, you collect Sports Balls and send them to your neighbors and that’s it.
You’ll have a sports ball counter on the bottom left of your Main Springfield (next to Cap and Amateur Buck totals), this will tell you how many Sports Balls you have available to throw.
When you have more than 1 you can visit a neighbor and you’ll see in the upper right corner of their screen the Sports Ball Icon with a the number of balls you have available to throw. Tap on that Icon to throw the ball.
You’ll then see the ball rolling around your friend’s Springfield.
And that’s it, you’ve contributed to the Community Prize Total!
For the Questline, Do I Need to Spend the 500 to Complete it?
Honestly, I’m not 100% sure because I’ve already completed it. I know that you do need to complete the questline for Act 2 in order to advance to the Act 3 questline when it hits. I’ve seen a few comments from players saying ones they’ve collected in their town have counted towards the task complete, but I have not been able to verify it myself.
Personally, I think right now Amateur Bucks are a little easier to accumulate, especially with the fans dropping them…so for the greater community I say just spend the 500 Bucks when you can…or as they say in baseball “suck it up and take one for the team”.
Do I Have to Participate to Get the Prizes?
No, as long as you unlock the ability to get the prizes you don’t have to participate to actually get them. BUT I say yes, participate. Buy some balls and put them in your neighbors town. You don’t have to do it a ton, but every once in a while is nice. It helps everyone out to get those prizes. So don’t be selfish and be a “team player”, everyone’s participation (no matter how great or small) is what makes the goals achievable.
What Happens When I See A Sports Ball In My Town?
You will see sports balls rolling along in your town (they can be VERY hard to see, especially if you have a large town). They’ll look like one of these:
If you see one, Tap on it! You’ll have 20% 68% chance of earning a free sports ball to throw to another neighbor! It’s a great way to earn free Sports Balls!
Will I See Any Sort of Notification That There’s a Sports Ball In My Town?
No. There are no popups indicating that someone left you a Sports Ball. It’s mostly just look around your town, if you see it Tap it. But for the most part you’re “flying blind” about it.
Will I Be Able To See Who Left Me a Sports Ball?
When you Tap on the Sports Balls they’ll only say Ball Collected (or + 1 Sports Ball if it’s one of those 20% ones) it will not tell you which neighbor left it.
I’ve Been Sending Balls To Me Neighbors and No Ones Throwing Them Back, What Gives?
First of all remember that there’s no indication in the game who sent the ball a player just tapped. So they may not know how to give credit too.
Second, it’s difficult to accumulate Sports Balls. Just because you sent one doesn’t mean the player will have one to send back. Even if they tap on that one there’s only a 20% chance it’ll turn into a Sports Ball to throw…so be patient and don’t unfriend people because of it.
Remember it’s a Community Goal. As long as they’re throwing Sports Balls too, whether they’re to you or not, means that they’re contributing to the Community Total for the prizes…and that’s something everyone should be happy with.
How Long Do I Have to Tap A Ball in My Town? Do They Disappear After a While?
Honestly, I don’t know. I’m still checking to see if I see anything in the files that indicates a timer on them. However, I can tell you I dropped a Sports Ball in my C town from my A town a couple of days ago and it’s no longer bouncing around in my C town. So it does look like they have a timer, how of a timer? That I’m unsure of at this time.
What Are the Community Prizes?
Here’s the breakdown:
10 Donuts- 110,880,000
Springfield Arms- 230,400,000
Taste of Duff Beer Truck- 402,200,000
The Gridiron- 538,040,000
How Can I View the Prizes/Counter?
It’s simple, just bring up the event hub in your town. Scroll to the very bottom and you’ll see the Community Prize icon, tap on it and it’ll show you the prizes and latest totals.
Why Is the Counter Going So Slow?! It Feels like We’re NEVER Going to Earn All the Prizes!
I know. It’s moving slow right now. I get it, everyone’s frustrated by it. But keep in mind we’ve never not achieved all of the Community Prizes, I have a feeling now that the holiday weekend is over something will happen to cause the counter to start to spike.
I can also tell you that the in game counter is only an estimate of what the actual total is. While the counter itself is very real, the one we see in game (because it changes every second) is only an estimate based on the last average the server took.
So just keep playing your game and try not to focus too much on the numbers.
And that I think covers all of the details of the Community Prizes! Hopefully all of the players who weren’t around in 2013, will now get the hang of things and we can all work together to earn the prizes!
What are your thoughts on Community Prizes? Thoughts about the prizes being offered? How about the Sports Ball challenge? Have you earned any for free so far by tapping? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
What did I miss to unlock community prizes? I never got the little trophy tab, although I thought I completed all the quests. I keep getting notices that j have won sports balls, but don’t know where they are. I read through all this and realized I never saw the storyline mentioned with the community prizes. What gives?
You have to do that questline, that will unlock it. If you completed the questline and still don’t see it contact EA. But i suspect, because you didn’t see the storyline mention it you didn’t complete it.
Look in your task bar, check out your tasks, do you see Homer with a whistle anywhere? It’s part of the Meet my Trophy Life questline…
Beyond that, check out our turbo tappin’ walkthroughs for it they can be found here (you need to complete Act 1 to move onto Act 2. And Act 2 is where the community prizes unlock):
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/06/24/turbo-tappin-tap-ball-act-1/
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/03/turbo-tappin-tap-ball-act-2/
Thanks! I had not finished it; used your link and am blasting through it. I might finish it by the end of the season.
If you’ve got notifications set up on your phone you will receive a pop up telling you when someone has thrown a ball in your town as well as who threw it. But if you don’t happen to see the notification when it pops up you’ll never know who dunnit!
Hi I’ve got a question, My four main players are now at max levels for playing tap ball. I have other players that are not yet at max. Is it better to buy balls to throw in neighbours’ towns or is it better to upgrade my other players? Do I need to upgrade my other players for Act 3?
Thanks!
Abby_Oscar
Just depends n what you want. I think upgrading one team is a good idea. As for balls, I have just been gifting the freebies I’ve collected in my town and saving up my tickets to buy items for my stadium. SO far I’ve got two uprights and a goal. The ability to upgrade should remain in Act III. Ultimately it’s up to you how you want to play. I definitely plan on buying some balls in Act II to send out, just waiting to see how the whole next part looks, ya know?
So you aren’t upgrading anymore characters then? I have the four main characters at max, but the other ones are not.
I’ll take your advice on the balls and just send the freebies.
Thanks!!
How dose the counter go faster or I will not get the prizes bc it runs out of session in 8days help
The counter theoretically counts balls that are put in place by tappers worldwide. The only way you can help is to do your part in throwing balls into neighbors towns. Hopefully EA fixes the goals so we get the prizes. Beyond that there is nothing we can do.
I didn’t have to spend 500 ameture bucks to get a sports ball. I only spent 40 bucks & once I sent it to my fiancé town, he’s goal was completed.
They changed the price a couple of days ago.
So a friend of mine said “Yeah, I dropped 3 balls in your town about 2 hours ago.” I went and looked and see nothing. Is it possible that when you hit a fan and they “blow up” that it could also hit one of the balls and clear it as well?
Honestly not sure, haven’t seen it happen
The same thing happened to me. My daughter left 4 balls in my town 2 days ago, and they have never shown up. When she dropped them, I was playing in my town. Could this have something to do with it?
In theory it’s possible, i’ve just never seen it happen so I can’t say for sure
4 more last night in my town at about 11. Went and looked at 7 this morning. No balls
I’m totally lost. how do I play with the community prizes. I can’t buy balls
You have to unlock the ability…explanation is in the post above…and then you can see the balls to buy in the amateur shop.
Thank you, I got the first prize !!!
You personally have no control over the community prizes. & what I mean when I say you have no control… I mean that there’s nothing you can rush, there’s no task that you can complete. The community prizes is I guess the amount of times a sports ball has been dropped world wide. You have to let it run its course. As soon as it reaches its certain amount you get the prize. The other day my fiancé & I got ten donuts from the community prizes. For some reason those donuts disappeared. So spend them right away & don’t be surprised if a glitch steals your donuts.
Okay so we’ve unlocked the first community prize but I didn’t get any donuts and I’ve been throw balls like crazy. It came up in game “First Community prize unlocked Reward 10 donuts” and I had them for about 2 minutes them I got an error that said Tapped Out has stopped working. I reentered, and my donuts were gone! What’s going on?
The same thing happened to me except I didn’t get a error message I just visited my krustyland. I had them for maybe a min or two also and poof they were gone. Is there anyway to get them back? Have you figured anything out on it?
Contact EA.
That’s what happened to me. My donuts were gone. It was probably a stupid glitch idk what happened tho. I just hope if I unlock the building that it doesn’t just disappear.
I was on my b town and recieved the 10donuts and then visited my krustyland n came back n donuts disappeared. And then was on my daughters town got the donuts and visit her friends and came back n they disappeared. How is it possible to receive 10 donuts for the community prize and then not get to use them because they disappeared and not even by logging off I was still on the same town.
After receiving my 10free community donuts,they disappeared after only a few minutes. My total donuts went down to zero. Why did this happen,will i get them back?
Patch is coming.
Got the donuts and then they dissapeared
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/08/28853/
Boy – I really noticed the increase in the percentage of collected balls that “count” this morning…I came into my game to find three balls bouncing around my town (thank you, neighbors!) and, when I tapped them, all three added to my count!
I also noticed something else that I think is new… Today, I got a notification that one of my neighbors, *mentioned by name!* had left a ball in my town (thanks, Brooders!!). I still didn’t see any names when I collected the balks, so I only know where one out of the the came from, but that’s better than nothing!
Good changes! 🙂
Did anyone else not get their community 10 donuts? I had a message pop up but my donut count never increased.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/08/28853/
Don’t know if anyone has experienced similar or maybe just a coincidence. …
However I know we have 20% at collecting a free one but the only ones that have added to my total is actual soccer balls. If its a beach ball or an American football then they clear…
I have not tapped a soccer ball yet that I have not been able to re-use.
Is that why it’s 20% or can the other balls be collected and become a ‘free one’?
It’s now 68%, and it doesn’t matter the type of ball.
Am I the only one seeing we completed the 10 donuts? My Tapped out says that we have unlocked it yet it still shows the lock over the prize and I didn’t get anything even though I’ve been throwing balls…..
It’s happened off an on for me for the last few days…when the donuts are actually achieved a popup will appear in your game saying you’ve won…
I am seeing the same and I didn’t get the donuts even though I was throwing balls
The total changed AND the price of the balls dropped!! Woo hoo!!!
The goals set for community prizes have dropped drastically. Just checked and it’s a little over 3 million balls for the first prize.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
Have they reduced the totals needed? Doughnut prize now seems to require a total of 3 million instead.
Yup, http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
Have they dropped the total required for the community prizes? We’re suddenly a lot closer!
Yes,
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
The amount needed to earn the donuts have now dropped to 3,266,000 so now things are a little more realistic
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
They just change the amount of balls for the community prizes 🙂
They just changed the needed numbers on these something crazy. Instead of 110 million for the 10 donuts it’s now 3 and some change.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
I just checked my community prize counter and it appears that EA realized how much of a challenge 110,000,000+ was going to be to achieve – the first prize can be earned with 3,266,000 balls now – like it has been said by the writers of this site – we have always earned all of the community prizes .. No more doom and gloom 😄
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
Seeing that the first prize has been obtained how do I get it now?
First prize of what? Community prize? It has not been unlocked….
There was a moment when I logged in and instead of the counter it said the goal had been achieved.
Yea I’ve been getting that off an on for the last few days, goes away shortly after though
Just noticed the amount needed for the first prize has dropped drastically
We are now halfway there. I’m guessing Ea overestimated how many would be purchasedand reduced the totals needed
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
Surprise, surprise! EA changed the amount needed for the first community prize to 3,266,000. As someone who has been around for community prizes, I know it was only a matter of time.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
I just checked and the total needed has been VASTLY reduced. We are almost to the first prize now because they took it from 110,000,000 to just over 3,000,000. This now seems doable.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/
I doubt I’ll be the first person to comment here but it looks like they’ve reduced the number of balls needed for each prize. In my game I now see the community donuts are only 3,266,000 which means we’re over halfway there 🙂
And now I’ve got an update which reduces the cost of a ball from 500AB to 40AB Makes it so much easier
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/07/07/tap-ball-community-prize-changes/