Straight Dope Message Board

[Hockey Monkey]

I've got to confess a new addiction. I'm busily rebuilding Springfield in The Simpsons: Tapped Out on my iPad. It's a free game and if you are a Simpsons fan, you will really enjoy it. Anyone else playing? Have any favorite characters or buildings?

I love Duff Man and making him ride all over town on his Segway, sending Witch Marge off riding on her broom, and with the Christmas update, making Ned ride his boys on the snowmobile. Kang running from the puny humans and Chief Wiggam on a stakeout are also a riot.

I think my favorite building is Duff Brewery, even though it's huge and cost a ton of Donuts. My second favorite is Moe's, because when it's occupied there is a rat that runs around on the roof. The Muntz house is also great with Nelson playing guitar out front and the raccoon chewing on wiring on the roof.

Their little sayings when you tap on them or finish a quest are fun too.

If you play, post your username and I'll add you. My origin ID is pimaspi.

Oops, should have posted in the Game Room. So sorry.

[Just1Lurk]

Yeah, I'm addicted too. I think my favorite is Frink's flying machine and Moleman making an independent film.
Are you having issues with the game crashing a lot?
My Origin user ID is sarusim. I'll add you to my neighborhood.

[Hockey Monkey]

Originally Posted by Just1Lurk

Yeah, I'm addicted too. I think my favorite is Frink's flying machine and Moleman making an independent film.
Are you having issues with the game crashing a lot?
My Origin user ID is sarusim. I'll add you to my neighborhood.

Yay! You have decorated houses! I am not through the starting quests yet, but should have some decorations sometime tonight.

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by Hockey Monkey

Yay! You have decorated houses! I am not through the starting quests yet, but should have some decorations sometime tonight.

Yeah, but you've got Kang! (Or is that Kodos?) How'd you get Kang? Or am I not at the right level yet? I'm at 17... I like your layout, BTW

I like Christmas too, but my favorite is still Halloween. Mostly because squishing Zombies was a great way to relieve stress! I've noticed that after the Christmas update the game is crashing a lot less, too.

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

This is only for iPad, right?

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by Intergalactic Gladiator

This is only for iPad, right?

I think so. At least for now. You might check EA Games or The Simpsons website to see if any other platforms are supported.

[Hockey Monkey]

You can also play on iPhone, but it's small and sometimes difficult to tap or move things around. I just checked and it's an iOS app, but some of the older devices are no longer supported.

I'm loving the Christmas update so far!

[Hockey Monkey]

Kang was part of the Halloween quests. Remember him flying around in the space saucer? You had to buy the ray gun and shoot him down. He crashed into the ray gun, destroying it. You can see mine in the far left upper corner beside Cletus' farm and behind the Observatory. I hate you didn't get him. He's a lot of fun. Bart will even ride him on the handlebars like E.T.

I enjoyed the zombies too. I wish I could have left everyone in Springfield "turned". The animations were great.

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by Hockey Monkey

Kang was part of the Halloween quests. Remember him flying around in the space saucer? You had to buy the ray gun and shoot him down. He crashed into the ray gun, destroying it. You can see mine in the far left upper corner beside Cletus' farm and behind the Observatory. I hate you didn't get him. He's a lot of fun. Bart will even ride him on the handlebars like E.T.

I enjoyed the zombies too. I wish I could have left everyone in Springfield "turned". The animations were great.

So I have to wait for next Halloween to get another shot at Kang? Damn! I got the App only a week before Halloween and hadn't figured out the nuances yet. (I also learned to turn down the volume if I'm taking my IPad into work. Homer blurted out "Another job mediocrely done" at exactly the wrong moment in a meeting!)

[USCDiver]

I just installed the app. I'm USCDiver on there too, I'll be your neighbor.

[Just1Lurk]

Welcome to Springfield, USCDiver!

[Antigen]

Dang, no Android version.

[Hockey Monkey]

Originally Posted by USCDiver

I just installed the app. I'm USCDiver on there too, I'll be your neighbor.

You'll have a bustling metropolis in no time!

[USCDiver]

So I don't plan to spend any actual money on this game. What is the best way to utilize my donuts? Should I save them up, or is it better to send them speeding things up early on?

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by USCDiver

So I don't plan to spend any actual money on this game. What is the best way to utilize my donuts? Should I save them up, or is it better to send them speeding things up early on?

If you're not going to spend any money, by all means save them. The game doesn't give out donuts often

[Hockey Monkey]

Originally Posted by USCDiver

So I don't plan to spend any actual money on this game. What is the best way to utilize my donuts? Should I save them up, or is it better to send them speeding things up early on?

Save your donuts! You don't want to fritter them away on speeding things up when the longest you will normally have to wait for a quest to finish is at most 24 hrs. The best use of donuts is for premium characters or buildings that come with characters. They earn money (and they are fun to watch!)

[USCDiver]

Um, when I go to my friends' screen, the little options window pops up halfway off the screen so I can't accept a request or close the window and return to the game... Any suggestions? Reinstall?

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by USCDiver

Um, when I go to my friends' screen, the little options window pops up halfway off the screen so I can't accept a request or close the window and return to the game... Any suggestions? Reinstall?

That happens to me sometimes. Try rotating your IPad/IPhone 90 degrees. The pop-up should resize to fit. You should then be able to rotate it back and the pop-up should rotate with it.

[Just1Lurk]

USCDiver, it was worth adding you to my neighborhood just to see Homer kicking back in the kiddie pool in the middle of a snowstorm.

[USCDiver]

Originally Posted by Just1Lurk

That happens to me sometimes. Try rotating your IPad/IPhone 90 degrees. The pop-up should resize to fit. You should then be able to rotate it back and the pop-up should rotate with it.

Huh, for some reason that didn't work the first time I tried it. Got it now, thanks!

Originally Posted by Just1Lurk

USCDiver, it was worth adding you to my neighborhood just to see Homer kicking back in the kiddie pool in the middle of a snowstorm.

Ha! I was thinking it was a strange way to start the game until I realized this game has been around for a few months.

[heater2000ca]

I just got the game today, and it is a lot of fun. I'm heater2000ca on there too, if anyone wants to add me.

[jackdavinci]

Loving it too. The Christmas update is fun, but I missed the Halloween one. Does anyone know for things that are in the Xmas list that normally sold for donuts, do you get the actual building, or does it only decorate it if you already have it? And do decorated brown houses give 5 coins over all, or per house?

I do find the inability to play offline seriously annoying though, especially as the server is currently overloaded.

I like Lisa a lot just because she is so cheery. They need to give Milhouse some sound effects.

I did the tap Homer ten times to get donuts thing. There seem to be a million YouTube videos about getting donuts hacks but none of them seem to lead anywhere.

[jackdavinci]

I'm jackdavinci if anyone wants to add me.

Someone hacked my account yesterday and I had to change my password. I recommend using a different password than you use for other sites.

Originally Posted by Just1Lurk

. Homer blurted out "Another job mediocrely done" at exactly the wrong moment in a meeting!)

My iPod Homer said "better them than me!" in my pocket during the perfect pause in a conversation me and a friend were having and we both cracked up.

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by jackdavinci

My iPod Homer said "better them than me!" in my pocket during the perfect pause in a conversation me and a friend were having and we both cracked up.

LOL. At least in my case it wasn't "Work? I thought this was a game!" That would have been very inappropriate in the circumstances.

I'll send friend requests to you and heater2000ca if the system ever let's me back on.

[USCDiver]

I don't have any sounds!

[Labtrash]

I'm addicted to this as well.

Labtrash is also my username.

Now I've got to fix up my layout!

[Hockey Monkey]

USC, I don't have any sound at the moment either. EA had a huge server outage today, so I am assuming it's one of the things they are working on.

For the Christmas decorations, you only get the decorations, not the building. Also, even if you have a bunch of the same kind of houses decorated, you only get coins from one, once a day.

[Quimby]

Like others, I am really hoping they make an Android version of this.

[Hockey Monkey]

I got my sound back! Woohoo!

I double clicked the home button on my iPad, held the Simpson's icon till it wiggled, then hit the - button to close it. After I reopened it fresh, it was OK.

[Labtrash]

This coin collecting is tedious!

[Just1Lurk]

Is anybody else having this issue? I can't access Origin and all of my friend's Springfields have disappeared.

[Labtrash]

Originally Posted by Just1Lurk

Is anybody else having this issue? I can't access Origin and all of my friend's Springfields have disappeared.

Just reboot and log back in. Seems to work for me.

[USCDiver]

I got logged out earlier today and it wouldnt let me log back in, it started me over as an anonymous user. So I deleted and reinstalled the app, but now it won't connect to the server.

[happycamper*5]

They got me, too and I don't even watch The Simpsons! D'oh! I downloaded the app this morning, but wasn't able to log onto the server until about 30 minutes ago. Hope that isn't a bad sign for the future.

I'm happycamper5, if anyone needs neighbors.

[USCDiver]

Ha! The Cool Brown House with a family of hipsters showed up in tonight's episode.

[jackdavinci]

Is anyone else still getting regular quests or are they suspended during Christmas?

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by jackdavinci

Is anyone else still getting regular quests or are they suspended during Christmas?

I'm still getting regular quests. Of course, they can be delayed if the character needed for the regular quest to advance is working on a Christmas quest.

[Labtrash]

Is anyone else having problems with logging into the "other Springfields"?

All my new friends are gone.

[Just1Lurk]

Originally Posted by Labtrash

Is anyone else having problems with logging into the "other Springfields"?

All my new friends are gone.

Yes, I mentioned this in an earlier post. Rebooting didn't work for me, but they did return eventually.

Here's my question. When you tap the Krustyburger building, you hear frying sounds. When you tap Gulp 'N Blow, you hear a cash register. Java Server = Keyboard.

Tap the Mapple Building - What the hell is that sound supposed to be?!?

[USCDiver]

I've never had any sounds and I've reinstalled it twice when it wouldn't connect.

[heater2000ca]

I've had trouble logging in since Saturday sometime. Even if the game would start up, I wouldn't be logged in (so couldn't see friends, etc.). But this morning about 10 am EST, it seemed to get better, and I've been able to log in again since then. Hopefully everyone else has better luck now.

[Loach]

I recently downloaded it but have not been able to get on.

[Just1Lurk]

Now I can't get on. This is getting frustrating.

[jackdavinci]

It seems to be back up. They were having maintenance issues. If you go to their Facebook page it posts when they are having downtime.

Sometimes when they have server issues they will let you play, but not connect with friends, log out, or other red button features.

[Labtrash]

Originally Posted by jackdavinci

It seems to be back up. They were having maintenance issues. If you go to their Facebook page it posts when they are having downtime.

Sometimes when they have server issues they will let you play, but not connect with friends, log out, or other red button features.

Mine was back up this morning, with all friends returned. Ended up late for work !

I'll be adding slackerboss tonight !

[luvrbcs]

If anyone is wondering who Luvrbcs2 is, it is I. I've been sending out friend requests based on all the names here.

[Poysyn]

I just got it this morning, but haven't even opened it - when I get home I will and will post my username

[slackerboss]

I installed it this week, and thankfully, right now my job allows me to tap on the screen every 5 minutes, so I'm working on building my collection of brown houses.

I've added the people in this thread. My Origin ID is slackerboss.

[Labtrash]

To everyone with multiple decorated houses of the same type:

Does each house pay out 5 coins per day ? Are you raking in millions every day?

[jackdavinci]

Originally Posted by Labtrash

To everyone with multiple decorated houses of the same type:

Does each house pay out 5 coins per day ? Are you raking in millions every day?

Sadly no. Only one coin per group type. But you can rake in Christmas coins from your friends decorated houses even if none have been generated as long as there is a dollar sign (again one per type).