# The Simpsons: Tapped Out **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [December 6, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231 "2012-12-06T21:08:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 108
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2144 "2013-12-21T07:56:43Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I just had the most frustrating glitch of my young Simpsons Tap out playing experience… I wad going through my friends list, and doing my 3 actions, and dumping gift bags, when. I noticed that i couldn’t find any red tickets floating anywhere. After a good minute, I looked up and noticed that I had already been to this friend… I never backed out of the neighborhoods… I had just been going to one, doing my thing, and then hitting the arrow to go to the next one. Then for some reason, it took me back to one of the neighborhoods I had already visited, which is why there were no red tickets to be found. I had already picked them up a few minutes before. > > Ok, so I blow this off, thinking. I must have done something without realizing it, so I hit the arrow key to go to the next friend, and all looks good. Hit the arrow and complete three more friends, and then notice I am back into a friends Springfield that i had just done a few minutes before. I’m not talking about right before, and maybe I hit the back arrow instead of the forward arrow. I’m talking about taking me back into my list and dropping me back i to the list at some random spot. > > It did this over 10 times, and. I was ready to throw my iPad against the wall when i hit the first neighborhood in the list, the generic “Other Springfield”. > > I then hit the Bart and Milhouse button ti go back to the page with three towns on it, and started scrolling through. Turns out, I somehow missed two other towns completely. Somehow, hitting the arrow button was not taking me sequentially through my towns. > > What a nightmare. I have no idea if this was just a one time glitch, or if this is part of the larger problem I am having with crashes. > > I will be limping through this until Christmas is over (if I can) and then i’m going to re-install this thing. If it doesn’t work, or I lose stuff in my town, I will be pulling the plug on this. I am already spending too much time on this game, and if I have to fight this hard to just complete the basic stuff, it won’t be worth it to me. > > (Grumble) The simplest explanation for your problem is not a glitch but has to do with the new arrow buttons between towns. You are likely visiting your friends at the same time each day. If you happen to proceed through your friends’ towns faster than you did the previous day, you may reach a friend before their 24 timer runs out (which is why it reads 0/3). Once you spend some time there getting frustrated, the timer catches up for the next town, and, when you press the forward arrow again, the next town will have 3/3 available. Unfortunately, the friend’s town no longer resets when the 24 hour clock runs out when you’re in it. For better performance, clear memory by double clicking your home button and swipe apps you aren’t using off the screen (if you’re on iOS7) or pressing the x button (for iOS6), do the same thing with Tapped Out if it starts giving you errors, and restart your iPad from time to time. Worst case, as others have said, reinstall the app; your data is stored on EA’s servers, not on your device. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2145 "2013-12-21T14:10:32Z")
> [@ekweizn](#): > > For better performance, clear memory by double clicking your home button and swipe apps you aren’t using off the screen (if you’re on iOS7) or pressing the x button (for iOS6), do the same thing with Tapped Out if it starts giving you errors, and restart your iPad from time to time. Note that this first half of this isn’t necessary: iOS will clear unused apps from memory if it needs the memory–you never have to do it manually (despite rampant superstition about it on the net). The list of apps on the double-click screen isn’t even a list of apps in memory, necessarily–it’s just recently used apps (you’ll notice that the list survives a reboot of the entire iPad). Quitting Tapped Out itself can be valuable, since it basically makes it “start over” on its own storage, but that happens anyway when it crashes… Restarting the iPad itself (hold down the home and power buttons, and keep holding them down even after the “shut down” screen appears, until the screen goes blank) does basically the same thing for the OS itself. ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2146 "2013-12-21T14:57:01Z")
Ignorance fought. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2147 "2013-12-21T15:20:59Z")
Another voice in the EA Servers Are Overloaded chorus. My buildings keep disappearing. Silver lining: I can see the “hidden” gift bags that got hidden right behind a particular building. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2148 "2013-12-21T15:35:50Z")
Are non-displaying buildings a server issue? I’ve always assumed it was a device issue. ---
**Author:** ![sideshowkar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5e9695/32.png) [@sideshowkar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sideshowkar)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2149 "2013-12-21T15:54:13Z")
My buildings will disappear when I’m moving around my town, but will reappear when I stop the movement. I also get buildings replacing other buildings sometimes, but when I move away and go back to the area, everything is fine. A tip to the newer guys about the snowmen. After the event is over, if you want to keep them in your town to get the extra xp and $ bonus, you can place them behind buildings if you don’t want to leave them out in the open. You can do the same thing with the snake stumps from the Whacking Day event, or anything else really. I don’t like my towns looking cluttered, so I tend to do this a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2150 "2013-12-21T19:50:22Z")
Haven’t been able to access the game for a day and a half now, keep getting “cannot connect to server”, very frustrated and annoyed. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2151 "2013-12-22T00:14:30Z")
> [@sideshowkar](#): > > A tip to the newer guys about the snowmen. After the event is over, if you want to keep them in your town to get the extra xp and $ bonus, you can place them behind buildings if you don’t want to leave them out in the open. You can do the same thing with the snake stumps from the Whacking Day event, or anything else really. I don’t like my towns looking cluttered, so I tend to do this a lot. I hide training walls to keep my righteousness up. I don’t care if it’s not 5 stars all the time, but I hate the sudden plummet to one star and not being able to find SSBob or graffiti to clean up. I hid some of my Halloween stuff. I hide trees and bushes and decorations too to keep up the vanity and tree hugger conformities. I’ve found a few coins here and there since I finally found my first one. I’m doing ok on the wheel. Got a few of the cooler things, all of the lights, and with several weeks more to play, I hope to get the last few cooler things. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2152 "2013-12-22T01:42:12Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Seriously, why wait? If you’ve got decent internet access, it’ll only take about ten minutes to be back where you are, and as long as you’re logged in with an EA/Origin account, you’re not going to lose anything. And if on some off chance you do, just think how much of your life you got back! This is a good point. However, just to make sure, I will wait until after Christmas, so if something completely terrible happens, i will at least not ruin my holidays. The good news is, however, that the glitches have curbed my playing time significantly… And i haven’t missed it! That’s good news for me, but not for Tapped Out. > [@ekweizn](#): > > The simplest explanation for your problem is not a glitch but has to do with the new arrow buttons between towns. You are likely visiting your friends at the same time each day. If you happen to proceed through your friends’ towns faster than you did the previous day, you may reach a friend before their 24 timer runs out (which is why it reads 0/3). Once you spend some time there getting frustrated, the timer catches up for the next town, and, when you press the forward arrow again, the next town will have 3/3 available. Unfortunately, the friend’s town no longer resets when the 24 hour clock runs out when you’re in it. I think you may be on to something with what happened with my glitch… However, i am almost positive that the screen names were names that I had seen a few towns before. In any event, i will keep this in mind today when I go through my list. I hope you are right and you have explained my issue. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2153 "2013-12-22T05:16:31Z")
[![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/1DQKdJx.jpeg "Squidport: the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.") ](https://imgur.com/1DQKdJx) Squidport: the Christmas gift that keeps on giving ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2154 "2013-12-23T02:03:26Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > [Squidport: the Christmas gift that keeps on giving. - Imgur](http://m.imgur.com/1DQKdJx) > > Squidport: the Christmas gift that keeps on giving Whoa. That’s impressive. My Moe’s is going to look like that when I get up in the morning with thumbs up instead of handshakes (as every adult but Flanders is on the drink too much task). ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2155 "2013-12-23T04:32:04Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > I hide training walls to keep my righteousness up. I don’t care if it’s not 5 stars all the time, but I hate the sudden plummet to one star and not being able to find SSBob or graffiti to clean up. I hid some of my Halloween stuff. I hide trees and bushes and decorations too to keep up the vanity and tree hugger conformities. Throw Snake in jail, stop having Quimby be corrupt (write book on ethics), and have Wiggum patrol Springfield. You’ll be right back up to 5 stars. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2156 "2013-12-23T05:00:36Z")
Grrr, after some early success (Mr. Plow) my last three spins have been $1000. Makes me want to break my phone! I also have a lot of holiday facades for buildings I don’t have yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2157 "2013-12-23T14:45:30Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Grrr, after some early success (Mr. Plow) my last three spins have been $1000. Makes me want to break my phone! I also have a lot of holiday facades for buildings I don’t have yet. I have been spinning about 6-7 times a day and still don’t have Claus Co. or the Yeti. It’s annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2158 "2013-12-23T15:33:30Z")
I’ve got everything off the spin wheel except the yeti. There was a one hour task this morning for Homer to buy Christmas donuts at the Kwik-E-Mart. I put Homer on that this morning and then brought my tablet to work today. I’ll duck out to a conference room on another floor that has open wifi (the game’s blocked at work for some reason. Gosh!) ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2159 "2013-12-23T15:58:04Z")
From spins I now have : Mr Plow (finally!!..urge to kill…fading) All the Family snowmen, including Grandpa, the pets, and the Hindu(?) God one. Helter Shelter Crabapple Apt lights (I already had all of the others) My wheel now has three $1000 wedges on it My last six spins have netted…wait for it… $6000 Urge to kill…_ **rising** _… Before I got the Snow God the pointer actually was IN the God wedge, but it gave me the $1000 from the next wedge. TWICE. I recall someone upthread mentioning that - is it a common occurrence? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2160 "2013-12-23T16:07:54Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I have been spinning about 6-7 times a day and still don’t have Claus Co. or the Yeti. > > It’s annoying. Ha, Yeti was the very first thing I got from the wheel, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2161 "2013-12-23T17:05:54Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > There was a one hour task this morning for Homer to buy Christmas donuts at the Kwik-E-Mart. I put Homer on that this morning and then brought my tablet to work today. I’ll duck out to a conference room on another floor that has open wifi (the game’s blocked at work for some reason. Gosh!) Heh, the next step is to have Homer run around for an hour looking for donuts. EA sure likes this running around for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2162 "2013-12-23T19:39:49Z")
> [@Yorikke](#): > > Ha, Yeti was the very first thing I got from the wheel, IIRC. My first spin was Plow King, which came with Mr. Plow for Homer(it did this for everyone, right?). I can not @#%&ing land on Claus Co., no matter what. Urge to kill…rising. ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2163 "2013-12-23T20:54:04Z")
Down to Ice God and Helter Shelter. Will continue mining gift cards until I hit these last two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231.md?page=107) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231.md?page=109)