Wowza… EA ended the Superheroes Sequel and then walloped us with the return of the Monorail for everybody. Any tapper who knows me should know how thrilled I am to see the return of this for the game. I actually finally built some track in my town although I’m not completely happy with it and still considering a complete redesign so I can make it pretty. Anyhoo… like most take-downs recently, EA decided to tease some possible future stuff in their update message.
But what the heck does this all mean. Sure it could all just be a joke from the designers but there is usually a kernel of truth within the farce. I decided to do a little thinking and see if I could come up with episodes that might bring stuff to us pertaining to these hints. Here’s what I came up with.
First up… a random set of summer sports. Let me be the first person to say that I see no need for a Tapball Sequel event but somehow this is what I smelled when I saw this dialogue. That event brought us a lot of different sports squeezed into one doozy of an amalgamation.
This event was the very definition of a random set of summer sports. I’m hoping EA has some different ideas but only time will tell. Regardless of how this idea would be delivered to our games… I put on my thinking cap and came up with a list of sports:
1) Softball from “Homer at Bat” (S3:E17) – this is Alissa’s favorite episode. Could EA finally be tipping their hat to our favorite moderator? We got Softball Burns in Tapball so maybe we’ll get more goodness?
2) Hockey from “Lisa on Ice” (S6:E8) – before you try to point out that hockey is a winter sport, I’ll be the fuzzball who will point out that the race for Sir Stanley’s Cup happens during the summer… well, May to June. Sure summer starts a week or two later but I’m the guy from a sunny state who roots for the Kings of hockey so I vote for melty ice skating, checking, and boarding year round.
3) Bowling from “Team Homer” (S7:E12) – okay, bowling may not be a sport but ever since we got Pin Pal Apu I’ve been hoping for the whole team to be included in the game. Bowling could also finally bring us Jacques. He’s been missing ever since Shorty’s arrived in the game.
4) Football from “Bart Star” (S9:E6) – do I really need to plug all the kids playing some foosball? Nelson arrived previously is shoulder pads and helmet so other kids could join the game.
5) Skateboarding Tony Hawk from “Barting Over” (S14:E11) – summer always makes me think of the X-games and unless you really want the Cross Games from “The Food Wife” (S23:E5), I think the episode which included Tony could bring vert ramps and other extreme goodness to the game. Bart and skateboarding are synonymous so more of this would be amazing.
Heck… I’d settle for Grampa having a tasking on a ramp. I know there’s a lot EA could do with this idea.
6) Soccer from “Marge Gamer” (S18:E17) and “You Don’t Have to Live like a Referee” (S25:E16) – Homer already has his ref outfit and Lisa got her soccer outfit so this seems like something that could appear. I’d be a happy walking carpet if EA brought Ronaldo into the game. Also be fun to incorporate the soccer riot.
7) Little League Baseball from “MoneyBART” (S22:E3) – sort of the same idea as pee-wee football for me. Lots of skins, lots of fun, and a tribute to a movie starring Brad Pitt. Seriously, Jonah Hill proved he could act in it.
8) The Duff Extreme BMX Vert Competition from “Barthood” (S27:E9) – yes please. I think I sort of covered my love for extreme sports in #5.
Next up, an invasion by doppelgangers from another dimension. You know, this one was a tough one for me. I had a couple ideas (read #1 and #4) but did a quick search and found a great list over at WikiSimpsons. I don’t often plug that site but they do some good work over there. If you want to see their full list just type in ‘simpsons doppelgangers’ into your search engine. You can also find a funny article about 21 real people who look like Simpsons characters. I cherry-picked ones I liked from the wiki.
1) Guy Incognito from “Fear of Flying” (S6:E11) – the original doppelganger and my personal choice for this tease. I don’t know what dimension he might be from but I’d love to have him wandering my town and can imagine some funny dialogue.
2) Squeaky Voiced Australian Teen from “Bart vs. Australia” (S6:E16) – Australia is sort of another dimension, right? They have drop bears and different seasons than the U.S.
3) Bart, Lisa, and Maggie’s inbred freak doppelgangers in “Lady Bouvier’s Lover” (S5:E21).
3) Apu doppelgangers like the Speed-E-Mart owner from “Lemon of Troy” (S6:E24) and Li’l Valu-Mart clerk from “Summer of 4 Ft. 2” (S7:E25) – honestly these ones weren’t even on my mind but I find them funny so I included them.
4) Lester and Eliza from “The Day the Violence Died” (S7:E18) – my second pick after Guy. Totally weird doppelgangers who derailed Bart and Lisa when they tried to help out. If anyone is from another dimension, it’s these two.
5) Brazilian Yes Guy from “Blame it on Lisa” (S13:E15) – I’m seriously laughing as I imagine people (including my own mother) cringing at another character drawing out the word ‘Si’. I mentioned soccer so a doppelganger from Brazil isn’t a complete stretch.
6) Simon Woosterfeld from “Double, Double Boy in Trouble” (S20:E3) – his family’s hotel is already in the game so why not.
7) Canadian Nelson and Milhoose from “Boy Meets Curl” (S21:E12) – Canada is definitely on a different plan of existence than Springfield. I know a lot of tappers here who would like to see some more Canuck love in the game. TSTO could use an event that is red and white but never blue. Maybe you don’t agree but sorry not sorry.
8) Female Moe from “The Blue and the Gray” (S22:E13) – poor Moe could really use a love interest and although I still cast my vote for Maya, this female version of Mr. Szyslak made me giggle when I first saw it. Proof that “for every man, somewhere out there is one woman” and for Moe it’s somewhere in Europe. Hopefully she’s as bad at offing herself as Moe.
9) Many different Bart and Lisa Doppelgangers from “Homer Goes to Prep School” (S24:E9) – this episode is worth a watch as Homer looks for his kids at Smart Tykes: Dump Your Kids in the Learn Zone! and just finds doppelganger after doppelganger. I’m pretty sure Lester and Eliza were one pair. While I don’t really want these in the game, an event where you had to tap on these a la criminals because of some sort of inter-dimensional rift caused by Frink might be fun.
10) Honestly, the Tracey Ullman show incarnations of our favorite family feel like doppelgangers nowadays. “Treehouse of Horror XXV” did a fun episode with the current and old versions interacting in “The Others” segment.
It also ended with a ton of doppleganger options for the family. I like the Adventure Time version the best. The Minions make me laugh too. Maybe all our doppelgangers will be the result of “an evil marketing entity” like the Marketing Agency in Springfield Heights?
Last up in this round of speculation, the brand-new outlet mall. This one seems really clear… will we finally get the Towne Centre at Springfielde Glenne? We already have a few of the stores (Blocko, Gold Navy, Mapple, Abercrombie and Rich, Banana Dictatorship, Spiffany’s, and Vulgari) from here so why not?
I guess we could also get the Ogdenville Outlet Mall from “Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield” (S7:E14).
So there you go friends. Some fuzzy ideas from yours truly about what the future might hold based on 21 words from EA. What do you think is coming? Any ideas besides mine that you thought of? Would you be ready for another round of Tapball? Sound off in the comments and happy tapping friends.
TTFN… Wookiee out!
I would like to see Springfield University event. Characters could include the nerds, the dean, and Frink. Buildings could be the University, a bookstore etc… Most referencing that one episode where Homer goes back to school, and also the episode where Lisa befriends some college kids.
I’m hoping for that, too…Springfield needs a place of higher learning!
Isn’t it cool that you included a picture of a half pipe and then a few days later EA include the exact same one (without the banner) into our games. You’re right Alissa: they rEAd everything! And especially Addicts 😊
The Olympics. Is “The Old Man and the “C” Student” the only Olympics-referenced episode?
The Olympics opening ceremony is this Friday, August 5. Has EA ever released an update on a Friday? If not, then I would guess that we will be getting an Olympics mini event a week from today (Tuesday). I would imagine it will be 2 weeks of daily sporting event challenges. What do you think?
Yes, 11 to be exact (not including Gil deals…)
https://tstoaddicts.com/2014/03/19/tapped-out-up-dates/
I really like the doppelgangers idea. Please no more tap ball! 🙂
Do you think if EA added longer downtime then the game will last longer? Think about it because I can’t really explain it. But here is my best shot:
Say EA decided to do 6 events in a year with little downtime.
Then if EA decided to do 4 events with more downtime then that means that the 2 events that they didn’t do could go onto next year. Stretching the content out. Does that make sense?
I understand what you’re saying, but too much downtime and players will get bored with the game and stop playing (maybe). EA just needs to find a balance of events and time off to keep everyone happy. Hmm, everyone happy? Sounds impossible. 😉
As long as it’s not unpossible.
I would like to see a bit of a break between events.
More importantly the 24hr visitation timer is hard to stay on as I end up missing a day every couple weeks as i cannot play at the same time and/or multiple times most days. Would be nice if they used some type of world clock that let visits be anytime in the day similar to GMT Zthat way if you were up late and forgot to play or were up early you could visit and not have to wait til 24 hrs or longer to visit.
Would also love to see a way to get items you missed but not always for DONUTS as a freemium, player it is hard enough to get 1 great item 3 or 4 times a year. EXAMPLE wanted some items not super high in Wild West event and also Superheroes 2 but nowe theyou want 200 DONUTS for Lisa Recycle Center and I am way short.
Both cemeteries , Gil Tailgate Zone Bandit Hideout etc. and was not right with the Slazy Motel that if you did not already have could not get Vegas style sign.
Sorry for ranting but maybe EA will listen.
I’m really tired of the whole ‘battle’ format. I would love it if the next event did not include the same repetitive battle style as the Superheroes 2, and Tap Ball. Got so friggin tired of those, so dull after a few weeks. Wish they were a bit more creative. For example , having a mystery max day, where something we earn that day gets doubled, whether it’s XP, or money, or an SH item.. or one of the prizes is an old random premium item..that we have to tap a certain amount of buildings to get
I wasn’t gonna say anything, but since you mentioned Ronaldo, I have to say in case EA is watching: NO CELEBRITIES! Please, we already have to deal with enough stuntcasting on the show, if I have to put up with random celebs I don’t even care about showing up in my Springfield I swear to god I’ll stop playing completely.
Interesting stance. The way people are saying EA is following TinyCo with Family Guy….they have alot of celebs, I guess. It might happen.
lololol everyone is talking about dopplegangers and the Simpsons episodes that features the Futurama characters is on right now! I hope we get futurama, that would be really fun 🙂
It’s Lord Stanley’s Cup, not sir! Haha
I think he went by both titles. Go Kings Go.
The Cup certainly never did. That’s blasphemy of the highest order, but not really surprising from a King’s fan. And to think, they’ve collected 2 of them…
Hahaha yep I get the brunt of it all being a CDN in socal… Lots of smack talk from ppl who don’t know the in depth history and culture of the game…. But there are a few great fans here and there, wookie is probly one of em! Haha
Kopi is gonna be a great captain… My Nucks are always in tough against California teams
I thought the mention of the doppelgangers was a reference to the presidential Doll/Clinton TOH episode. Which would make since with the election coming up and the line “it’s a two party system, you have to vote for one of us” being even more applicable now than it was then
THROWWWWW YOUR VOTE AWAYYYYYYYYY
Either way, your planet is doomed!
Or time travel? They delete all our games and make us start from scratch.
OMG after all the time and real $ I spent on this game I think I’d throw my phone away!!
Olympics…….
WIth the Olympics in Rio and the fact the Simpsons did a whole episode in Rio, that just seems destined to be an event. Ronaldo and maybe the kids show dancer can be characters, or homer’s kidnappers. The taxi they kidnapped homer in can be a prize. There were a few buildings they did they can use.
It’s probably not significant, but Lyle Lanley did sell a Monorail to Ogdenville…
I just referenced Homer at the Bat in the “Predict the future” post!! An event around this would make me giddy! There’s so much the can do from that episode and so many characters and skins they can introduce.
With a Tapball sequel, honestly, I’d probably welcome it as long as it breathed new life into the completely-useless-as-it-currently-stands Tapball stadium.
If they do a sport’s theme event, I hope it’s short since I didn’t really care for Tapball that much. I also hope they offer a deal for Tatum since I’ve been wanting him for awhile, but I’m afraid they’re going to offer a deal on him like they did with Barney and Miss Springfield.