''The Simpsons: Tapped Out'' was a city-building mobile game for

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and

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

based on the American media franchise ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

''. It allowed users to create and maintain their own version of Springfield using familiar characters and buildings. The game was regularly updated with new content, often seasonal and holiday-themed, for example, during holidays like

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

, and ''Treehouse of Horror'' episodes-related content for

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. The game was available in several languages such as

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and both

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and

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. It was developed and published by

EA Mobile EA Mobile Inc. is an American video game developer, video game development studio of the video game publisher, publisher Electronic Arts (EA) for mobile platforms. The studio's primary business is producing games for mobile phones. It has als ...

and launched worldwide on March 1, 2012, for iOS and on February 6, 2013, for Android. The game was released for

Amazon Fire The Amazon Fire, formerly called the Kindle Fire, is a line of tablet computers developed by Amazon. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was first released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS tech ...

devices in several markets on June 24, 2013. According to its own estimates , EA generated over $130 million in revenue since the game's release. On September 26, 2024, EA announced that ''Tapped Out'' would be shutting down. It was delisted from the App Store and Google Play on October 31, 2024, while users who still had the app downloaded were able to continue playing the game until January 24, 2025. After that, the game servers went offline and the game was discontinued, becoming unplayable.

Gameplay

''The Simpsons: Tapped Out'' was a

city-building game A city-building game, or town-building game, is a Video game genres, genre of simulation video game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city or town, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and man ...

. It offered buildings that the player buys with "Money ($)"

in-game currency A virtual economy (or sometimes synthetic economy) is an emergent economy existing in a virtual world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an online game, particularly in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). People enter t ...

. Premium items were bought with Donuts which could also be purchased with real-world cash. The player used building and characters to make progress. By completing quests and levels, the player collected more characters and buildings to unlock more quests and levels. Each building generated in-game money to collect, under names such as "Income tax" from houses and the "Marking up Prices" for the

Kwik-E-Mart The Kwik-E-Mart (pronounced "Quick-E-Mart" in " Bart the General") is a convenience store in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It is a parody depicting many of the stereotypes of American convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and C ...

. Players could place rivers, roads, pavement and decorations on the land. The game was supported by EA's

Origin Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

, which acted as a social bridge to where players log into their Origin accounts and visit friends' towns to collect cash every 24 hours. Since the May 18, 2016, update, the maximum number of levels is 939. This is a reference to the episode " A Tale of Two Springfields", which shows the Simpsons' area code. Content updates had been released for the game, with new game content or limited-time events related to episode promotions or holidays. Major events included a temporary currency, which win the player limited edition prizes.

Plot

Too busy playing a Happy Little Elves-themed game on his myPad at work,

Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson is the main protagonist of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' who is part of the titular family. Homer made his television debut in the short " Good Night" on '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' on April 19, ...

neglects his workstation and accidentally causes a meltdown at the nuclear power plant, leading to the complete destruction of Springfield. Left stranded, he is solely responsible for rebuilding Springfield and bringing back its town members. Homer is desperate to find other characters so that he can get them to rebuild, and he can get back to his elf game. With the help of

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

, Homer rebuilds Springfield and brings back key sought-out characters.

Development

According to game runner and longtime ''Simpsons'' writer J. Stewart Burns, the game originally started as a "labor of love" and he didn't expect much to happen after the game's release. Although they did not get credited, there are about ten writers who worked on the game, including ''Simpsons'' writers Burns,

Matt Selman Matt Selman (born ) is an American writer and producer. Early life Selman is a native of Watertown, Massachusetts. He graduated from Beaver Country Day School in 1989 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. Career After considering a car ...

Brian Kelley Brian Edward Kelley (born August 26, 1985) is an American musician, best known as a member of the Nashville-based duo Florida Georgia Line. Kelley is from Ormond Beach, Florida, and enjoyed playing sports and music growing up. He moved to Nashvil ...

Jeff Westbrook Jeff Westbrook is a Screenwriting, TV writer best known for his work on ''The Simpsons'' and ''Futurama'', for which he is a three-time winner of the WGA Award. Education and pre-TV Prior to becoming a TV writer, Westbrook was a successful algor ...

, Jon Kern,

Carolyn Omine Carolyn Omine is an American television writer. She has won four Emmy Awards for her writing work on ''The Simpsons''. Writing credits ''The Simpsons'' episodes Omine has written the following episodes: *" Little Big Mom" (2000) *" Treeho ...

and Diana Wright.

Reception

The game has a score of 69 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". Daniel Bischoff from ''

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'' summarized their review by saying, "''The Simpsons'' has everything you need for an excellent free-to-play game, including universal appeal, a wealth of material, and excellent little sound bytes like "D'oh" and Krusty's iconic laugh. It's just a shame that Electronics Arts has to choke the life out of that wonder with their oppressive Origin service." Max Eddy from ''

PCMag ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues . Overview ''PC Magaz ...

'' described the game as " alkinga delicate line between miserable money-maker and actual entertainment. So far it's done a good job being fun, but it's a balance that's easily upset".

Technical issue on iOS

Shortly after the iOS launch, the game was pulled from the

iOS App Store The App Store is an app marketplace developed and maintained by Apple, for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS SDK. Apps can be download ...

due to EA's servers being unable to cope with the demand and a plethora of serious glitches reported by users. After a month had passed, EA set up a forum whereby users could report bug issues, but failed to offer solutions to issues or temporary updates. Some users who had made in-app purchases discovered that their purchases had vanished. After contacting EA, users were able to collect refunds directly from Apple. Several months later on August 16, 2012, the app returned to the App Store. The bug remained in the game for some time before eventually being patched.

Criticism and media appearances

Due to criticism of the larger trend of freemium games' revenue structure, the game was satirized in the ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' episode " Freemium Isn't Free" as exploitative and lacking in gameplay. The game itself earlier lampooned this point during an in-game conversation between two characters. In ''The Simpsons'' season 25 episode "

Labor Pains Labor (or labour) pains may refer to: * Pain experienced during the process of childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour, parturition and delivery, is the completion of pregnancy, where one or more Fetus, fetuses exits the Womb, internal e ...

," Homer opens the game on his phone and is automatically charged $300.

Accolades

The game won the People's Voice Award for "Strategy/Simulation" at the

2018 Webby Awards The 23rd annual Webby Awards were held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on May 14, 2018, which was hosted by comedian and writer Amber Ruffin. The Webby Awards have been dubbed the "internet's highest honor" and, in 2018, received over 13, ...

References

External links

''The Simpsons: Tapped Out''
at

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...