‘The Simpsons Tapped Out’ Treehouse of Horror 2015 update review: Returning items and adults get into Halloween

Act One for “The Simpsons Tapped Out” latest update, Treehouse of Horror 2015 for Halloween, has wrapped up nicely. And while some players are in their last-minute s’more-sending tasks for kids, fans should best prepare for the next batch of prizes and main currency for the game.

There are some specific strategies that players may want to apply going into Act Two as well as Act Three. And for those who either came in late for the Halloween activity or are concerned with how to get more donuts from the event, Electronic Arts introduced a new weekly challenge that allows this and more.

The second act continues the story from Act One. Part of the storyline involves crafting Moe’s Tavern—for those who are still at the early stages of the game—as well as three skins for buildings. These are the Moe’s Terror, Kill E-Mart and Krusty Murder. All of the building skins are craftable using the event resources.

New currency and craftables in Act 2

The shift to Act 2 of the event brought in gummy M’nthsers taking over s’mores as the main currency. While the start of the event still involves the kids to get gummies, this will all change once the player hits the Everscream Terrors questline. This time, Homer, Marge, Grampa, Luann and Kirk will now be earning the Gummies. The adults will now earn more gummies for eight-hour tasks at the Simpsons House, with premium ones like Luann and Witch Marge earning more.

Each of the skins for the three buildings mentioned will have more tasks for more adults. The tasks vary in time and gummy payout depending on which building is used, according to TSTO Addicts. A detailed walkthrough of the event can also be seen in the link.

The Act prizes have also changed to introduce more crafting resources, two design items, one building and a costume. The Mechanical Ghost and Elder Blimp are the second and fourth prizes respectively. Those who want a more Halloween touch will be happy to know that there is a Clockwork Bart costume, which matches Moe’s Moog look perfectly. There’s also the Tenta-Corp HQ, which is reminiscent of the Superhero Event building, Superior Squad HQ.

More craftable prizes have also been added in the second act. If Act One brought in a number of dead trees and groves, this time, walls are taking the main scene for multiple crafting. Making a return from previous Halloween events are the Spooky Wall and the Wailing Wall, both of which add a percentage bonus to overall earning. For players who missed out on last year’s event can take advantage of Act Two to get the alien Kodos. He is craftable for 250 bunny ears and 250 skeleton ribs.

Two new accessory craftables have also been introduced. The Jack-o-Lantern and the Halloween balloons are perfect decorations for houses once Halloween hits. Note that the craftable items from Act 1 are still in the game.

Shopkeeper’s Challenges, more donuts

Mid-way into the Act One, the developer introduced a new event called the Shopkeeper’s Challenges. This is a similar approach to the daily challenge from other events, but this time made easier for players who can’t log in every day.

The rules are simple. Every day for an entire week, EA will unlock a task that players need to complete. There are five tasks every week, but what makes it easier is that players just need to accomplish all tasks within the week. There is basically a leeway of two days, since there are only five tasks, and for those who have already unlocked more than one task do not need to accomplish them chronologically.

Each tasks completed rewards specific event resources. But an even better deal is that completion of all challenges will yield 20 donuts.

For regular freemium players who do not have a lot of characters, this is a very good deal. The Shopkeeper’s Challenges are the only ways to earn bonus donuts so far. Judging from the way Act One went, earning s’mores beyond the final Act Prize no longer yields bonus round donuts like before. The Shopkeeper’s Challenges seem to be EA’s way of regulating bonus donut earnings for premium players, and giving more bonus donut chances to freemium players.

Tips for visiting neighbours, dropping formless terrors

Players who have a lot of neighbours may want to take advantage of the event to visit and interact with other “The Simpsons Tapped Out” players. The Treehouse of Horror 2015 drops are formless terrors, purple tentacle monsters that introduce more currency for those who tap them.

This goes both ways. Players who drop formless terrors into their neighbours towns can get prizes of varying resources as well. The key is to make sure to catch the formless terrors within four hours upon being dropped in a town to get prizes.

Formless terrors can be obtained by tapping spawns in one’s own town or a neighbour’s town. While the formless terror drops are more frequent this time, there doesn’t seem to be a reason to hoard formless terrors, since they only yield crafting resources, and not act currencies. So players can keep dropping them in towns at any time during the event to get resources.