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 liked neighbor events like Halloween or Valentine’s Day where you had to tap on characters or buildings. I think they could add to this by having special prizes for collecting groups. Like tapping on all the Simpsons or 10 different businesses. This would make friend visits more interesting and would cause you to look around your friends towns more. You could also get a different prize for your friends tapping your different groups. (Social aspect) I can see where it could get a little tedious like wacking day when all you need is one more and you can’t find it. (So glad EA doesn’t make it where there are only 3 snakes in your friends towns you need to find. That last snake took forever to find in large towns.) Plus it would be a bonus if you were a premium player because your friends would have special things to tap. (Could get some freemium plays shell out some cash)
Too bad when they brought back some of the Stonecutters stuff they didn’t bring back the Sacred Scroll. I lost my Springfield just after the Stonecutter’s event the first time and had to rebuild. Cost me donuts when they brought back stuff so I was happy I could have some back but really miss the Sacred Scroll.
I was sorry about that, too…I didn’t know what it was, but it looked like a gate to go with the walls/fences, and we don’t get nearly enough gates to go with walls/fences in this game!
Springfield is nothing but a decoration around the MONORAIL. 😉
Whacking day, whacking day, whacking day!
We do, we do!
(Looks at Sandra)… I ain’t sayin a word
?????
You’d have to figure out what I responded to 😂😂😂😂
I tried….and failed.
It was an excited comment about wanting Whacking Day to return.
. . .
‘Not enough gates & fences’
…?!
I miss being able to drop jelly blobs on neighboureenos! 😀
😂😂😂😂😂
good post. i started in feb of 2014 and i remember being very excited that i hadn’t missed any stonecutters stuff beforehand. stonecutters was also one of my first events and as you said, it had a good structure to it. i don’t mind the 3 act event style but wish it wasn’t the (apparently) only format they use anymore. i also don’t understand not updating the community items, that was the main reason to visit friends. and i have to say, event related friend taps are so tedious anymore…takes like 10 mins to try and find little sprites in their towns. that said i can’t really complain. im at 195 free donuts (hank scorpio here i come).
In defence of the three-act structure of every recent event – before they started doing that people would complain that they would finish the prize track and storyline ages before the end date and then have nothing to do!
I would like to do the game that introduced the chocolate dripping building and/or the event that introduced the big magnifying glass with the cubic zirconia diamond.
I started playing like 3 weeks prior to the Stunecutters event, I couldn’t get al the prices and customs for characters due to I was just starting and my characters staff was not bigger than 10… Also I discovered I could play the game in both my iPad and celphone until Christmas 2014… I would have unlock a lot of prices… Anyways, Stonecuters #1, Halloween 2013 #2 and Christmas 2014 #3, in my opinion considering from the time I started playing.
Same here. The biggest bummer is thatcevery event after that one seemed to not really use many higher level characters. I remember being so bummed about not being able to complete the daily task involving Herman….
One thing I’ve really enjoyed are the events where neighbors can leave things on specific buildings and make their animations turn on. For example the spies during Stonecutters. I love some of the animations on my buildings and I never get to see them live.
Lovely article (and comments thread) Alissa, thank you.
I’d forgotten about that element of the Stonecutters. It was actually quite exciting to see what the next clue would be the next day. In terms of what I have liked on past events has been on past Halloween events where characters have been possessed or attacked by aliens and they needed to be tapped to be released. Pretty cool animations.
I think it would be good to get the community prizes back – any incentive for me to visit my neighbours! However, one of the things that puts me off visiting is the time taken to load a town. This isn’t on everybody’s town but some of them take too long. With the expansions of land and the relaxation of the number of items in a town, it can mean visiting neighbours takes too long. In the end, I’ll just tap and run just to get the benefit but I feel I’m missing out on some great designs.
It is a difficult one for EA though, it needs to be balanced between the newbies and longer term players. I actually find most events OK and can reach the targets relatively easily by logging in a couple of times a day (although the less said about Easter 2014 the better!). Actually, lets revisit the Easter 2014 one! What didn’t work was the element of chance and even if you grind away, it didn’t guarantee the prize – that was wrong. However, the idea of splitting the game into 2 with the blue and pink eggs was an idea I liked and I felt it worked with the neighbour visits. If there was a way to program an adjustment in the chances on the prize wheel after gaining some of the prizes, it would have worked better – although could have been a right pain in the bum to program! Yes, I am still bitter I didn’t get Hugs Bunny and I refuse to pay donuts!
Basically for me. as I’ve been playing since around June 2013, it isn’t a game I want to spend a lot of time with and so keeping it as it is without having to log in every hour would be good!
I remember and have all of these I think so have been playing longer than I thought, I played a long time without a log in/friends bad move, I enjoyed the superhero event most hope this gets revisited also the Christmas events are good, wish they would make hights resources easier or a mini game to collect faster like the chilli pepper collecting of the tortoise.
I started playing towards the end of the 2013 Haloween event. Looks like I missed some great stuff.
I’ve been trying to complete character sets but I’m starting to realize even with EA bringing back old characters for certain events I’ll never complete the Stonecutter, Zombie or Clash of Clones collection.
I would love to see EA block off 1-2 months per year and allow you to replay a past event. They have brilliant content that millions never played…and others might enjoy a walk down memory lane or getting that one character or building they missed out on. Content already built + money being spent + player engagement = Win.
The coolest item for me is that giant Christmas glass globe where u can send some characters into it to give a nice animation. It was an expensive Gill offer though.
Some good ones here. I’m just glad the street sweeper didn’t make the cut! I lwas seriously hoping this was just a knee jerk reaction at the time; “It’s seriously one of the coolest things this game has ever offered.” This game has so many cool characters, buildings, decorations and animated tasks. Love it, love it, love it.
lol it’s still cool. Anything that can drive on the road is cool…
I love the street sweeper to but it got stuck on the dirt roads of my western tow and the only way I could get it back to real streets was to remove the dirt roads.
Yup…it’s insanely frustrating too! Something EA needs to fix for sure (one of the reasons it’s not on this list lol)
Of all of the things I brush off & say it’s only a game (gasp!), the street sweeper not staying on the pavement probably bothers me the most. I’m not even stressed over the monorail alignment, I figure with time it will work itself out. I am hopeful they bring back some of the premium stations I wasn’t able to purchase, after seeing them in neighbor’s towns I want to buy them 😊😊😊
Yea it’s really really annoying. But if you think about it dirt is really really dirty..so it sorta makes sense 😂😂
😂 That reminds me of a joke Alissa😊
There’s this blonde driving down a country road, and she sees another blonde in a rowboat in the middle of a field, just a rowing away in the middle of this field, so she stops her car, gets out, and yells to the blonde in the field, ” You are one of the reasons why people think all blondes are dumb!!! If I could swim, I’d swim out there and kick your @$$!!!!!”
I think there’s a blonde driving the street sweeper 😜
(before anyone gets butthurt, I’ve been a blonde my whole life😊)
bwahahahaha that’s a classic…
One of my favorites😊
Agreed! I wish they would not make the ACT2/3 stuff, it does get boring after awhile, and I always wonder if I will get to the main prize, and I Play multiple times a day.
And yes the Stonecutter was fun!
That’s a great list, brought back fond memories of events that I really enjoyed. These 33 day 3-act events are tedious. I also miss the challenging events, the ones where it wasn’t easy to get every prize. I’m not asking for the Christmas prize wheel or anything that frustrating, but having a little challenge or needing a little luck keeps the events engaging.
The clash of clans cross-over was great. When I can destroy my neighbors towns, build castles in my own, hire gangs of villainous nerds, and everyone wins… that is a fun event. I would not mind if they brought it back as a mini-event to fill gaps between new events (similar to the current monorail flash-back).
I liked that event too. It was cool that we could see other people’s towns without having to befriend them. Got some cool ideas from that.
Man, I missed most of those things, and now I wish I had gotten to do the Stonecutters event. I didn’t start playing until late summer 2014. Those sound so cool. At least I’ve gotten a taste of cool since…
I’m sad I missed the events listed in the post. I wish they had revisited some older stuff rather than monorail which wasn’t that long ago. I kind of wish they kept some prizes sort of hard to get during the events like the movie studio originally was during the last event. I know not everybody can log in ever few hours, but I don’t think playing once a day during 90% of an event is too hard to do if your into the game.
My favourite is clash of clone, stonecutter and deep space homer, the Halloween are good but they really the same
Cool things to discover through tsto addicts website
Port tile glitch!!!!!!!
Oh my word that was an amazing discovery
That was a good one
When and what was this?
http://tstoaddicts.com/2013/11/09/squidport-tile-bores-a-new-hope-a-must-read/
Thank you!
I loove some of these things, I think events end up a bit long and monotonous now, not much gets changed up, and there’s no real surprises.
It would be cool to see variable prize targets in events based on the amount of freemium characters a player has, so that everyone can achieve the goal, but have it still be a challenge.
I’d also like to see a ‘returns’ event, where you can choose an event from the past to have another go at. Obviously you’d have an elite group of people that have achieved every goal in every event ever, but for us mere mortals who certainly haven’t, we can go back and achieve the goals, or do events we weren’t around for.
Alissa, your sentence about the three stages of excitement, or lack of, as the Acts are released, hits the nail squarely on the head for me. I joined TSTO late in the game, so have only known the less interesting events; however, my desire to acquire interesting buildings has fuelled my commitment to finishing the events. Nevertheless, I’m now at level 114 and in spite of getting 100% on Superheros 2, I actually found myself contemplating giving up the game because it all seems too repetitive now. I’m holding out for Halloween 16 and hope they raise the bar with that event – bringing it back to a level of ‘gaming’, as you described the Stone Cutter event to be, rather than a mindless tap-tap-tap-fest.
As an aside, it would be nice if they’d review the neighbour rewards, I’ve maxed mine and adding some new ones would keep people wanting to visit their neighbours.
I wish we could get characters from past events.I like to be able to get Dr. Crab from the recent event.It would be nice to have a chance to do so,as well as get past buildings.Also it would be nice to be able to have a chance at getting characters and buildings that are premium purchases, to be able to get them with out paying for donuts.
Alissa touched on a lot of things that I hope EA is paying attention to before more Tappers leave this game app (I notice I’ve lost a LOT of Neighboreenos since I started in 2013)!
Lately, I feel like EA is pandering to the noobs and ignoring longtime Tappers!
Krustyland is still being ignored!
Springfield Heights involved crafting that was too Farmland (I hated it)!
Halloween and Christmas used to have the best Events (both stink now!)
Stonecutters and Monorail were the most fun!
I think it’s important to give Tappers more chances to earn Donuts (this encourages more Premium sales)!
Price Premium Items logically (too many Donuts doesn’t sell)!
Choose carefully EA, because you have more competition in Google Play / Apple Store (and Tappers will bail once interest is lost)!
I think EA did make things easier for long term players. It is now much easier to earn donuts once you are over the max game level. In the past, I could never imagine of getting all the premium items as the rate of earning donuts is too super slow.
Thanks for an awesome article! Fun to relive past events. Stone Cutters was paws down my favorite event. I still love sending my characters to sing at the table.
I love the detail, the animated buildings are so cool.
Also the social part including this site makes it much more interesting than other games, it’s great seeing other towns and getting to know people from all over the world on this site. Wish they would bring back friendship prizes, got some great prizes.
My all time favorite… dropping presents🎁🎁🎁😀😀😀
That was fun!
I just always wanted more and more to drop 😊😂😊😂
Josephine, friend me so I can see you Springfield please! Add @gamil to email me
Mark~ on its way now
Alright my dumb @$$ hit the wrong button please resend!
Re-sent dumb@$$ 😂😂😂
Dang your Springfeild has it going on thanks for the add!
Lol thank you Mark, it’s always a work in progress, I’m never completely happy with it 😂 Happy to have you as a neighbor, your town looks good too!
I started playing TSTO in June 2015. The coolest event was the Monorail. Watching the train zip by across my town always gives me sense of Zen. Sky is the limit when it comes to creativity in how you build your tracks too. You can insert one or two landmark buildings along the path so you can marvel each time you take a ride in town. I also like to get ideas by seeing how my neighbours does their tracks. One guy actually made a full loop around his border of the town! Unfortunately I lost him from my list so not able to hawk at it anymore.
Gameplay for Monorail is also engaging. Collecting recycled items to get prize is achievable with good timing of every 1, 2 or 3 hours. Helps that Jesse Grass is a great character and premium too. He shaved a lot of time than otherwise needed.
This is an interesting thread that could reveal a lot of forgotten good times and dang fangled bad memories as we spend time thinking about it. I have blistered my fingers from tapping starting way back from Wacking Days. I always win all the prizes and outpace the calendar. Good times, bad times, and everything between. I cannot post my suggestions to EA here as I have not paid the price of thinking about it. But just off the top of my head here are my first thoughts.
Sometimes I think it is too late to put the genie back in the box. Meaning that when I first started playing, every building I placed in my Springfield was very special. I loved my Nighthawk Diner when I first got it and appreciated it for some time before I moved on to the next thing. Every building had a special meaning to me and a place in my town. Now, with some events I get so many buildings I just stack them up in a holding area until I can take a breath after the event is over and line them up on a street somewhere. I do not look at them or care what they are. They were nothing special or meaning full, but they fill a space… I don`t know where I was going with that but it hit a spot with me, so let`t try this instead…
The social aspect of the game has been hit and miss over the years. There is so much potential there that has not been experimented with yet. What if we had a short event where we were asked to place a flag at the most interesting/creative place we see in our neighbors town. All flags would be hidden from everyone until the very end. The idea would be to place your flag in the same area as most others would also. Make us look at our neighbors towns and spend time finding the most beautiful spot to flag. In the end we win a prize if we flag the same spot that so many others have flagged also…
I don`t know, I just think there is so much more to the social aspect of this game that we are not engaged with yet.
Final note before I actually start thinking about this “life ruining fun” at the end of my weekend when I need to do the laundry instead. This is a mobile game and should be fun and not a grind out. The Halloween event should end at the end of Halloween. The Christmas event should end at the end of Christmas. And God help us when the WORLD ENDS, I do not want to have to take a moment and tap a few more times to win that last prize because your event went too long… Amen!