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!
My wife is a regular premium player while I am a sometimes on, sometimes odd freemium player. We are both mad over the fact that the game seemingly rewards me for not spending money and punishes her for being one of those who have supported and kept the game going over the years. This is bad business practice and a way to lose your following.
It’s exactly what the cable companies do!!
I contacted EA concerning buying the 300 Donuts and not receiving them and was told they ‘re aware of the issue and i have to wait 24 hours and if I haven’t had them added after that then to contact them again.
Not a great solution but it is all they are saying.
Happy Tapping
I LOVE the way this event looks. I&S was boring as an event, but this… Look at those decorations, donut deals, and characters coming back that I’ve wanted in my town for ages. The cash decorations are beautiful, and I love the idea of upgrading my enclosures with cool animals. I love the idea of placing the zoo next to my amusement park connected by a highway. So far big thumbs up. And secondly, can’t wait for the arrival of a little addict!
Did anyone else lose their Disgruntled Goat kiosk with this update? I only noticed because the roads around it look weird now.
Seems like it’s a common issue from comments.
I wish they would’ve gave us land tokens instead of throwing the zoo in, i nuked my city to redo it so I could fit everything in nicely and now there’s a huge square in an awkward area.. another nuke after this event I guess 😅
Anyone else get the 300 donuts and the tree and then come back and the donuts are gone but you still have the tree and character?
Yes, happened here too :/
Both my wife and my B game had the same thing happen to them. Hopefully the donuts will come back.
Yup, was so looking forward to using it for the mystery box.
I’ve had problems before with the free Maggie and when you can pick a box to win some donuts. I always make sure I have at least enough for two more tries in the boxes, so I can end up with up to 6 instead of opening one box. Quite a few times they have only given me the donut for the first box opened. I have also had a problem during the fort quest where I bought that funny electric square thing for 15 donuts and when I logged back on later or came back from the krustyland it was gone
You only get 3 donuts with the Maggie game. If the 1st box you open is 3 donuts then there is no need to try for the 1 or 2 donuts. & Even if all 3 boxes are opened you’re only credited with the 3 donut box.
How do I contact Apple about my Gil purchase? Or do I need to wait until the purchase is no longer pending?
Contact EA .
Help ea .com
I talked to them on the phone and they said we should receive our Donuts within 24 hours . I’ll just have to wait and see.
🔫🐒 . See ya bye . 👽
I contacted Apple and a member of the iTunes help team applied for the refund for me (and she confirmed that my refund was approved.) The cost for the donuts was still pending in the iTunes account but it was resolved quickly. I suggest contacting Apple. I don’t have the phone number in front of me, but I just went to the Apple website and got it there. Good luck!
Thank you!
Thanks, Alissa, for all your help! I hope all goes well with your new addition! Don’t worry about keeping up n the game. You have more important things to do. Congratulations to you and your hubby and tiny addict #1!
I dont see the clear all button in the animal feeding area. Is this the same as the start button?
An icon will float over the pink building when it is ready to be tapped, just like a regular building…makes it easy😁.
Wait, is the gil deal random? I got the boatload (2400) for 80% off!
It is meant as punishment to those who were purchasing donuts in the past – those of us get shitty offer. Those who did not get the good one plus 300 donuts (instead of just 60).
I didnt get the 300 donuts or a tree? I got the 60 but the 80% off the boatload.
I’m pretty sure the two are not directly related to each other; the 80% discount is for people who haven’t spent cash on the game lately, (or at all) while the 300 donuts is for people who haven’t even played in awhile. If you haven’t played in awhile, I expect you’d end up getting both by default… but I don’t know the actual time-frames for each trigger, so I could be mistaken.
Odd I haven’t bought donuts in 4 years and my offer was 50% off of 300 donuts. I’m annoyed that everyone wasn’t offered the same deal.
What is a contact email or phone number for E A ?
On the issue of Gills deal on Day old Donuts .
Thank you .
🔫🐒 . See ya bye . 👽
https://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/new/?product=the-simpsons-tapped-out
Wow… I’ve noticed several people disgruntled enough to actually get EA on the horn, and I’ve barely even scratched the surface of this comment thread. I’d imagine the support staffers at EA are all yanking out their hair in large tufts, right about now. :O
This is not about what he got or she got .
In the many years that I’ve been playing this game this is the second time I’ve had to contact EA .
When you pay money for a product and do not receive it of course you are going to call . Just like you would with any other business .
🔫🐒 . See ya bye . 👽
Anyone having login issues? I can’t log on. 😠
any idea what decoration started to give bonus%? just got 150% increase after the update
Springfields heights have been giving hidden bonus for years, so maybe these.
Springfield Heights buildings 🙂
Springfield Heights is now no longer hidden.
Springfield Heights upgradable building (condos, business centres, classic and modern mansions, private islands at Level 2, and the valet parking lots) hidden xp bonus is no longer hidden, it applies to the COM meter and also improve cash along with the xp bonus. The max bonus percentage is 153% with all the SH upgradable buildings.
I’ve never fully understood the SH hidden bonuses. Do you have to have all of the buildings fully upgraded, and placed in my town? Thanks!
All the buildings except the Private Islands don’t have to be at a certain level so you would still get the bonus if the buildings are at level 1. The Private Islands need to be upgraded to level 2 at least to get the bonus from it. The buildings all need to be placed in your town to get the bonus and not in the inventory/storage. The extensions for the mansions can be stored since they don’t have the bonus on them, only the main buildings have the bonus. I don’t have all the buildings out and I got a 13% increase since I only have a few of the buildings in my town (the rest are in my storage).
I saw on Reddit that the SH “hidden” bonus % is no longer hidden.
Don’t buy gills deal.
l tried to buy gills deal on day old donuts .
It took my money but I did not receive my 300 Donuts .
It might work for you , but it did not work for me.
🔫🐒 . See ya bye . 👽
Same! Game crashed, no donuts, so tried again. Same happened again! Don’t appear to have been charged but they do appear in my Apple account as “pending purchases”.
Lions… so many lions. And a ton of XP to go with them. Garden does likewise.
https://imgur.com/mMV0cLb
Need Homer’s tapping bird.
https://i.makeagif.com/media/7-28-2014/AnSME7.mp4
Can’t talk now… creating lion version of Qin Shi Huang’s clay army 🙂
Laughed when I saw this 👍😄. I’ve been selling mine back…place a dozen, sell a dozen… place a dozen, sell a dozen…
Something in this update increased hugely my bonus to money and XP, by 95% if I’m not mistaken,
Same. No idea what.
Springfield Heights bonus is no longer hidden and affects cash
Previously hidden SH % is now visible, and also applies to $. Max 153% depending on how many SH buildings you’ve obtained.
Pssst…. the butterfly bushes are great if you buy a ton of them with the collider on at $100 a pop.
Plus you can sell them back. Ka-ching XP bonut farmers with limited cash 😉
It appears that if you haven’t bought all the land in the top right it will give you that land (i.e. land you could have bought for cash if you had it).
I have purchased all the land that could be purchased with in-game cash, and still got those 9 free squares.
I put the zoo entrance down towards the ocean instead of where I was directed to and I did not receive the 9 free land squares. What a shame!
Ah, never mind, the free land is there…
For the free donuts, it is true. I have three accounts and the my main account only received 60 while the other two received 300. Related to that, Gil’s deal also changes based on if you received 300 and a tree or just 60 donuts.
People that received 60 get 50% off a truck load
People that received 300 get 80% off a BOAT load.
That is 2400 donuts for $20
compared to 300 for $10
I find it unfair, and that I only spend money on the my main account.
My friend got 60 free donuts and the 80% off 2400 donuts.
I got the boatload deal and 60 donuts free. Logging in every dayish.
I also got the 60 free Donuts and 2400 Donuts for $20. But my wife got 60 free and only got the 300 for $10. We are both about 95% freemium (we might buy a small package occasionally for Christmas or Halloween, but otherwise freemium) . Seems like the luck of the draw (completely random)
How do we increase our Bonus Animal Feed %
Nevermind
Interesting donut deals. My freemium B game got an offer of half off for 300 donuts, but my A game got an 80% deal off the 2400 donuts. I bought both because I like to support the game, but oh man, what a bummer for my B game. Would have HAPPILY had 2400 donuts there.
So I have 3 accounts, and i played on one as soon as the event started, but only played on the other two a few hours later. The other two got 300 donuts plus the African tree thing for free? And all I got was 60 donuts 😑😑😑what’s with that?
Contacted EA about the Gil deal gone bad. They’re aware of it, and doing something to correct it, probably within 24 hours. Between the accent and lousy cell phone reception, that’s all I got
So this is interesting… I’m going to chalk it up to a “know your audience” kind of thing: My discount was for the Boatload of stale donuts, rather than the Truckload, and it was marked down by 80%, rather than 50%, for a price of $20. I’ve never actually spent any real-life cash on this game — but quite honestly, that did have me looking pretty closely at whether or not I want to finally change that.
ZARMANTO – So I got the TL deal. Had I been offered the BL deal, I would have caved in. Been playing & spending since Day 1. EA not offering me the BL deal ensures I’ll spend even less in future. I care not one iota for the whys and wherefores. Glad for folks getting the super deals. When they disappear again, I’ll still be here. I just won’t be investing much rl cash in the game……I have a long memory. Just like an 🐘…..loving this event btw, so thx EA☺️…….💜X
I can confirm that if you haven’t played in a while and log on you get 300 donuts and the big tree with premium character (the one that’s 150 donuts for the rest of us!) I checked it out in a B game that I don’t play very often anymore.
I don’t blame EA for wanting to encourage players back to the game but I don’t see why regular players can’t also have the same type of free deals! Long time and consistent players always seem to get the wrong end of the stick recently!
This is why I was very bitter about those stupid islands. I bought them all for donuts and now they are free
I was able to contact EA via a CHAT regarding the MISSING DONUT PURCHASES! They are aware of the issue and are performing maintenance as we speak. Should have your purchase within 24 hours!
Forget about K-Mart Farming, it’s time for Lion Statue farming!
Some really great characters coming in this one! I can’t wait!
I have now lost the free decoration from the teaser for this event, anyone else??
I just checked and mine is gone also. Along with my 300 donuts that I paid for. Oh my.
Yeah, my free decoration is gone along with the 60 free donuts. Unbelievable!
You had to send characters to the emu experience…. I did that, then they wouldn’t leave the emu experience after they said competed on the task so I put the emu experience in inventory and all the characters were stuck in one place and the emu experience is nowhere to be seen.
Furthermore, it is ridiculously unfair of EA to offer a deep discount on donuts only for those who haven’t purchased donuts recently. Those who bought at full price can’t get a discount at a later time ???? This has got to have pissed off more than just me.. I’m ever so pissed. Ever so pissed.
Yeah it’s also bloody unfair that some people get 60 free donuts and others get 300 free donuts plus the african tree and character. I have 3 accounts and that’s what happened to me.
The players that got the 300 donuts, character and tree for free haven’t played for a while (maybe about a month). It is probably being offered to players currently with the rollback glitch as an apology from EA.
I totally get why you would be angry… but look at it from EA’s point of view: They know full well that the people who have *never* spent money on this game are going to need a better incentive, in order to convince them to part with their hard earned cash. So, just like any salesman, they’ve decided to try to wheel-and-deal those hard-sale customers a little bit. A few of them will take the bait. (I’m actually considering it, myself… though I haven’t yet.)
Of course, it kind’a sucks for “loyal customers” like you, who would obviously eagerly snap up what they would view as a great bargain… but unfortunately, the statistics are stacked against you: as someone who has spent money before, the odds tell us that you’re far more likely to spend money again. So fair or not, I’m afraid there is just not much incentive for EA to offer you this deal.*
Mind you, this isn’t at all unique to EA’s business practices, either; how many times have we all seen the verbiage on a subscription service website (like your internet provider, as an obvious example) which says, “Offer available to new subscribers only”? Same thing. Still kind’a sucks… but same thing, nonetheless.
* So, here’s the good news: If you call up EA and complain, I’d say there’s a pretty decent chance that they’ll happily offer you that steep discount, in order to keep you as a loyal customer. I mean, you’d quite literally be begging them to let you throw your money in their face, so… 😉
I will register my dissatisfaction with EA.
“You gotta problem? Go tell your momma!”
“Oh she’ll hear about this”
PS. Congrats Alissa on the new bundle of Joy!