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!
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)…
Act 1 Prize Track
Tappables
Tappabales for this event are Zoo Vistors…
Payout: 4 
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
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
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…
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
Premium Characters: 81
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…
New Premium Items
New Premium
Returning content will hit the stores frequently throughout the event…
New Mystery Box
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!