Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
While we wait for something…anything…to hit our beloved Springfield’s let’s talk about something Christmassy. Something seasonal. Something that embodies the magic of the season…
Or let’s just talk about this darn Elf Gnome that everyone keeps bringing up.
There have been a lot of discussions in the comments over the last day or two about the free Gnome in Your Home and the product that inspired it, Elf on the Shelf. Many of you are commenting about how you use the Elf in your own home. While others are commenting about how creepy the original Elf…and even more so the Gnome..is. But why is it here? What’s the purpose?
Let’s explore and hypothesize a little Christmas magic, shall we?
So what some of you may realize, but many more likely don’t, the Gnome in Your Home is actually linked to an upcoming episode of The Simpsons. In about a week and a half, Sunday Dec. 11th, “The Night After Krust-Mas” episode will air (this year’s holiday inspired episode). In it, much like the dialogue in our own games…Homer and Marge get little Riley Maggie her own Gnome in Your Home. And, similar to a lot of your thoughts, Marge is creeped out by it.
But why would EA release an episode tie-in inspired item, a week and a half before the episode airs? Heck “The Night After Krust-Mas” isn’t even the next episode to air of The Simpsons, an all-new (non holiday) episode is airing on Sunday the 4th.
Now let’s take something else some of you may have observed…the Gnome in Your Home Box randomly opens…
Yes, that’s right. At various points of the day (and night) when you log into TSTO you may notice your Gnome box wide open as the Gnome escapes and runs amok in your carefully crafted Springfield. (ok so no one has actually spotted the Gnome running amok, but we’ve gotta have some imagination, right?)
So what does this mean? Why would the box open if you don’t see the Gnome running around? Where does he go? And admit it…it creeps you out just a little bit knowing the creepy little Gnome is on the loose in your Springfield and you can’t see him, doesn’t it?
Here’s my theory….
The Gnome is going to play an important part of the 2016 Holiday update, which is why EA released it a week and a half before the episode airs. The Gnome is going to play some role in all of this, perhaps a mischievous role. Where we’ll spend 6 weeks trying to get the town under control from the damaged the disgruntled Gnome played in town….
Or maybe he’s a nice Gnome. One that will help us save Christmas, and ultimately lead us to Santa. Hopefully arriving in our towns as a playable character.
I just have this feeling that this crazy, creepy Gnome is going to play a big part in this year’s Christmas Event.
I also have a feeling that we’ll be seeing more than just Christmas this year. As “The Night Before Krust-mas” episode, as detailed by EW in this article, will see the return of Rabbi K. Albeit in Krusty’s head..but he’s still coming back..for more than just “meh”. I think that the return of Rabbi K, AND the fact that it’s in a holiday episode (one where Krusty explores another faith mind you) would be the PERFECT opportunity for EA to introduce some of those Hanukkah inspired items that Wookiee’s (and many of you) been pining for.
So there you have it my friends, a little speculation on what the release of this tiny little Gnome could mean for the Christmas 2016 Event. Of course I could be wrong in all of this…and the Gnome could literally mean nothing in the scheme of things. But hey…what’s the harm in a little speculation amongst friends?
What are your thoughts about the Gnome? Think he’s a good Gnome or a bad Gnome? Think he’ll actually play a part in this year’s Event? Or is he just a rabbit EA gave us to chase down the proverbial TSTO Rabbit Hole? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
I find him using the radar and after the first tap my screen freezes and the whole thing fails until the timer runs out.
Android
Could be a device issue…this is a MASSIVE update that requires a ton of space a memory. Make sure nothing else is running when you play TSTO see if that helps…if not try an uninstall and reinstall..
It worked twice, sort of, since the update and I make sure nothing else is running… maybe on Saturday I will contemplate uninstalling, but I usually don’t have to do that.
…and I don’t want to. *pout*
I have a workaround…
If there are any characters with completed tasks that I haven’t tapped on to receive the payout when I tap the gnome, then it freezes, but if not, then it works as normal.
Happening again… back to the drawing board.
If your gnome isn’t working, got to Krustyland! Mine wasn’t working for days, I uninstalled and reinstalled the game, but nothing. Then I saw a post suggesting to go to Krustyland to reset your gnome, and sure enough it worked!
Thanks, Matt! It was driving me crazy and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. But since going to Krustyland, it completely reverted immediately when I returned to Springfield. I thought he was somewhere in the town and I had to figure out where he was without the radar at first. Sheesh. Time wasted!
Thanks, Matt! Didn’t know what was going on! Spent too long searching for that pesky little gnome until I got on here and read your post. Krustyland to the rescue!
Thanks for the fix as this worked for me.
My Gnome Box is empty and it says to go find “him” and there is even a little count down thing that turns to warm me that time is running out; but I can’t find “him”??? Driving me nuts!
My gnome doesn’t work. It says he’s out, but I can see him in there and the box is closed. No matter what I do it doesn’t change. I even tried uninstalling the game and reinstalling it and it still doesn’t work. I don’t know what else to do. I hate to miss out on part of the game.
Mine is doing the same thing. I hope they fix this glitch soon, it’s annoying to not be able to find him. I even tried making everything see-through, but he isn’t anywhere.
So the gnome is part of the event. ? How do we catch him for more treasures ? Any ideas….is it like the hovering star, where we are auto scanned to it when we get to a neighbors place ? Help. I need to catch this crepe dude.
I’ve never seen my gnome box open. What’s the deal? What times are it?
Hello…….still waiting on this Christmas update !! How much longer????????
Is Christmas there yet?
No.
IS Christmas there yet?
NO!
IS CHRISTMAS THERE YET!
NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!?!
I was just scrolling around my town, planning where I’m going to put all the stuff from this event and realized that it’s finally happened…I only have one strip of land left to buy! I haven’t filled all the land I HAVE bought, but still, there isn’t a ton left! I might have to do some redecorating and put some stuff away. Considering ditching my entire Wild West, honestly…
We all nEAd the possibility to store arEAs as a whole and rEAplace them when wEA want.
I don’t have a gnome in my town. Game glitch? Or did I get skipped?
Me too! What’s up with that?
I don’t have one either
True story. Thursday afternoon I had the opportunity to take a nap, of which I took advantage. I received a push notification for the simpson’s update during my nap! I was super excited, but ultimately more exhausted, so I fell back asleep, excited and reassured that my life was the best it had ever been. When I got up, still groggy, but very excited, I rolled over to where I keep my phone on my nightstand to finally install the long awaited Christmas update. A couple moments later, it became clear that all Simpson update memories where part of a napping dream. Best nap of my life. Worst wake up moment afterward.
Must admit I have yet to see my elf box empty ? He has yet to venture out. Was it a wind up about him coming out now & then ?
Please help me – i did not receive the elf box or don’t remember placing it. Is there an easy way to find it or to know that i have received it? Thanks!
I’m guessing our Holiday Gnome interacts with the Simpson’s Family (especially Maggie), but I will wait for the 2016 Xmas Episode to reveal more …. 😉
Based on Alissa’s previous post about dates for the updates,
https://tstoaddicts.com/2014/03/19/tapped-out-up-dates/
here are the percentages of possibilities for ALL updates (levels, holidays, etc.)
M – 5.3%
Tu – 22.1%
W – 42%
Th – 22.1%
F – 8.4%
For just Christmas updates, there was one Monday 12-04-12, one Wednesday 12-03-14 and two Tuesdays 12-10-13 and 12-08-15.
Like many of you, I’m obsessed with this update. I’ll be happy if it’s Monday. I believe Alissa said updates usually occur at 1pm PST / 4pm EST.
So, seems like we are 100% not getting the update til at least Monday, right?
That’s my guess
Thanks Alissa! 🙂
Have a great weekend with lots of enjoyable Xmas stuff with Riley.
Bunny is the Xmas non-liker, not you, right?
Ps. Bit late… but welcome Patrick! Great addition to the amazing team.
Yup that’s bunny. I love Christmas 😀
It’s not that I DON’T like it… it was me losing 17 family members all around the holiday or that made the holiday special… create difficulty to celebrate it for several years. It’s not merry or jolly when you’re grieving loss. 🙁
I also live where 6ft of snow is “normal” as well as no power due to snowstorms Christmas eve or Day. So it’s a difficult holiday to “get into” to begin with. Lol 😉
Probably Tuesday. EA almost never does anything on Monday.
I don’t have an account on this site so I cannot post to it. Anyway, I put out all of my old Christmas stuff and started a Christmas quest that involves the nativity and the holiday plunger.
Hanukkah is very late this year. If we are really bringing some Jewish love into the game, maybe we won’t get the event until Dec 25!! (Cue the freakouts….including mine!) *kind of kidding…just for laughs!* Starting to freak out….please don’t let me be right.
The major holiday updates has never been very holiday timed, being released weeks in advance of the holiday and lasting way past the end of the holiday when the real world has forgotten about it.
What frustrates me is the other similar games (no names needed) has already released their versions of the winter festivals
Well, I was speaking kind of tongue in cheek, but I agree with your point that it’s agonizing to see other games already have their holiday updates. Even without a questline, just give me the snow already!!
So has a big update ever hit on a Friday? I would assume the programmers would work mon-fri so would want to release Mon or Tues to fix any bugs? It would be nice if they at least gave a facebook update telling us it’s coming next week (or whenever), they must know everyone is waiting and/or speculating! 😀
Nope.
I thought there was one, and it had a bunch of issues that couldn’t get resolved until Monday. Maybe I imagined it.
Maybe 4th of july 2013. That was the only “event” (which was an old school mini event). Otherwise just level updates and none in 2015 or 2016.
It was probably a level update. Or maybe it was Springfield Heights, that had all the issues.
I’m assuming no updates ever on the weekend, too, right? I’d love to be able to stop worrying about it for a couple of days…
I’ve seen an act change over but never a new update
Good! Lisa’s getting nauseated from doing cartwheels all day. 😉
Actually, I may also place Don Vittorio and his grouse, which I stored right after buying, because I already had a bunch of new-character questlines going on at that time.
Ah good point Jack. A lot of you did complain lately and now look.
Maybe they didn’t release it due to the constant comments like “ugh, I hate that the game has no down time.” “I don’t like when they go from event to event.” “I need a break.”
Careful what you wish forrrrrr… 😉
Myself personally, I finished the thanksgiving update super early and I constantly rearrange, whether there is an event or not. Not sure why people can’t seem to decorate their town while a few characters are on event tasks. It’s not like the move item feature turns off during events.
Who knows, maybe EA is trying to please the group that wanted a break.
I like the break, but after the apparent recent decision to give us no break, I’ve been extremely hesitant to do much in my game, especially sending characters on tasks just to earn some money/XP.
So now, it’s created this anticipatory reaction…event ends, mini-event starts, that ends, new event starts, that is ends…repeat. Almost no breaks anymore. I’m mentally prepared for the next event, but it’s not showing up. Wish EA would just stick to a regular schedule and stop messing with us 😉
I’m with you, there. Events are when I do most of my designing because I have new stuff to design with.
I sometimes have trouble decorating during events because it’s the event items I’m trying to decorate with and I need to see what all I end up with before I can figure out the best way to put it all together (and which pieces of land I need to buy to put it all in that will go best with what’s already there). It has nothing to do with characters being on tasks.
That said, I don’t mind downtime between events except for two thing… 1) Since I don’t know when the new event will start, I have to be constantly checking to see if there’s an update and to make sure I keep Lisa and Homer fairly accessible, and 2) I get tired reading a zillion comments from people about when the new event is going to start, lol!
Yeah, I wish EA would choose a day for major event launches like a Tuesday then there’d be no guess work and painful waiting.
Plus I don’t think referencing last events beyond a year old are a good frame of reference–the recent changes, like ending the level updates and such have left us in the recent months, used to going from one event to the next with no breaks. We all expected it bc we are trained monkeys 🐒 this wasn’t a hallucinatory response conjured up from our addiction to the game and impatience. Just my opinion.
This is bs. They let us going with this pattern of no lagging in between updates and mini updates. They know we all wait all year for this event so I don’t see the logic in waiting. What if it makes some so mad or some where the adrenaline wears off and then they don’t care as much or at all anymore. They can’t spend as many donuts if they feel like that. So I say send the update especially since the files were finished weeks back. Come on EA!!!
Thank you
Fantastic blog
Good luck
+_+_+_+_
While waiting for the update, I keep Homer and Lisa zombified thanks to the Zombie Sandwich. I think it is a very fitting state for both during the downtime. xD
If you look back at previous winter events none have started this early in December. So none of us should be that surprised that there has been no update yet, should we ?
Looks like next Tuesday the 6th now.
That’s not true…as they’ve started the first week of December in 2012 and 2014
http://tstoaddicts.com/2014/03/19/tapped-out-up-dates/
Ok fair enough but early next week will not be that late in my opinion compared to the past.
As some guys have posted already there has been many who complained that there was no down time. EA can’t win either way.
Why have I not even recieved the gnome in my home update?? Ive been constantly checking for updates since I came on here yesterday and found out there was a mini christmas update!
Wasn’t an update just a change of things in the Store. Do you have Christmas items in your store?
I have not received it and have a ticket in -a Specialist is looking into it.
Yesterday my daily task was to send Springfielders to buy gifts, I felt sure that the Christmas event was coming… but no!
Do you happen to know when the update will be? The Christmas update is always my favourite, I love the snow and the story is always great. I NEED MY CHRISTMAS FIX
Worst wait for an update EVER!!!! 😁
Had a horrible thought this morning, what if this is the last kick in the teeth from 2016 (quite possibly the worst year, perhaps not ever but certainly in recent times!) that EA are going to cancel Christmas!?!?!😳😬😮💩) …… no, calm down, think happy thoughts, go to your happy place 😀
I’m kind of surprised that since they didn’t realease the update why couldn’t they release a small update to tide us over such as an amazing episode tie in or something like that?
A couple of things. I was SO expecting the “Holiday” update today. I am pissed! December is a mixed month for me. Not getting into details (cause I really don’t want to depress people), but the TSTO “December Holiday” event usually makes this bleak month possible for me. Also, why do I have to sign up to another site to just like a comment, or to comment to someone who posted a comment on this site? I don’t trust this WordPress. My husband hasn’t given the OK if it’s safe or not to use yet.
You can click reply to make a comment on a comment but I agree about sign in just to like a comment, hope your December holidays turn out on nice and you enjoy the festive time
Sending you hugs and good wishes. The holidays are a hard time of year for a lot of people. (Me too.) One of my students loves playing Christmas carols and she exclaimed yesterday, “I just love Christmas!” Yay for happy, unspoiled kids! Well, I just love when my Springfield trees are covered with snow and we have a moment to be peaceful and rest a bit with our silly little game. 🙂
WordPress has been around for a long time and is quite safe 🙂
https://youtu.be/eDAfUiVYZDw