I’m quite sure that if you mention The Simpsons, every single person on this planet will know the yellow family from Springfield. Since their debut in 1989 on the Tracy Ullman show, they’ve done it all- appeared in tv shows, films, merchandise, console games and music. They even parody this fact when they go “Behind the Laughter” in season 11.
Come March 2012, if you had an iPhone, the first Simpsons smartphone game had arrived- The Simpsons: Tapped Out. It went on the premise that Homer did a very Homer-like thing and blew up Springfield by playing Happy Little Elves. Even in the intro, it’s already making a joke about the game you’re about to start putting hours of your life into (and money, if you’re not careful). The intro gave the game great promise.
The time killer itself has the full backing from Matt Groening and the writing staff, as shown right from the first tap. Back then, it was something new. Sure there had been games with microtransactions, but nothing that kept you coming back for more like this. That’s why, five years later, Tapped Out is still going strong. Not many smartphone games can stand that test of time.
Tapped Out features original jokes, throwbacks to popular moments and episodes from the series, and the opportunity to see the town and Springfield residents come to life. We see the folk art statues that Marge creates in “Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair),” Tom O’Flanagan’s pub from “In The Name of the Grandfather,” and so much more.
At the start of Tapped Out, it eases you in with the dynamics at a quicker pace. Essentially, the first few things you’ll get to do take a few seconds to complete. There’s a freebie or two to help you into rebuilding Springfield and then comes the characters. You’ll place iconic houses, unlocking the resident associated.
As per most smartphone game these days, along comes the microtransactions, in the shape of delicious, sweet donuts. They can be used to speed up the quests you send the Springfieldians on, as they can take up to 24 hours real time. You can also use the pixelated glazed heaven circles to buy buildings, characters, and decor. Unfortunately, some of these items are only available with donuts. Luckily, there are other ways of obtaining donuts, such as leveling up or spending in-game dollars at the Kwik-E-Mart for a raffle ticket to win them. Of course, you’ll almost never have enough donuts to buy everything you’ll want, but you can happily play the game without spending any of your real hard earned pennies.
EA has kept Tapped Out fresh by continuously updating with different themes and for the holidays. In June 2013, they introduced a completely new area, Squidport. This gave us all new areas to unlock and loads of new content, characters and items to place in our Springfield. Personally, this was timed great as the game started to stagnate a little.
The next month, they came out with another expansion, this time a little bigger than the last. Now you could build your very own Krustyland. The update takes you to another map completely, even featuring its own currency in the shape of tickets. This meant that you effectively started out fresh.
Since then, they kept up with the seasonal themes, but didn’t feature any substantial updates until June 2015. This introduced Springfield Heights. Similar to Squidport, this was in the main game area and opened up a new part of the map. It brought a new element to the game, where the properties garnished you with XP boost for all your empire, not just that one area. Of course, it kept the same ethos, giving you new characters and buildings, along with more things to spend donuts on.
Another month later, another expansion. Reusing some aspects of the monorail event they had in 2015, it’s a bit smaller than the other ones. Again it stays within the main map and gives new currency just for that content.
As you’ve gathered from this, EA seem to do a double dunk on the updates, releasing them in June and then July of the same year. Given that, we’ll probably be getting some more come mid year. Looking across the app store, it’s quite clear of the impact this game made. I must admit, I’ve stopped playing a few times, but found myself going back time and time again. Considering the fact that EA made over $130 million in revenue since the game’s release, I think it’s safe to assume that Tapped Out won’t be going anywhere soon.
