# 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:** 123
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2444 "2014-01-17T18:28:00Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > The voice thing is annoying. EA must not want to pay the actors or something. It’s stupid that there’s no voice for Fat Tony or Milhouse, and there are characters like Herman who do nothing but grunt. It has to do with the voice actors. Herman is voiced by Harry Shearer, who already does a bunch of voices like Ned. Fat Tony is voiced by Joe Mantegna and Milhouse is voiced by Pamela Hayden. Basically, if a character isn’t voiced by Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, or Harry Shearer, they aren’t going to have a voice in the game. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2445 "2014-01-17T18:38:38Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > I also think the donut prices for the premium items are a total ripoff. If you felt like paying $20, that should get you a significant amount of stuff, not 2 or 3 things. I almost spent a few bucks during the Xmas deal, but the prices, coupled with the fact that the game itself explicitly reminds you how dumb it is to spend money on crappy timesinking tap games like this, dissuaded me. Yet I would gladly spend $5 or $10 if that could buy me more than one lousy building. The fact that there’s a $99 donut purchase offer available is an insult. I think the reason they have a $99 donut purchase option is because people actually buy them. That’s why I don’t like the comments that remind us all that the game is “free”. It’s not free for most people. I would wager that more than 50% of players have made some sort of a purchase along the way. Even if it was a small purchase, like the one you made, it is still a purchase and those add up to big dollars for EA. And quite frankly, if they would fix some of the major bug glitches, it would be more enjoyable to play, and someone like me, who hasn’t made any purchase yet might just do it because I would enjoy playing the game more. It is mindless fun, and for that, I find visiting my town at least twice a day tolerable for the most part. But just now, I visited and tried to go to KL and it crashed again. That pisses me off and I don’t want to go back in to the game for a while. To me, this isn’t an acceptable bug. I have paid for many apps, so it isn’t like I refuse to spend money or am opposed to the concept. But this is by far the worst game app I have on my iPad in terms of performance. By far. Why would I pay money to just make the performance worse by adding a building or character that would slow it down and clutter it even further? If another company would come out with the exact same concept for this game and substitute say, Family Guy characters and town buildings, I’d drop this in a minute if the performance was better. I don’t like being aggravated when i have 5 free minutes and try to play a game. Hmm. I have an idea! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2446 "2014-01-17T18:41:40Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > It has to do with the voice actors. Herman is voiced by Harry Shearer, who already does a bunch of voices like Ned. Fat Tony is voiced by Joe Mantegna and Milhouse is voiced by Pamela Hayden. Basically, if a character isn’t voiced by Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, or Harry Shearer, they aren’t going to have a voice in the game. Why? Is it a cost thing, or a contract thing? How long would it take a voice actor to say a few lines for this game? And how much would it cost? I’m sure there would be some expense to it, but it is an annoying omission. What if, for example, Hank Azaria wanted a ridiculous amount of money to do Homer (and others)? No game? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2447 "2014-01-17T18:49:00Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Why? Is it a cost thing, or a contract thing? > > How long would it take a voice actor to say a few lines for this game? And how much would it cost? > > I’m sure there would be some expense to it, but it is an annoying omission. What if, for example, Hank Azaria wanted a ridiculous amount of money to do Homer (and others)? No game? Most likely, it’s built into the contract for the show to say they also have to voice the video games. Those six are the main voice actors for the show. The other actors might not have that in their contract. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2448 "2014-01-17T18:55:12Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Why would I pay money to just make the performance worse by adding a building or character that would slow it down and clutter it even further? > If another company would come out with the exact same concept for this game and substitute say, Family Guy characters and town buildings, I’d drop this in a minute if the performance was better. I don’t like being aggravated when i have 5 free minutes and try to play a game. I’m pretty usre the company that made Tiny Tower is making a Family Guy game. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2449 "2014-01-17T19:56:05Z")
> [@malaka](#): > > Also…sorry to the rest for hijacking the thread. I guess I’m just frustrated with the wheel and never getting Claus Co. Back to your regularly scheduled thread… See and I’m the opposite. Yes, the wheel and Christmas update could have been designed much better, but not once was I frustrated at failing to obtain a specific prize. Actually, I felt the “fixes” they made (increasing wheel % halfway through, lowering the totals needed for each community prize twice, & lengthening the Christmas time by a full week) only cheapened the whole event. When you ensure that everyone gets everything, why try hard in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2450 "2014-01-17T20:17:51Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I don’t believe you can move non-boardwalk businesses to the boardwalk. I just tried and, no, you can’t. Which is too bad, because I have spare boardwalk tiles and I need the room. So I guess you can guess what my number 1 change would be. Second, I’d like to be able to orient the buildings in any direction instead of being constrained to facing down or facing to the left. Being able to add hills or elevation would be nice, too. One thing I find annoying is that some characters have strange task hours. Sheila does’t have a 60-minute task, for example, and the Rich Texan doesn’t have a four-hour task. I’d like to be able to assign all my characters tasks of the same length. There are also buildings that don’t have tasks after the quest that introduce them; they could create new tasks for those buildings and kill two birds with one stone. As to the voices, I know at least some of the lines were taken directly from the show - don’t see why they couldn’t do that with all of the characters. To end on a positive note; my favorites: 1. Professor Frink’s flying contraption. Also his voice and expressions crack me up 2. The Van Houton’s: The jacuzzi suit, the ball cage, and Kirk’s lines. 3. Lisa’s cartwheels ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2451 "2014-01-17T20:24:33Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Most likely, it’s built into the contract for the show to say they also have to voice the video games. Those six are the main voice actors for the show. The other actors might not have that in their contract. This is probably true, but contract or not, it would still be something that EA could easily pursue and it wouldn’t cost much. If i were a voice on the show, I’d want to have my characters represented in the game. How much would it cost? No idea. But it can’t be all that much… Compared to the cost of procuring all of the main characters on the show. > [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I’m pretty usre the company that made Tiny Tower is making a Family Guy game. Woo hoo! > [@Enderw24](#): > > See and I’m the opposite. Yes, the wheel and Christmas update could have been designed much better, but not once was I frustrated at failing to obtain a specific prize. Actually, I felt the “fixes” they made (increasing wheel % halfway through, lowering the totals needed for each community prize twice, & lengthening the Christmas time by a full week) only cheapened the whole event. When you ensure that everyone gets everything, why try hard in the first place? Agree with you 100%. I mentioned when I finally hit the bumble that I felt cheated. The wheel was doctored to give it to me. What’s the point in that? Just give it to me then, instead of making me collect those cards like a monkey so I can collect coins to spin the wheel. The wheel was a decent idea, but the execution was so poor. If they would have just made the wheel behave like a normal wheel, and let the chips fall where they may, then i would have been fine with not getting something. But fixing the wheel, although giving me the last prize, wasn’t satisfying at all. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2452 "2014-01-17T20:27:33Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > So I guess you can guess what my number 1 change would be. Second, I’d like to be able to orient the buildings in any direction instead of being constrained to facing down or facing to the left. This is another one of my favorites that i forgot to add. Glad you did. I would love to be able to turn a building to make the town layout more to my liking, and not be constrained to just two directions. That would be a great change. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2453 "2014-01-17T20:40:58Z")
I’d like to remind everyone that even with the nerfs, not everyone got all the holiday prizes. :mad: As far as running out of room - you could put potted trees on your boardwalk to replace the trees you have to remove to build more buildings on the ground. Just an idea. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2454 "2014-01-18T02:03:13Z")
I just won the Dog race at 1:99 odds for the 6th time. That’s 1.2 million I’ve earned from that thing with probably ~250,000 spent. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2455 "2014-01-18T02:05:26Z")
The Freak Show Tent DOES fit on Squidport, and was a huge space saver for me when I had more tiles than money to buy more land. When I turned my game on the last time, I was in someone else’s Springfield. I exited out and clicked on it again, and this time it was all fine. I believed everyone else who said it happened, but it was still creepy to have it happen and I’m hoping if anyone ever gets in my town, they do the same (back out slowly and don’t break anything!) ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2456 "2014-01-18T03:23:48Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > This is another one of my favorites that i forgot to add. Glad you did. I would love to be able to turn a building to make the town layout more to my liking, and not be constrained to just two directions. That would be a great change. And it could be fun for the graphic artists. Think about the amusing things they could “hide” behind Moe’s Tavern or the school, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2457 "2014-01-18T03:56:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I just won the Dog race at 1:99 odds for the 6th time. That’s 1.2 million I’ve earned from that thing with probably ~250,000 spent. You bastage. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2458 "2014-01-18T07:17:07Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > If another company would come out with the exact same concept for this game and substitute say, Family Guy characters and town buildings, I’d drop this in a minute if the performance was better. I don’t like being aggravated when i have 5 free minutes and try to play a game. > > Hmm. I have an idea! 😃 Futurama Tapped out would make me sexually excited, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2459 "2014-01-18T14:24:51Z")
> [@Yorikke](#): > > Futurama Tapped out would make me sexually excited, I think. Sweet Zombie Jesus, that’s a great idea! ---
**Author:** ![Reebevoli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@Reebevoli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reebevoli)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2460 "2014-01-18T17:35:17Z")
> [@Yorikke](#): > > Futurama Tapped out would make me sexually excited, I think. Tally me banana, yes! btw, newish player here, feel free to add me…I’ve sent a few requests out from the doper list. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2461 "2014-01-20T12:47:51Z")
Hi all, Anyone having teouble with the app today? I was going theough my neighbor’s towns this morning, and crash! The app died. And I haven’t been able to get bsck into it for over 2 hours now. It doesn’t even give me the load screen either. It just dies immediately. I’ll wait to hear from you all before deleting and reloading the thing, but I sense that this is what I’m going to have to do. Maybe this is a sign that i need to quit this game for a spell… Oh, and a question. At this point in the game, visiting friends seems to be more trouble than it’s worth. Iam getting a little cash for each action, and 2 xp. So, if I visit all of my firends, I am making less than $5000 and whstever xp I get (extra for hitting a SP tile). Is this what I should expect from each town visit? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2462 "2014-01-20T12:52:02Z")
Yes, visiting friends once you get above a certain level is basically pointless. You want a big friends list for the special events and for the slight bonus in your town, but normally it’s pretty pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231/2463 "2014-01-20T13:01:19Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Yes, visiting friends once you get above a certain level is basically pointless. You want a big friends list for the special events and for the slight bonus in your town, but normally it’s pretty pointless. Agreed. As I mentioned (a bunch of times, I know) TSTO is very laggy on my tablet, so I never visit other towns during regular times with it. But if I’m on my phone and bored and I’ve already done as much in my town as I can, I’ll go to as many other towns as I can. It’s not worth the time for how much money you get, it doesn’t do the recipient any good at all. But I know some people will delete friends they think are ‘inactive’ and everyone has their own rules for what ‘inactive’ is. So hopefully it helps if I hit all the towns every week or two during the off season. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231.md?page=122) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpsons-tapped-out/643231.md?page=124)