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 second half of September) everyone should be excited for something…anything to hit our games!
Well…that something has arrived! It’s officially Halloween in our pocket-sized towns! Ghosts, goblins, werewolves, mummies, vampires and more! Bring on the pumpkins, murky water, fall foliage and grind fest..Treehouse of Horrors here we come!
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)
Now on with the update, more details below the fold…
This auto starts with dialogue from Dracula, followed by a 6s task for Springfielders and a 6s task for Dracula if you have him. After this you’ll have a 6s task for Ned…
P.S. I’ve noticed my game is very laggy…not sure if it’s just because much is initially going on or a flaw in the game. We’ll know soon enough
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…
Land
Since I know this will be the most commonly asked question…YES you will get a section of land for free with this event. In my game it was placed just below the land unlocked for the Zoo.
Bonus Area
Yes, it’s back. I’ll cover this as I progress in this post…I just know it’ll be a popular question.
Basic Premise
This is like previous Halloweens, the Time Travel Event and a variety of other events. The basic idea is…
You have THREE prize tracks PLUS Craftables.
The main prize track is acquired via collecting Fangs for Act 1 
. There are a total of 6 main Act 1 prizes, including a Land Token and Crafting Currency. Those prizes are listed below in this post under Act 1 Prizes. The main prize is Countess Dracula.
Then you have Old Ruin Relic Prizes. This is broken up into three categories, representing each Act. For Act 1 it’s Vampires. These are prize0s you’ll unlock via finding relics at the Old Ruins Dig Site. There are 5 total prizes for Act 1 and the main prize is Count Grampa.
And finally you have “prizes” from Flanders Family Tomb. These are items that will help you progress quicker in the game, things like decreasing the Cool Down Time and a larger Tap Radius. You earn these “prizes” by collecting crafting currency. You don’t have to spend it, you just have to earn it.
And then there’s crafting. Crafting takes place at the Holy Forge, with a variety of craftable items. You’ll need to collect crafting currency to spend to get the craftable items. Craftable items will help increase your bonus area.
And as usual you’ll have to tap something to earn Prize Track and Crafting Currency, and send characters on tasks to earn Prize Track Currency and Pickaxes for the Ruins Dig Site. (those tasks take place at the Holy Forge) And of course there are neighbor actions to earn more Prize Track and Crafting Currency.
All of these areas will be broken down further as this post progresses.
Getting Started
As mentioned above this kicks off with a series of 6s tasks. Once you reach Biting Back Pt. 3 you’ll be tasked with placing the Old Ruins and Discovering a Relic. Placing the Old Ruins will trigger the event start for you.
Finding a Relic and Digging is like a return of the Excavation Site from the Time Travel Event. Safi wrote an extensive post on it here. We’ll take a look and see if it applies to this event as well. But it’s the exact same concept.
Free Items
Old Ruins- Free. 15×15. (Unlocks with Biting Back Pt. 3)
Holy Forge- Free. 4×7. 6s Build. (Unlocks with Biting Back Pt. 4)
Flanders Family Tomb- Free. 2×2. (Unlocks with Biting Back Pt. 5)
Act 1 Prize Track
Transylvania Welcome Sign– 24,000
Land Token-60,000
Dracula-la Land– 116,000
The Webs– 153,000
1000 Incantations (crafting currency)-191,000
Countess Dracula– 249,000
Tappables
Each act will have monster centric minions as the tappables. For Act 1 they’re Vampire Minions and the look like this…
Tap them and they’ll transform into a character…similar to this
Or they’ll appear as a regular towns person from Springfield…
Tappables for Act 1 earn 35 and 1 
for each one tapped.
They spawn at a rate of 1/5 minutes with a max of 60 per town. (there is no bank with this one)
Neighbor Actions
Unlock with (Unlocks with Biting Back Pt. 5) and the Flanders Family Tomb. You can Tap Monster Minions in a Neighbor’s Town to earn 1 and 35
Old Ruins Dig Site
Safi’s Dig Site extensive post (strategy) can be found here.
As mentioned above the Dig Site is a recycle from the Time Travel Event. Basically you collect Pickaxes (by sending characters on tasks at the Holy Forge) to dig up squares on the site to find the relics. You can also purchase more Pickaxes in the store for donuts. Finding the relics (and each dig) earn you prize track currency AND relic prizes.
Prizes are…
These are just prizes for Act 1. More prizes unlock with Acts 2 and 3
Spooky Shrub Bundle– Find 2 Relics
Stone Arch- Find 10 Relics, also unlocks Stone Arches in crafting
Ornate Ruin Wall- Find 25 Relics
Summoning Circle- Find 50 Relics
Count Grampa- Find 90 Relics
Note: this is where your bonus % area will come into play. The payout for the Dig Site will increase as your bonus % increases.
Flanders Family Tome
The Family Tome is unlocked at Biting Back Part 5 and serves basically as the “clear all” for the minions…
When tapped/activated it will clear all Minions in Springfield. Now starting time with this is 24hrs, meaning you can only tap it once every 24hrs. However, there are a series of Tome prizes you can unlock to lower that time, increase your tap radius, and increase payouts at the dig site…
To earn this prizes you simply collect the crafting currency but you DO NOT HAVE TO SPEND THE CURRENCY. The prizes are automatically awarded to you once you’ve collected the number of required . So you do not need to do anything to unlock these prizes. Simply tap as normal and they’ll unlock automatically for you.
Again I repeat…YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SPEND CRAFTING CURRENCY TO UNLOCK THESE PRIZES. So you do not have to choose between crafting and upgrading the Tome. It’s automatically done for you.
Clock starts at 24hrs, if you fully upgrade (24 levels) you can get the clock down to 6 seconds to clear all the minions (in addition to a large tap radius and dig site upgrades)
Holy Forge
The Holy Forge serves two purposes, 1 it’s where the crafting hub can be found and 2 it’s where characters perform jobs to earn more pickaxes and prize track currency. Remember pickaxes are needed for the Ruins Dig Site
For Act 1 the following characters can perform jobs at the Holy Forge to earn currency and pickaxes:
- Nosferatu (Premium)
- Homer
- Ned
- Bart
- Lisa
- Grampa
- Marge
- Willie
- Burns
- Milhouse
- Wiggum
The tasks are 4hrs long and the payout is: 120 and 2 
f0r Freemium and 180 and 3 for premium.
Note: Unlike previous events, this payout DOES NOT change as your bonus area % increases. That bonus only impacts the dig site, not the character tasks.
Crafting
Unlocks with Biting Back Pt. 6 and is through the Holy Forge.
Crafting items increase your bonus % in the bonus area.
Crafting Level up is triggered by levels but also Ancient Ruin Prizes.
It’s going to be VERY slow going. You’ll earn craftables via the Dig Site (and not many) and tapping Minions. Plus the prize track. It’s going to move S-L-O-W for crafting.
I’ll cover crafting in more depth in it’s own post. Lots going on this time.
The Store
New items in the store unlock after you complete Biting Back Pt. 5. Here’s what’s in the store…
New Items
Monster Hunter License- 90 Donuts. DO NOT BUY THIS
Monster’s Castle- 185 Donuts, includes Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Earns $300, 30xp/12hrs.
Cursed Ship- 165 Donuts, includes Nosferatu (and he will have tasks to earn Pickaxes). Ship has a 4.5% Bonus on all cash and XP
Spooky Gorge- 100 Donuts. Earns 3% bonus on all cash and XP. Also earns 180 and 70xp/4hrs. (should convert to Act 2 and 3 currency when they hit)
Cash Items
Cobblestone Wall- $220
Ruined Wall- $550
Jack-O-Lantern- $135
Dead Tree- $270
Spooky Tree- $325
Pumpkin Patch- $450
Returning Premium Items
Scary Dock- 170 Donuts, 50 Donut Rebate, NET 120 Donuts. Comes with Blinky Monster Dock has a 4.5% bonus on cash and XP. (available the entire event)
Town Square- 50 Donuts. 2.25% Bonus on cash and XP. (available the entire event)
Count Burns’ Castle- 70 Donuts (available until 10/10)
Burns Coffin and Count Burns- 120 Donuts (available until 10/10)
Mystery Boxes
Magical Mystery Box- 45 Donuts. Contains items from Halloween 2017. Chance for:
• Magic Academy Library + Angelica Button
• Fantastical Beastarium
• Wiggops + Wiggops’ Station + Wizard Bart
• Treestache’s Grove + Treestache
• Walking Kwik-E-Mart
• Mess Hall
• Black Magic Hall
• Greystash
• Unicorn Wizard
• The Great Raymondo’s Home + The Great Raymondo
• Magic Palace
• Burns Dragon’s Pile of Treasure + Burns Dragon + Wizard Lisa
• Cat Bus
• Department of Magical Vehicles
• Sorcerer Frink
THOH Mystery Box- 50 Donuts. Contains different items from THOH events of the past.
Chance for:
King Homer’s Skyscraper
Hellementry School
Gate to Nowhere
Booberella
Drive-In Theater + Space Mutant
Bad Dream House + The Raven
Shinning Bundle (Shinning Hotel + Shinning Maze)
Hugo
Gingerbread House + Suzanne
Gypsy Fortune Teller Shop + Maude’s Ghost
Count Dracula
Frinkenstein
Death
BOTH of these boxes run for the ENTIRE event. So no rush.
Upcoming Items During Act 1…
(these items are NOT currently in came but should appear at 10a ET on the dates specified)
New:
Tongue-Kiss Point- 55 Donuts. Arrives Oct. 8th, leaves Oct 15th.
Tween Lit Inc & Slick- 150 Donuts. Arrives Oct. 12th, leaves Nov. 14th.
Returning:
Freakmobile- 60 Donuts. Arrives Oct. 6th, leaves Oct. 13th.
Wailing Wall- 50 Donuts. Arrives Oct. 8th, Leaves Oct. 15th
Pet Cemetery, Clawing & Snarling Zombies- 90 Donuts. Arrives Oct. 11th, leaves Oct 18th.
Also, remember things are added as the event progresses. So if you don’t see something you’re looking for (returning) yet be patient it’ll likely come back as the event progresses.
And before you ask….
YES Should I buy posts are coming on premium items
And YES there will be a calendar
And YES there will be breakdowns of each individual area in more detailed posts
I appreciate your patience in advance.
What are your thoughts on the Halloween Update? Any prizes you’re excited about? Content you’re looking forward to? Will you be making a massive Monster Area or storing most of this stuff? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!
I play almost daily. I didn’t have the update for this until oct 10th or 11th. I was wondering how so many people already had prizes
Hi, I’m wondering if it’s a glitch or the game is just made this way but when visiting friends towns, I’m not collecting any “furs” or “fangs” when tapping monster minions. I only collect 25xp. It’s not like I have lots of friends either. Kind of a rip-off… 🙁
Since today I encounter empty dialogs during the halloween quests!!! How can I continue when there is NO TEXT???
Obviously they do not test at all anymore…
I have been waiting for the calendar of items that will be on sale later in the event. I want to spend donuts on the ToH mystery box but wanting to see if there’s a character I’ll buy upfront instead. I Don’t recall it taking this long in the event.
Because we don’t do that?
Is there a SIB post on the monsters castle and the witch promo? I can’t find anything if I’m missing it. Thank you
Not yet on either. They’re both here for the whole event and have no benefit for the event so they’re not too priority in posting. They’ll be up soon
I only get fangs in friends towns sometimes????
Question…. Just got Grampa prize for act 1. Is it better to save pickaxes for act 2 to get a jump on the prize line up or keep collecting currency and craft items to increase percentage and crafting in act 1?
Keep using them until you finish the prize track, as that’s the best way to earn event currency. Once you’ve finished the prize track (unlocked the countess) then save them
I wish they would have put the zombie sandwich in one of the mystery boxes. At least the nightmare pile is coming soon!!! And it seems like they finally fixed some bugs.
tibojoe if you want to follow, thx!
Very sad that since I’ve already purchased the Bart Raven I don’t get a chance at the mansion. Was waiting for it to come back for my spoopy neighborhood. Hopefully I’ll still have the option for the pet graveyard although I do have the dog.
I’m experiencing a long lag time when collecting XP/$$ from houses. Prior to this Halloween update I could tap on a group of houses then move on. Now when I tap on a group of houses, the screen locks in place until all the XP/$$ is collected, then I can move. Is anyone else experiencing this? and is this a glitch that is being resolved?
Thank you.
My Flanders family tomb timer restarted back to level 1 even though I’m at level 8. The prize upgrades show level 8 but tomb says level 1 back at 24hrs. 🙁
My Flanders tomb timer restarted back to level 1 even though I’m at level 7
IMHO I have isolated the lagging/glitches to Countess Dracula and how she turns our earned characters into Minions. Seems when you take stable code and layer on temporary code an unexpected ripple results in what we are seeing. My lag goes away once and only ALL my earned characters that are turned to Minions are townspeople again (hence, no temporary code over character). If I do not clear everyone I get horrible lag collecting currency/XP and scrolling. If I sent the entire town on a task via the Unemployment Office the ones left in top corner are those that are already Minions. Clicking on character results in blank task bar that then locks my screen from scrolling unless I leave town and return. If I try to exit game with characters as Minions I do not get the exit game Yes/No option, I have to hard close. Once I manually clear all Minions (converting ALL earned characters back) I can then send those remaining characters manually on a task and no more lag at all in my game until Countess Dracula starts converting earned characters (temporary coding) back into Minions again. And finally; only when the Countess has no one converted into Minions can I exit game with the proper close options.
I’m enjoying the traditional Halloween vibe to this year’s event but I’m finding it very laggy indeed. My issue is whenever I collect from multiple buildings at once (I have a maxed out IRS) the game won’t let me scroll until every single dollar has been collected. Annoying!