Wild West 101: General Store (Act 1)

Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!

Time to hitch up the wagons and head out west, because the Wild West has hit our Springfields! With bandits to tie up, guns to sling, gold to pan & gold ole’ Homer getting everyone all riled up!

With so many layers to this event, it’s easy to get confused with what’s going on.  But, that’s where we come it!  To guide you through the ins and outs and break it all down in a manageable way, that anyone can quickly understand.

In this post we’re going to break down the General Store, for Act 1.  By the time we’re done you’ll have the ins, the outs & and the know how to fully understand just how the General Store works for Act 1.

So let’s get to it shall we?

As always let’s start with the basics….

How Do I Get The General Store?

The General Store is FREE, and will unlock for you to place once you reach Part 5 of Once Upon a Springfield. (you can check out the Turbo Tappin’ Post here, if you’re lost)  Once you’ve triggered the task for the General Store, you’ll find it in your TSTO Store as a free item.  Simply select and place in your Springfield to unlock all the fun!

What Does the General Store Do?

The General Store is where you can, for Act 1, exchange currency you collect for Clues (the Act 1 Prize Currency).  So basically the General Store will help you earn even more Clues and unlock the prizes faster!

What Do I Turn In At the Store?

So at the General Store you can hand in Axes  and Hats  for Clues .  The Clues are what unlock your Act 1 Prizes.

How Do I Turn Them In?

Once you have enough Axes  and/or Hats  simply hit Hand In to earn the Clues…

What’s With the General Store Prizes?  How Do I Unlock Them?

Handing in a certain number will unlock special prizes for the day.  Each day, with the exception of Day 1, unlocks 1 new prize.  There are prizes for all 14 days of Act 1 (it’ll continue for Acts 2 and 3), via the General Store.  From what I can tell…beyond the very first prize, each prize will require you to hand in 4 exchanges to unlock.

Here’s a look at the 14 Prizes you can unlock during Act 1:

Day 1

Days 2, 6 & 8

Day 3

Day 4

Days 5, 10

Days 7, 13

Day 9

Day 11

Day 12

Day 14 (last day)

Prizes will repeat as Acts 2 and 3 hit, as well as some new ones will hit.  So, if you see something you like chances are it’ll come back around 🙂

Also, if you miss a day…you can go back and get that prize.  So don’t panic if you miss a day or 2.  You will be able to go back and get them 🙂

So now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s go into a bit more detail…

Here’s a question many of you are asking.  We covered this on the Question Corner post, but we’ll put it here too..

At the General Store, If I Exchange Goods for Clues Will the Number Carry Over for Tomorrow’s Prize?

From what I can tell, you CANNOT build up “hand ins” for the next day.  For example, say you’ve already collected the Prize for the day and you continue to hand in resources.  From what I’ve seen those resources you exchange will not count towards the next days.  You’ll still need to hand in 4 exchanges the next day to unlock that day’s prize.

So is it better to hoard resources and only unlock the prizes for that day?  Not really.  It’s fairly easy to build up resources, so just play smart.  If you hoard everything for the last day you won’t unlock your Act 1 prizes until the last day.

The key is finding a balance between exchanging the goods for Clues and earning prizes.

My method…I plan on exchanging resources until I can’t for that day.  And doing it all again tomorrow.  For me the sooner I unlock the prize track prizes the better.

I’ve Been Handing In Resources and Suddenly It Cut Me Off, and It Says I Can’t Trade In Any More.  What’s the Deal?!

So if you see this message popup in your town

DON’T PANIC!!  This just means you’ve reached your Clue cap from the General Store for the day, and you can earn more tomorrow.  Think of this as EA’s way to slow you down, and prevent you from speeding through the Act in 1 day.

This Event is fairly easy, as in you shouldn’t have a problem earning enough Clues to earn all of the prizes before Act 1 ends (As long as you regularly tap…remember it takes regular tapping to unlock everything.  You can’t just play once a day and expect to get everything)

So What Are The Caps for Each Day?  

Just like the Monorail Event, there is a set cap you can earn via the General Store each day.  Here are the Clue earning caps for Act 1 (Remember these are via the General Store only.  There is no cap on Clues you can earn via tapping bandits…)

This is a running total.  So if you skip a day you’ll be able to collect the Clues to make up the difference.  Basically you can earn between 2,200 and 2,600 Clues per day you can earn via the General Store (until you get to the last day, which then shows the caps are essentially removed).

So if you’re seeing the message, it’s because you’ve capped out for the day.

And that my friends, I believe, covers all of the common (and some less common) General Store questions!  Hopefully, after reading you’ve got a better understanding of what’s going on with the Store & how to earn Clues from it!

What are your thoughts on the General Store?  Are you unlocking your prizes each day?  Have you capped out?  How’s your Clue count coming along?  Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!