Homerpalooza 101: Jam Sessions for Act 2

Hey Tappers!

Hope you’ve got your dancing shoes on and your cell phones ready to light up the night because Homerpalooza has arrived in Springfield! That’s right the rock fest has begun! One key aspect introduced in Homerpalooza is Jam Sessions.

NOTE: This post is a continuation of the Act 1 – rock post, but will focus on Act 2 – Pop. We’ll have another separate post for Act 3

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Jam Sessions:

So in this event, similar to a few events in the past (TapBall, Superheroes, Halloween come to mind), you’ll be tasked with sending characters on a secondary task.  In this case it’s Jam Sessions.

From the Event Hub or in the top right of your screen, click on the stage icon to send characters to Jam Sessions.

Jam Session Stages:

Jam Sessions are conducted at various stages in each Act. In Act 1 – Rock, Jam Sessions were conducted at the Rock Stage, Moe’s Tavern, Kwik-e-Mart, and eventually The Simpsons House (if you unlocked it in the prize track). In Act 2 – Pop, your Rock characters (identified by the logo) will continue to have Jam Sessions at these four stages. However, you’ll now also have Pop characters (identified by the  logo) that can have Jam Sessions at the Pop Stage, Moe’s Tavern, Kwik-e-Mart, and eventually Springfield Elementary (when you unlock it in the prize track).

As you may have noticed, Moe’s Tavern and Kwik-e-Mart are listed as venues for both your Rock and your Pop characters. Every time you go to conduct a Jam Session at these two venues, the game will randomly assign whether the stage is a venue for your Rock  characters or your Pop  characters. The game will only show you the characters that can jam on that stage at that time. So if you go to Moe’s and only see Rock characters, it’s a Rock stage for this Jam Session; or vice versa if you only see Pop characters. As it’s random, you could have one of four possibilities for these two venues:
1) Moe’s Tavern = Rock, Kwik-e-Mart = Rock
2) Moe’s Tavern = Rock, Kwik-e-Mart = Pop
3) Moe’s Tavern = Pop, Kwik-e-Mart = Rock
4) Moe’s Tavern = Pop, Kwik-e-Mart = Pop

4 characters can jam at the Rock Stage and Pop Stage, while only 2 can jam at Moe’s Tavern, Kwik-e-Mart, The Simpsons House, and Springfield Elementary. If you fill a stage, you get 100 bonus event currency ( in Act 2). So if you don’t have enough characters to fill all the stages, it’s in your best interest to fill as many of the small stages as possible.

Jam Session Characters:

Various characters can Jam (perform on stage) to earn more event currency.

In Act 2, Rock characters that can jam at any of the four Rock stages are the same ones from Act 1 that have a blue icon next to them, and include:

• Homer
• Apu
• Rev. Lovejoy
• Dr. Hibbert
• Lisa
• Bleeding Gums Murphy
• Shredder Stevens
• Freddy Freeman
• Rockstar Maggie
• Nick Delacourt
• Peter Dabbruzio
• Rockin Otto
• Weird Al

In Act 2, Pop characters that can jam at any of the Pop stages have a pink icon next to them, and include:

• Lisa
• Bart
• Milhouse
• Ralph
• Nelson
• Alaska Nebraska
• Leon Kompowski
• Maggie
• Bleeding Gums Murphy
• Rockstar Maggie
• Weird Al

NOTE: Act 3 – Hip Hop characters will be discussed in the Act 3 conclusion of this post.

Star Management:

The more frequently you send characters, the better the character will get (i.e. Practice Makes Perfect), and as a result, the more event currency they will earn. The goal is to get your characters to 5 star performers to earn the most event currency possible from each Jam Session, as higher star ranks earn more rewards from Jam Sessions.

Each character has a base star value: (NOTE:  Act 2 characters have been added this time, while Act 3 characters will be shown in the subsequent post!)

As shown above, 1 star characters earn 25 event currency. 2 stars earn 50 event currency, 3 stars earn 75, 4 stars earn 100, and the maxed out 5 star characters earn 125 event currency.

When sending characters, you get 50 bonus event currency for filling the stage, so best to fill those stages up.

Upgrading Characters:

Each character requires 80 star points to rank up to the next half star. Each Jam Session awards the character 5 star points. So it takes 16 Jam Sessions to be upgraded to the next half star. Alternatively, you can spend 1 donut per 5 star points (or 16 donuts to level up a complete half star) – though we never recommend spending your precious donuts to do so.

Time commitment wise, it takes 4 hours per Jam Session, 16 Jam Sessions to upgrade half a star, so 64 hours to upgrade half a star. Homer, Apu, Rev. Lovejoy, and Dr. Hibbert will require 8 half-star upgrades to reach 5 stars, so that’s 512 hours or 21 and a third days of practice. This time commitment is reduced by 64 hours for every half star a characters base star rank is higher than 1 star.

You’ll notice, for this reason Act 2 characters start at a much higher base star value. So someone like Leon Kompowsky that starts at 3.5 base star value would only need 3 half-star upgrades, or 192 hours of practice, to reach 5 stars.

Tips and Tricks:

Be sure to check out the Act 1 post for Tips and Tricks.

And that’s it my friends. A few quick tips to make Jam Sessions in Springfield rock….

What are your thoughts on Jam Sessions? Have any other tips or tricks you can share for Act 2 only? Rank up any Act 2 characters yet? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!