I was asked, “Don’t I ever write about something whimsical?”
I don’t understand why pinworms are not whimsical but, In light of that comment here is my attempt at whimsical.
In April of 1987 the Simpsons were introduced as a cartoon short on the Tracey Ullman show. After which she went out to the audience and bellowed her now famous ending to her show.. ”GO HOME…GO HOME!”
I was watching that night and thought that the creator of the Simpsons might have something. Twenty Six (26) years later the show is still on during prime time and there seems to be, like me a “faithful audience”.
Without the DVR, I must confess that I would probably not watch it, but that can be said of just about all TV. I know too many folks that live their lives around the lineup on different channels. I would prefer to live my life and fit in television entertainment when I have nothing else going on.
Recently during the Christmas Holiday, during a visit with family; I discovered “Tapped Out.”
I have played every day since then, sometimes several times a day. What is my draw to this game, and more importantly why do so many folks play this game! I am not a gamer and do not generally play games.
The recreation of the Simpsons characters that I have watched for so many years and Quimbie’s evil laugh, are probably two of the largest reasons.
Pros: I think that the game introduces children to some Time Management skills in that in order to succeed in a short amount of time one must know what each and every toon is doing and more importantly, when they will come off task. This is so they can be “re-assigned a task.” Giving them task which correspond with the times that you will be able to “play” once again are key towards efficiency.
The currency in this game is interesting as there is cash and then depending upon the event there are special things like hearts from Valentines Day which earn one special gifts. Coins from Christmas or the “winter holiday” earn special things that are only made available during the event, and like now there are eggs from the snakes from the whacking day event. By whacking larger and larger number of snakes one can get more prizes.
In order to succeed at these events you need to have friends that will help. It is imperative that your friends visit your town and give you what you need and in return, you visit their town and reciprocate. So in a way this is teaching team work.
There are remedial financial lessons to be learned as you have to do something with time being the common denominator to earn cash with which to purchase land or houses or what have you.
The Cons: Donuts and cash..
There is another currency which is of all things donuts. You can earn donuts but with such infrequency it is almost not worth mentioning. People purchase them for real money. A dozen for $1.99 and the price goes up from there. Now if they are using this money to pay the programmers I am ok with that except “kids” are playing this game and some young enough that they may not correlate that money that they are spending with the actual value of what they are buying.
Scratch off’s. I am sorry but, this part of the game with the $1 option to play for donuts is tantamount to gambling. I am not certain how this has skirted around the laws but, here you could have children gambling, thinking that they are going to win “mega donuts” for a dollar and only get a few. This is germane in that there are certain items only available for purchase with donuts (cash).
There are several flaws with the graphics that constantly plague this game. The characters often end up doing a “moon dance” backward and through buildings and houses and what have you as well fragmented buildings or dumpsters or houses often clutter the screen causing one to shut down the game and start again.
All too often we get to see Bart with a network cable in his hand telling us that it cannot reach the servers, please retry.
I would like for FAT TONY and some of the other mute characters to have a voice as well.
One positive about this game as it evolves in parallel to the show. Something is added or changed with each new show and that keeps it lively.
If you like this and you happen to play this game, I am staylor823 using the Origin account and I need eggs! LOL (Was that whimsical enough?)
Good playing or fishing or whatever makes you happy!
-Best to you and those that you care about!
TheTimeDok 
Update… Still play, but not as often or with any type of conviction. Usually this is my activity before I go to sleep as it takes absolutely no thought and is rather tedious.
I have purchased all of the land that I can buy, I have over $10,000.000 and counting and nothing to spend it on.
Krusty world has not been updated in a while regarding task or what have you so either the writers are out of ideas or they are out of money and the game is dying.
The “Easter” part of the game whacking rabbits was different but not too much from snakes.
Collecting eggs exchanging them for stuff is interesting but 500 gold eggs for a fence kind of takes some of the thrill of the chase out of it.
All and all, if you play make sure you have the sound on as hearing the characters voices really does make this game.
If the writers don’t get busy soon I am guessing that like some of the other games that I have played in the past this too will end up idle.
Speaking of games about the only game I play about twice a day is scrabble. There is a site in the UK that host online scrabble and for a $1 a month or actually $12 a year you can play with as many folks as you like.
I have played with friends now for over 8 years and much like online chess, scrabble is one of those games that is as deep as you care to go.
Not only does it start out with simply making words but before you know it you pick up on the defensive strategy of the game. Not only does your vocabulary get a boost but your war gaming brain gets a workout.
So, to re-cap, one game puts you to sleep, and the other keeps the neurons firing.