Yup the servers may be down for some of you. This shouldn’t be a surprise at this point. Since moving the update time to 10am ET they’ve crashed nearly every time a new act hits…
Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
It’s update Wednesday! Woohoo! Who’s excited for all new content in TSTO? After all that downtime (seriously was a SLOW July) everyone should be excited for something…anything to hit our games!
Well…that something has arrived! As Moe’s Ark is now officially live in our Pocket-Sized towns! Yes, that’s right my friends log into your Springfield’s to see all the zoo raising fun. Or just to see what items are available for you to throw donuts at…
Anywho, remember this was an app store update that hit our games YESTERDAY. So if you didn’t download the update check your app store for it now…we’ll wait. (if you don’t see it listed in your update section try searching the store for Tapped Out)
Waiting…..
Everyone got it? Good. Great. Grand. Let’s get started…
As I’ve mentioned several times over the last few days, this update kicks off with a task for THREE of the Simpsons to complete. So be sure you have at least 3 free. And more details are below the fold…
Note: As always, I’ll be updating this post frequently while I play through the event myself. So keep checking back today for all of the details on Act 1…
First thing you’ll notice is…FREE Donuts!
60 of them to be exact! That’s a lot of donuts! Why? I have no idea…but free donuts are free donuts so I’m not complaining, nor investigating. lol Just taking my donuts and running…
Note: Some are reporting that if you haven’t logged into TSTO in a long time (like over a month) you’ll get 300 donuts and a tree. I’ll have to test this out on one of my other games a little later…
Getting Started
Your initial quest for 3 Simpsons will be 6s long. Once you’ve finished that you’ll be tasked with placing the Springfield Zoo sign and you’ll also unlock Larry Kidkill for free…
THIS will trigger the event to start for you. Only after you’ve placed the Zoo sign and unlocked Larry will you unlock the prize track and the new items in the store. And as usual, you’ll continue to unlock more actions (such as tappables and neighbor actions) as you progress through the questline.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to follow the We Stole a Zoo questline. Do not complete any other tasks until you’ve worked through that questline, to the point of getting to “Unlock Big Cat Country Prize”, otherwise you’ll get stuck. The We Stole a Zoo questline is essential for unlocking neighbor actions and more. So follow that one until you cannot follow it anymore. The work on other questlines/task book action items.
FREE LAND
You’ll notice you’ve been awarded 9 free squares of land in the top right section of Springfield (along the Mountains). This is to start placing your zoo.
For now stick to placing your zoo in this area, as I’ve seen a few reports of players moving the items and the free land disappearing.
Gil’s Day Old Dounts
Gil appears in Springfield offering a Day Old Donut sale…
Seeing LOADS of reports from you guys saying you purchased it, it took your money and didn’t give you donuts. So for now, if you haven’t already, do not buy it!
If you did buy it and did not receive your donuts, contact EA. Alternatively, you can contact your app store, inform them and they should be able to refund you as well. But I do feel it’s important to contact EA so they know there’s an issue with it and they can correct it…
Free Stuff
Here are the free items awarded with the start of Act 1, how you get them and what they’re for. We’ll go into more details below (and in some cases in their own post)…
Springfield Zoo Sign. We Stole a Zoo Pt. 2. This will act as your “hub” for the event. This will also be the area in which the arrangement bonus is based on. Yes, the arrangement bonus area is back. At least it’s a fairly large area, basically takes up a little more than the 9 land tiles you’re given for free.
The Emu Experience. We Stole a Zoo Pt. 3. This is your first animal hub, and you can upgrade it to unlock more decorations and items to increase your arrangement bonus. More details on this will be below.
Animal Feeding Area. We Stole a Zoo Pt. 5. They finally brought back a “clear all” for the tappables. Tap this every 4 hours to instantly clear all Zoo Visitors (and collect their rewards). Now you don’t have to go searching for them…
Act 1 Prize Track
Discount Lion Safari Entrance– 2,100
Land Token– 7,100
Canary M. Birdhouse– 12,200
Crafting Currency (3000 Sanctuary Grants)– 17,500
Big Cat Country– 23,300
Land Token– 29,600
Brittany Brockman– 39,500
Tappables
Tappabales for this event are Zoo Vistors…
Payout: 4 , 2 
, you’ll also have a chance to earn an invasive tadpoles. 
They can be sent to neighbors to earn more currency (more on that in a minute)
Tappable Spawn Rate: 1 every 10 min. 30 Max in town, bank of 30.
Using the Animal Feeding Area you can clear all tappables at once every 4hrs. Makes life easy…
Tappables unlock during We Stole a Zoo Pt. 4
Neighbor Actions
Tapping Tappables in a neighbor’s town will unlock during We Stole a Zoo Pt. 4. You can tap the same visitors in a neighbor’s town for the same payouts above. You can tap 3/town but there is a limit of taps/day.
As far as invasive Tadpoles go…
While you can potentially start earning them at We Stole a Zoo Pt. 4, you won’t be required to place them in a neighbor’s town until We Stole a Zoo Pt. 5. There can be a max of 10 in a friends town at a time. And simply tap the tadpole icon in the top right corner of their town to drop them off. If you are unable to drop them it’s likely their town is full.
And I believe the payout for Frogs is the Same as the payout for Tappables, 4 , 2 . If your friend taps them you both get the rewards, if they don’t just you get the payout. Payout till likely appear after 4hrs if they go untapped.
Emu Experience
You’ll notice there is no crafting with this one. Always welcomed. However, there is something different going on. Upgrades. You’ll need to collect (Sanctuary Grants) in order to upgrade your Emu Experience (and other items that will come along as the event progresses).
Upgrading your Emu Experience will unlock new decorations (and animals) for your zoo. So it’s like crafting, except you don’t get to pick what you want….
Prizes include…
Big Horn- 500
Duck Pond- 750
Buck and Fawn- 500
Hay Bale- 750
Armadillo- 500
Petting Zoo Awning- 900
Additional Emu Enclosures
You’ll also have the ability to change which animals are visible at the Emu Experience…
You can earn Sanctuary Grants for upgrading via tappables, tasks, prize track and you can purchase them from the store…
Characters That Earn Event Currency
Some folks are getting confused on this one because you’re supposed to volunteer at the Emu Experience. However, when you tap the Emu Experience you can’t send characters on tasks. Instead, you need to tap the Zoo Entrance…
That’ll bring you to the quick send list for characters to earn event currency. Here’s who you can send:
Lisa
Homer
Marge
Bart
Flanders
Cletus
Krusty
Milhouse
Apu
Skinner
Then when you buy/unlock…
Azzlan
Kitenge
Brittany
Another character coming later in act one
Premiums do earn at a higher rate on BOTH Prize Track and Upgrade currency.
Regular characters: 41 7 /4hrs
Premium Characters: 81 14/4hrs
And these amounts will increase as you increase your Bonus % in the Arrangement Bonus area. That’s just the base payout.
Cash Items in Store
Finally, there are items in the store available for in-game cash! It’s about time they brought those back! Here’s a look at what you can spend cash on…
Springfield Zoo Wall- $10
Butterfly Garden- $100
Animal Habitat Wall (Small)– $5
Zoo Lion Statue- $50
Velvet Rope- $500
New Premium Items
New Premium
Serfsons House & Azzlan– 185 Donuts (Earns event currency, and will be available until the event ends)
Peak-At-Em Park- 75 Donuts (Earns event currency and will be available until the event ends)
African Tree Resort & Kitenge- 150 Donuts (Earns event currency, available until 8/14)
Returning content will hit the stores frequently throughout the event…
New Mystery Box
Zoo Gift Shop Mystery Box– 100 Donuts
Springfield Opry House & Mary Spuckler
Sherri & Terri
Hungry Hun & Uter
Brandine
Ling Bouvier
Apu’s Apartment & Manjula
Patches & Poor Violet
Power’s House & Laura Powers
STEM Conference Hotel & Brendan
Hootenanny Barn & Luke Stetson
Another Box will appear later in the event. However, this one lasts the entire event, so if you want to wait to see what’s in the other box you certainly can…
Sneak Peek At Characters Coming…
If you check your character collection you’ll get a look at all of the characters that will be introduced with this event. Here’s a look…
Yes, that is a certain female character we’ve all be wanting to hit our games for YEARS. No, she will not be free (as we all expected). All I can tell you is, save your donuts if you want her. Save LOTS of your donuts….more than 250, but less than 400 of them. She’ll be hitting later in the update.
And yes, that’s a new costume for Maggie. No, it’s not available yet. All I can tell you with that one is, save your cash. Your physical cash for her…not in-game cash but your actual real life money.
On a personal note…
The newest baby Addict is due here pretty soon. Which means we will likely run this update a little differently than we’ve done in the past. (this particularly applies to Acts 2 and especially Act 3, as I likely won’t be around for much (if any) of Act 3) We may combine posts and skip other posts that we feel aren’t as important. You may not see the full slate of posts posted each day, some days there may only be one post up.
We’ll still work to give you guys all of the information you need (especially on new content), but if I don’t get around to a SIB for returning content it won’t be the end of the world, ok? We’ve got over 5,000 posts on this site and a handy search tool. So if you don’t see a SIB post about written about a returning item, or items in the Mystery Box, simply search the site for them. They’ll appear…
Thanks in advance for understanding!
What are your thoughts on the Moe’s Ark Update? Any prizes you’re excited about? Content you’re looking forward to? Will you be making a massive Springfield Zoo or storing most of this stuff? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!
Anybody got an contact email to EA? I wanna contact them to get my donuts..
Apparently their Contact Us webpage is down. Not happy at all.😡
help.ea.com
BEAN – ea@pain_in_the_culo_right_now.com
Anyone else wish they woulda just given us 9 free land tokens instead of automatically placing it way in the back?
PS, I’ve complained a lot today already, but from what I’ve seen this looks like a really good event. Looking forward to seeing how everything can fit in.
I agree. I would have liked to have had the choice of where the free land would be, but at least we got free land automatically.
Does anyone know how to request a refund from the Apple App Store?
Yes in the app store search help and scroll down to the apple support app download that and you can chat live
go pc web browser, type google play, visit google play, log in,
– on the left taskbar, you have movies, music, books and ACCOUNT, click on it. Now you should see your purchase history.
Find your purchase, and on the right, click on the “three dots”. Then, refund.
In my experience, the fastest way is to actually call Apple on the phone. I don’t recall which number I used, when I last needed to call them for a refund… but all of their various phone numbers are on their website: https://www.apple.com/contact/
Looks like some fun new wilderness related characters coming down the line! Joan Bushwell, nameless knifey spoony Dundee guy, pre-presidency Kitenge. 😛
And Ralph’s mom, I’ve seen her name mentioned here once or twice, what was it? 😀
Good luck with the newest tapper!
Baby first, then tappers 😍
Thanks for the post!
i love this site and the what the creators of it have done for this game but it’s making me sad seeing all this and not being part of it. a big thank you to alyssa, pat, wookiee and safi…in the morning i’ll be reinstalling the game for at least the 30th time in the past week just to log in and bomb my springfield. i’ll then be deleting my EA origin account. i’ve missed so many events because of this log in/reinstall every time to play issue that began in december and EA can’t find a fix. i sincerely hope nobody else suffers the same fate my game has. all the best
Yes!! It’s been going on for months. I emailed EA and they told me to reinstall the game. That’s essentially what I have to do every single time I want to check on my Springfield. It’s been more of a chore than fun, but for some reason I stick it out.
OMG,,, that’s terrible,,, it’s such a huge game to have to do that with. I’m sorry,,I wonder if your game acts like that on other devices? That’s an absolutely awful glitch to have. & I just got over a 3 month rollback but man,,,I don’t think I could deal either. Good luck to you. 😉
PURKABOO- That’s a shame. Any way you could try on a different/newer device. I had same issue but realised it was my phone struggling to cope. Dumped pics off line & cleared storage, now it’s great tho I suspect once I upgrade phone all will be better. Hope you find a last minute solution. Shame to lose you after 5 years…..💜X
Fyi butterfly gardens are giving away a ridiculous amount of XP for $100
guys, one lion statue gives 500 base exp, which means, 50$ for 500 base xp
+add your xp bonus and xp collider
now i make + donut in 30 seconds
My friend’s Gil Deal was 80% off donuts… he got the 2,400 donuts for $19.00!!! Mine was only 50%, the 300 for $9.99 and I also got screwed and never received them.
This is BS. Everyone should have both options. I am not happy.
Yea,,I was wondering about that!?!,,,I have the $10 option but would’ve much rather had the better deal. Not sure how that was decided? $ spent by player? IDK but D’OH!!!
I had that same 80% deal… yeah, I went for it. No donuts (yet; > 3 hours waiting). EA’s help site said it might take up to 24 hours, but Addicts suggests contacting EA immediately. Contacting them doesn’t seem to work (at the moment) — maybe due to high demand? Give me my DOH-nuts!
Nuts to the event for a moment, some things are more important:
Alissa! Sending all the good vibes to you and junior the second for the forthcoming real life event. If you’re stuck for a name, might I suggest prankmonkey? You’d definitely be one of only two people looking for a vanity licence plate with that on 🙂
I can not find a way to contact ea 🙁 I purchased gils deal twice before I saw this post. Took 20$ from my google play account but nothing. I tried going through the game link in the help area but it will not connect to ea.
I believe we owe a thank you letter to EA. What I have seen so far is pretty sweet. Free donuts, free land, free character right off the bat, some cool new content, and for those of you have been chanting “We want Wiggum” -as in Sarah Wiggum- well she’s coming.
And I just noticed, after reading Jason Clark’s comment, that my percentage bonus increased 150% Hopefully this is not just the hidden bonus becoming visible.
Congratulations on expecting. Enjoy you time with the baby. We will help each other in the comments sections.
Game Glitch I’ve spoken to EA about loosing 300 donuts I bought they said they are having a problem loosing donuts and to just wait it will be fixed by the end of the day.
I hope there’s an option to take the donuts or get a refund, because I’m not too keen about spending $30 at the moment.
wow this looks great. i had to try one last time to get into the game but still nothing. event won’t launch, neighbours all gone and closing the game then opening it again, i was logged out and would have to reinstall just to get into the game. EA have been in contact and provided no help so i deleted the game again. i haven’t played for 12 days now and trying to come to terms with no more tapped out for me after 5yrs isn’t easy. i’ll miss my little town
I risked the donut purchase because my offer was for 80% off the 2400 bundle, making it only £20. Glad to say it has worked for me.
Bought Gil’s Deals donuts…did not receive them…EA Help Page for Tapped Out doesn’t seem to exist…though I did see an FAQ that mentioned it could take 24 hours for the purchase to be seen…so I guess I’ll give it a little time before I request a refund…very aggravating though…
I tried to contact them. They said “phone call in 2 hrs” or “Email in 72 hrs” (really?). I opted for phone call. I got an email 2 mins later saying we were “disconnected” and if I still need help contact the AGAIN.( I never got the call) I tried and it just bring me back to my original case file. Not sure what to do
Btw, the “24 hr” thing is referring to you bank account. We are supposed to recieve the donuts immediately.
Did anyone else get 60 free donuts just for opening the game when this event started? I got some kind of message that said thanks for a being a loyal tapper, here are 60 free donuts. Haven’t seen anyone else comment about this, thought it was weird, but not complaining.
This game is becoming a hassle. its always, “contact EA about it”, now.
I’m trying to report the Gil deal to EA, but their site just hangs.
1) Woohoo for 60 free donuts. Perhaps a reward for all the glitches we’ve put up with?
2) Automatic Free Land – YAY! Not happy where it is, but I’ll take it. Perhaps this is the new way for events? (block of auto land and then free land tiles to expand on it). My auto land was not near the mountains but the next section to the right of it. Probably because I already claimed it with the Krustyland nuke.
3) This looks like a fun event and it’s one that fits in a town unlike some of the others in the past. Part of me wants to nuke my town and redesign it, but I think I’ll stick to rearranging it slowly in sections.
Ugh. I purchased donuts and the game crashed. I have been charged and no donuts. I tried to contact EA and the customer service representative was HORRIBLE. I would love to speak to a real-live person. I’m in Canada is there a 1-800 number to call? I can’t find it online
No #, they have to call you.
Thank you!
Which characters can volunteer at the emu enclosure? I found some but couldn’t find a place that listed them all.
If you tap on the emu enclosure they list the characters.
Tap the Springfield Zoo Gate.
If you click on the Zoo gate, it’ll give you an option to send characters to the task from there; you can get the entire list by scrolling through that.
Is it just me or does the XP got from placing some of the new cash items (like the lion statue) seem way too high for their price, it’s only $50
It’s absurdly high. 500 base XP for the $100 butterfly garden. I can’t help but think that should be 50. The KEM’s run 2000 XP each. So essentially they cost $7.20 per XP (after you reach 25 KEMs) where these gardens are 20 cents per XP point. I’ve stopped investing in KEMs for the moment until it inevitably gets fixed.
it is more than 500xp I see 15500x with my multiplier that is arount 6. I get a donut round every 3225$ with statue
With my ex-boost which is only 163, they give you 1308xp. After spending about 30k or so I’ve jumped up a good few levels from 104 to 108… You can sell ’em back too
I placed 113 walls for use later, and got a bonus round. Then placed 100 animal enclosure fences and also got a bonus round. So yes it did seem high.
In addition, I got a better donut deal from Gil. A boatload for £20 (normally £100). You may already have started hearing of this.
Shhhhh! Enjoy it while it lasts!
Yeah, it is super high. It takes me 2 Bloodmobiles to get 1,000,000 xp ($264,000) while it only takes me 40 Lion Statues to get 1,000,000 xp ($2000). Excellent find!
I got screwed by Gil’s 50% donut offer too. Purchased, charged and game crashed. Get back in, no donuts for my money! I want what I paid for!!!
You’ll either have to contact EA and let them know, they’ll give you the donuts you just have to contact them. OR you can contact your App Store directly and tell them what happened and they’ll refund you.
A quick note about this: my game crashed right after the purchase too, but I DID get my donuts. At first I thought I hadn’t because the total seemed too low, but had completely forgotten (d’oh!) that I had already purchased a few of the premium items offered. So a crash doesn’t necessarily mean a failed donut delivery.
I like that they gave us land for the …BUT not where they put it! Also wish i had known BEFORE i bought land and wasted tokens😒 Nuts. This looks crazy confusing right now….my brain needs to let it all soak in for a day i think…..
agreed. would be nice if they started us off with 9 tokens instead.
I’m just so happy for 9 spaces all at once 🎉, instead of one at a time, that I don’t care where they put it. I can always move something existing “out to the boonies” and use the space it vacates. Admittedly, I do move stuff around more than most tappers, so maybe it just seems less of a problem to me.😊
Does anyone else get a huge increase in percentage bonus? Mine shot up 150 %!!!
Percentage bonus now includes the Springfield Heights bonus, which now applies to cash too!
Yes!!!!! Mine jumped from around 715% to around 860%…..cant check the current exact amount cuz the servers are down.
Yes, here. I donˋt know why either
Yup. Mine skyrocketed too. Not sure what did it yet (I bet Safi will know), but very happy about it!
Yeah me too! And I thought I had remembered wrong!
I just noticed that too, I think what they did was fix the hidden bonus from SH. It’s pretty cool.
Mine too. However my KEMs are giving the same XP as before.
I suspect they just made the SH buildings bonus visible.
Deluxe Condo, Valet Parkin, Business Center, Classic Mansion, Modern Mansion and Private Island’s Bonus XP now applies to $ too so our bonus % went up accordingly (IE its not hidden anymore)
My guess is this is the previously hidden bonus percentage for your Springfield Heights items. I saw the same boost.
Me too!
The SH buildings used to have a hidden XP-only bonus. With this update, EA has decided to convert them to just regular cash/XP bonus.
You’ve had that higher XP% bonus for a while, but now you get to see it plus receive a cash % bonus.
Agh, trying to place the Zoo entrance bought out the Land Tiles around my road to Canada and the North Pole. Now that section looks very weird. I get they want to give us free land, but let us choose where we place it. I’ve come to like dark patches between sections of established land. It adds character to my map.
I’m loving the update btw. All the great decorations that are more town-like are awesome! Llamas have taken over my Emu Experience. Can’t wait for that Kangaroo!!
Also got this funny screengrab
https://imgur.com/a/N18HOXk
Can someone please tell me a city that lines up with this time zone? I want to put it in my world clock and this geography-failing Aussie needs help.
ET?
New York.
Thanks Alissa! Congrats and good luck on the impending addict arrival! X
BTW you can type into Google “when is 10am ET” and it will tell you what time that is where you live e.g. 10pm in Perth.
Why couldn’t EA just given us land tokens instead of placing a big square wherever they feel like? I had a nice rectangular Springfield that took me years to design and EA ruins it by just placing a big ugly square at the mountains. I rather have no free land at all than not have any choice over where it goes.
Because sometimes beggars can’t be choosers…
That’s the thing Alissa, I was begging or even asking for more land.
I have more than enough land already and have about 20 land tokens in storage.
I play the game because I like designing my Springfield and placing huge land squares where I don’t want them ruins what I have been designing for years.
I just wish they’d let me decide where and when I expand my town.
*I wasn’t begging or asking….
Reading through the posts,,it’s happened that some ppl didn’t put anything in the free land area & when they logged back in,,they disappeared. Just a thought to try to retain your design.