Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Lately it seems, that with event on top of event, TSTO has become predictable. Often times we can figure out what’s going to happen in the game before an event even hits. Let’s face it it’s all become a bit monotonous.
An Event hits, there’s going to be some element of excitement during Act 1…Act 2 hits that excitement level dwindles a bit, since really Act 2 is a replay of act 1…and by the time Act 3 hits everyone is so bored and over the event that we just want it to be over already. But it wasn’t always like this…
EA used to do some super cool things with events (and in some cases they still do). These cool elements made TSTO stand out from other freemium games…and honestly I’m not sure why they stopped with some of them.
While I’m sure many of us have different opinions about what’s cool and what’s not…I think having played this game for nearly four years and blogging about it for just about three years gives me a unique perspective. Heck I’ve been moderating your comments about what y’all like and dislike about this game for three years. 😉
So here’s my take on some of the coolest elements EA ever added to TSTO…
–Stonecutters, the original one in 2014, was by far the coolest, most engaging event to hit TSTO. It hit before events were broken up into Acts. There was one set list of prizes to earn, BUT there were twists and turns and different elements to unlock various other prizes.
The best element of the original Stonecutters Event? The Sacred Parchment puzzles. Each day a new riddle would unlock involving a character and a task for said character. Figuring out the riddle and completing the task would earn you even more prizes than what was listed on the original prize track. It got people talking and engaging with various gaming communities, it was different and most importantly it was fun.
EA hasn’t done this since…and it’s shame. They tried with Christmas 2014…but it missed the mark. It didn’t have that same element of mystery that the Stonecutters riddles did. Santa’s Daily Tasks for Christmas 2014 simply listed a task to complete and you had to do it to earn prizes. This was cool, but with Stonecutters only giving clues it made you think and engage.
The Stonecutters Sacred Parchment prizes are still far and away one of the coolest things EA ever did in TSTO. And they really should bring that back for future events.
–Feeding the Trolls from September 2013. This was probably one of the coolest, non-event, things EA ever did in TSTO. Not only did they outright say via the in-game dialogue when the Halloween Event would be hitting but they called out various bloggers, forum posters and hackers in the dialogue as well. It showed EA was aware of what was going on in the community of TSTO. It showed that they were engaged in what the players were thinking…and it was just down right awesome.
All you “newer” players, trust me on this one…everyone who played during the fall of 2013 thought it was awesome, in one way or another, and many still talk about it to this day. This was one of the coolest and engaging things EA ever did in TSTO.
-Community Prizes…the right way. Community Prizes (originally started in 2013) are/were what make TSTO a game like no other. The entire Community of TSTO working together to earn a special set of prizes. No other, popular, game brings that element of everyone play together to their events. And it’s really a shame that EA stopped doing this. It was incentive to visit your neighbors, engage with them…work together for a common goal. And some of the community prizes were just freakin’ awesome!
It’s a shame EA’s stopped adding the Community Prizes as an element of TSTO Events. Halloween and Christmas 2013 are some of my favorite events in TSTO because of those “extras”. (even Tap Ball last year) And they really gave a purpose for the social element in TSTO….
Community prizes were one of the coolest things EA ever did in TSTO…and I really wish they would bring them back.
-Neighbor interactions during Events. Having played various other mobile games they all have some element of social/neighbor interaction…but only TSTO does it, in my opinion, the right way. 
For many TSTO events of the past they’d have a social element where not only do you help yourself by visiting neighbors…but you help your neighbor too. Often you could collect something from your neighbor, but leave them something to collect on too. For example…Christmas 2013 you could earn event currency from visiting your neighbors BUT you could also leave them a gift. And when they opened that gift they’d find event currency for themselves. A perfect give and take…
This neighbor interaction, when it’s done as a give and take (and it’s not always done that way, as we saw with Superheroes 2), is one of the coolest elements of TSTO and what makes it stand out from other games.
-“Easter Eggs”…no not the kind the Easter Bunny leaves behind. No I’m talking about hidden elements in the game that, once discovered, often lead to free hidden donuts! I can’t really remember other games doing this..and it’s really a neat aspect of TSTO.
During Stonecutters you’d earn free donuts by tapping on the table while the characters were signing the Stonecutters song, Halloween 2013 (and more recently Deep Space Homer) you could earn donuts by completing a hidden task and various other events have had these hidden easter eggs in them. It’s super cool and makes the game fun and exciting when you uncover these hidden bonuses!
“Easter Eggs” continue to be one of the coolest things about TSTO.
Of course with nearly 4 years of content EA has done a variety of cool things to TSTO…Discounted Gil Donut Deals, regular free donuts, the Monorail and loads of other things. The list above is simply my take on some of the coolest things about TSTO..and what makes it stand apart from other games. Now if only EA would bring some of these super cool elements back…
Do you remember these things? What would you say is the coolest thing EA ever did in TSTO? Which from the above list is your favorite? What would you like to see them bring back/add? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
I like when they release unique buildings that do something other than earn money every so and so hours. My favorite building so far has been the Playdough factory. I kinda wish they had kept the mini games during the casino event. They could have kept it and made it like the scratch-R at Kwik-E-mart.
But whatever they do I think the most important thing is to strive for originality in every event. They should always aim to do something they haven’t done before to keep things feeling fresh.
Yes! I was hoping the casino games would stick around and was disappointed when they didn’t.
Oh man, sacred parchment puzzles were great. One of many things I point to that made the Stonecutters event awesome.
This post is one of the reasons I like you (TSTO Addicts) so much. My husband and I “compete” in the events, and the points you talked about made our competitions more fun. Great discussion starter. DH and I will enjoy talking about this post when he and #2 son come back from summer camp.
I’ve been playing on and off for a few years, I’ve never been able to consistently play this game for more then a few months but I’ve proven this streak, I always do go play another game for a while but I always eventually return to tapped out.
Apart from the dropping presents off which was awesome I missed or hadn’t even started playing when those other events happened.
Beaten this streak* damn iPhone lol
I started playing during the Halloween where you had to send kids to collect trick or treat bags. I think that was 2013? Can’t remember. By the sounds of it I started playing after all the coolest stuff happened. I really hope for a Stonecutters round 2 and I liked the Clash of Clones castles and items my neighbours have.
I loved dropping the naughty or nice bags and I ended up deleting a couple neighbours that were always naughty lol. Greedy brats :p
I agree that the way the town looks in the winter is awesome, so much detail, really gets you into the Christmas spirit.
I thought the last couple Halloween events were a huge disappointment. Aliens and sea monsters can be their own event but when I think Halloween I think werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein, witches, etc. Halloween and Christmas are my fav time of year so I hope they hit the mark this year! … I know that’s off topic to this post (which is awesome by the way Alyssa, great discussion we’ve got going).
I would love to see less baddie tapping (3 million times per event ugh). The face offs like the superheroes fights and tap ball games were a little boring also. Even the mini events are a little tired. Sounds like a format like the Stonecutters would be better.
What a great game though, it has brought me so much joy and I am grateful to have it! Glad this site is here too. I check it daily. And I LOVE that events are one after another. It’s like waiting months for the new season of the Walking Dead… No I want it now! Lol. Like right now I’m going crazy waiting for the next event. Not sure why everyone needs down time to rearrange their towns. That can easily be done during an event. Mine is in a constant state of edit.
I liked the episode tie-ins where you were given an item or character in advance of the episode, so not yet seen in the Simpsons universe.
I agree about the community prizes. I started towards the end of whatever Halloween event had the ghost vacuum. (Which was another awesome thing they should bring back – no having to go into edit mode, block out all my buildings and hunt for whatevers!) I had no neighbors and no idea what I was doing. So community prizes in my newbie days meant I got some really cool things, even though I didn’t earn all the solo prizes.
I really enjoyed reading that post, Alissa! But it also made me kinda sad to see how much awesomeness I’ve missed.
I think it’s really cool when they add a lovely graphical touch, like the snow or falling leaves, or the “wow” of seeing the comic book shading for the first time when the first superheroes event hit.
some of these sound really fun. I wish i had know about the easter eggs with Deep space homer. I started playing last year just before the first monorail event. i must have hit level 20 during it because i came in in the middle. I would love to see a stonecutters event for those of us that weren’t around then.
To be honest, I wish they would cut back on the events and bring back level updates. That way you can play at your own speed. Right now my game is pretty much dead because I have leveled up and am waiting for the next event to start. Yet once the event starts I will constantly be on my phone trying to get all the prizes, worrying I will fall behind.
The major problem with events I think is managing to please dedicated players and causal players which is almost impossible. Dedicated players will complain because they finish way before the event deadline while causal players will complain that they are so far behind that they will never get all the prizes (thanks to a weak internet and cell signal while on vacation I missed a week of the last event).
Less is more might be a good approach too. The last event we had the regular prize track, special friend battle prize track, updating Burns summer home, and crafting. We also had to power up our heroes and villians using crystals which became useless halfway through the game. Getting rid of some of these elements and having one or two really good tasks would be best I think.
Yeah, this last event definitely had a lot going on. I started to feel a little burned out by act 3.
I was burned out halfway through act 2 lol
definitely thought it should’ve been one act less. i was ready for the event to be over with the end of act 2.
I enjoyed the community prizes, I don’t know why, maybe everybody working for the same goal.
Also like the event where you got to leave prizes in neighbors towns (Valentine’s, presents, Bunny’s, popping ghosts.) That was fun.
But my favorite was the Stonecutter’s puzzle/riddles. Because I like puzzles, -(Nancy Drew nerd here).
I seen a comment about someone wanting a murder mystery. Yeah that be great. Would LLOVE it!!!
Now if the could do something Doctor Who ish
Whacking day. I play this game with my brother who lives on the other side of the US. It was always awesome to save up 250+ snake eggs and then carpet bomb his town with them.
When TSTO first started we could steal our neighbors Lemon tree. It was fun trying to hid my lemon tree so nobody could steal it.
I remember that too
Wow I miss this 🙁
I read that they got rid of that because if someone stole your lemon tree and then unfriended you, you would lose the lemon tree with no way of getting it back. I don’t understand why they couldn’t do a simple fix and make it to where if someone took your lemon tree and then unfriended you it would return to the original owner.
I kinda liked this past Christmas’ naughty-or-nice social aspect. Felt sorta like Santa, viewing my neighbors and seeing who did what 🙂
And so mad I missed the Stonecutter event. I started playing shortly after that, just before Clash of Clones started. Ended up getting Stonecutter stuff for donuts when it was briefly revisited. But I had no idea about the riddles.
C’mon, EA…get creative again!
I always chose nice 🙂
I must be on Santa’s nice list 😉
I just wish they would let us deliver a present a day to each of our neighbors instead of limiting it. The limit of 5 felt very grinchish
Yeah…forgot about that.
So I started December 26th 2015, been playing everyday since. I have an end goal of making a really nice looking town (with a cool monorail now with the current update) and am lvl 61 however, with each new update event and the 3 acts they bring they seem to bring out a lot of buildings which i’ll take as they give me that sweet precious $$$.
But they take up a lot of room (curse you Soilant Red factory) in a freemium town, always struggling for more room and all my buildings are already packed tightly together. I am having to resort to using the Heights space for events which lasted for only 2 (western and super heroes) , thankfully (I think) I only need the Gogoplex theatre and they guy running it as my last free character. Right now I am happy that the monorail mini update thing is giving me a breather from a major event, a chance to catch up with buying more space, space that I will most likely lose once the next update arrives :/.
If I didn’t play this everyday, I’d be screwed. XD
Love the game though, just the buying more space part is difficult when playing for free and juggling events every other month.
After reading this it make me sad that I missed them all. I started playing in the first superhero event. I drool over my friends stonecutter stuff. Oh well. I always thought the friend visits are not use to their full potential. After you get the prizes it’s not worth the trouble for me. I liked tapball and the monorail but recent events wear really thin. I like crafting but it’s been too easy lately. I really hope they bring back some of this stuff
awww memories…
i really enjoyed the stonecutters clue part of the game as well. I also really enjoyed the very first halloween event, as well as the daily prizes we would receive when we would open the game everyday (especially the mysterious box after 5 days).
I really like the snow during the Christmas events. I really appreciate the level of detail they put into all of the buildings and decorations. For example, the hanging skeletons from Halloween have scarves and mittens in the winter. It’s the little touches like that that make it great.
I live in Southern California, so there’s no snow here. It’s nice to have a touch of winter in Springfield.
I just wish the blanket of snow lasted all winter long instead of melting away right after Christmas. Bums me out to see it all gone and green grass returned by mid-January 😐
Oh man! Now I know some of the awesome things I’ve missed. I would love to see EA do some old school TSTO. I did get excited being part of the community prize during Tap Ball. Seeing all the balls bouncing in everyone’s town was a hoot and it was nice to be able to interact with my neighbors.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, Alissa. I’ve been waiting for someone to say this stuff for a long time. I’m sure many of you have read my recent posts griping about this very same issue. No. I’m not Mr. Negative. I’m just a concerened player who would like to see some fresh, new ideas and formats. To tell the truth, I haven’t been playing the game from the beginning. I wish I had been an original player. I started playing the game a couple of years ago after I got an iPad Air for my birthday. I stated playing the game soon after the Stone Cutter event started. I have to say that the Stone Cutter event was a little confusing for me, and since I was a new player, I was unable to get all of the stuff (not by a long shot). In fact- I was such a noob, that I didn’t event realize that the Stone Cutter thing was an “event”. I thought it was just part of the game. It was all very overwhelming to me, but also very exciting! I was playing like crazy trying to advance through the event while at the same time trying to level up and obtain more characters. It was crazy, and I think I drove my wife crazy with my constant tapping. She ended up banning the game from the bedroom so she could sleep. Oops.
Do I want to see a Stone Cutter sequel? NO!!! As much as I liked that event, I want to see something new. I like the idea of using some of the format of the Stone Cutter event. I like solving puzzles, and chasing after clues. I want to see an event where I have to actually use my brain to win prizes. I’m tired of tapping roaming baddies every event. It’s mindless, and dull.
Are you listening EA? I’m convinced that TSTO players (at least the ones that visit this web site) are some of the smarter gamers out there. So give us something challenging again. Something new and fresh.
Thanks again, Alissa.
I’m not an original player either, 🙁
I started around the end of 2013..
I also like little challenges, I think a sort of mystery event would be fun.
(I have also mentioned this previously) but a mystery event where characters in Springfield lose items and ‘Sky finger’ must help Chief Wiggum to find the lost items
Or an events where we work together with neighbours to solve mysteries/ complete a challenge, for example we can find clues in our neighbours land (or we get given a clue when we visit our neighbours land)
So many possibilities..
Stonecutters is still my favorite event because of those daily riddles. It was new and different, and just really added some fun to the event.
One other thing I really liked was the Bunny Stunner from Easter 2014. So much nicer (and more fun) than having to tap all the wandering bunnies. 🐰⚡️
I forgot about that one! (at least while writing this post) During every event I wish they’d bring it back so i could zap all of the tappables lol
I gave so many seizures to those little bunnies during that event 🐇🔌
Yes I remember the riddles and I depends on Alissa and gang to tell me which characters to send for the tasks.
Halloween 2013 was by far the best tree house of horrors event, the way the town was coloured and shaded made it more atmospheric and just that bit spookier, none have come close since, I loved that one
Good Post Alissa, 😉
I think One of the coolest things EA did in TSTO was giving Maggie as a character. Thank you EA, 🙂
I liked the Christmas event last year where we could leave a present for a neighbour, I always chose ‘nice’ (even tho some of my neighbours chose to be ‘naughty’) 😛
I miss the community prizes too and I also like the friendship prizes (where we got Stampy,Snowball etc)
I would like Wendell as a character and a donut tree (like the lemon tree etc but with donuts on it) – please EA, I know you can do it. 🙂
I had forgotten about the naughty and nice thing, I was like you and only did “nice”. I was surprised how many times neighbors reciprocated with “naughty”.
That means You are on Santa’s nice list too 🙂
I know, same..
But it was still fun, I like those type of events where we can send gifts/items to neighbours.
I did enjoy the gift giving and I hope they bring back. Who didn’t love watching gifts flying through the air as you seeded your neighbor’s towns? 🙂
I enjoyed it too.I hope they bring it back too. 🙂
(lol, yes I remember trying to place them outside The Simpsons house in my neighbours towns, so they would find the gifts easier,only to then see it bounce to somewhere else) lol
And I loved going to my town and seeing there was a gift there waiting.. 🙂
I really wish we could get a stonecutters sequel, I never got to play the original and I am desperate to get the building & all the outfits. I’d happily pay donuts for them. That and duff gardens are my 2 big wishes. I tried to get duff gardens a few weeks ago when it was on gil’s deal but I said no buy mistake and it never came back. I contacted ea but couldn’t get it. I’m so gutted. Hopefully they give us another chance to buy it.
They did bring them back last year for donuts…
I started to play just when the stone cutters event was ending. I wish they would bring it back. 🙂
The Stonecutter event was definitely the best event in my opinion. I loved the parchment puzzles and all the layers of that event.
It constantly wins Addicts reader favorite event. It was sooooo fun and involved. Kept you playing…
I would go with neighbour interactions during events as one of the coolest things EA have ever done!
I wasn’t playing for the original Christmas 2013 gift dropping experience but I loved it when it was done in 2015.
I really enjoy dropping presents/jelly blobs etc in neighbours towns and seeing who has left some for me, it makes me feel like part of a group of friends.
Recently due to WiFi issues I really struggled with getting the prizes in the Wild West event and after mentioning it on this site some of my neighbours really stepped up and dropped me a ridiculous amount of Prospectors which helped me through … how cool is that?
Very…i love the social interaction in this game! It’s what sets it apart from all other games…they need to keep it up. Superheroes 2 was a disappointment…
I’m glad to hear you say something about the social interaction aspects. You may find this funny, but I consider this blog part of the game. I love that people share their ideas with each other.
I think the amount of TSTO blogs, forums, etc and the interaction on them are what make TSTO stand out from other games. Even before we started this blog Bunny, Wookiee and I all used to visit another site (that’s no longer in existence). It’s just a neat aspect of this game.
That’s awesome that you all have been friends so longer, I agree that superheroes 2 was a disappointment and this is coming from someone who missed the first one so all the prizes were new for me.
It was so highly anticipated by all of us…..and then fell flat on it’s face.
I like the fact that we get gifted something unexpected now and then, such as the turkey, the flying bunny,…
I miss Frink Points too, we got some sweet things there.
And yes I did like the christmas gift bags, those were real fun. Not so much the wheel of fortune, that I am glad to see go. But it felt more exciting to have gifts to open. Now it just seems like craft craft craft, fight fight fight…
Great writeup
I am so sad that they haven’t done Community Prizes in a while. They were really cool for me, as I felt I was a part of a large community working towards a big goal. Not to mention how cool most of the prizes were, but alas. Have they said they are done doing them? Or just saying that because they haven’t done them for about a year?
They stopped with Christmas 2013…brought them back for Tap Ball 2015 and they haven’t been back since.
Didn’t they mess up Tap Ball’s? Things become a blur nowadays, but I think that was the one where the amounts we had to reach were a little ridiculous and EA ended up adjusting them…sorta like the social prizes for the superheroes sequel…
The goal was super high..but then they revised it and made everything lower.