The Simpsons: Tapped Out: Top 8 tips, hints, and cheats for donuts, cash, and XP!

Definitive Simpsons: Tapped Out guide: How to get more donuts, more cash, and more XP faster!

Simpsons: Tapped Out can take over your life and replace it with a Homer Simpson and donut filled cartoon replica faster than you can say "D'oh!" But if you're going to spend all your waking - and some sleeping - hours helping rebuild Springfield, we're want to help you do it as fast, as easily, and as cheaply as possible. So, I've collected some of the very best tips, hints, and flat out cheats I could find, and loaded them up here. So, keep reading, and get ready to take your Simpsons: Tapped Out gaming from "haha!" to "woohoo!"

1. Hidden items and bonuses

This is a rather easy one and doesn't require any skill. Tap on Homer so his task list comes up next to him. Now tap on Homer 10 times quickly. Doing this will unlock 10 donuts and a Jebediah Statue.

2. Choosing tasks

When choosing tasks for your characters to perform, it's good to be mindful of how long they take and what the reward is. Typically longer tasks come with a higher dollar and/or donut amount attached to them. It's good to choose these tasks before you're about to put the game down in order to let your characters achieve these while you're away.

If you're actively playing the game and building things out, it's good to assign your characters to perform shorter tasks. The monetary amount may not be as much but you'll get to interact with your character a lot more. Those little tasks can sometimes add up to decent amounts of cash or donuts rather fast too.

3. Collect money and XP in less taps

If you're tired of seeing all the XP and dollar signs floating around the screen but don't want to tap on each individual one, there's an easier way to collect all of it. Simply tap on one stack to expand it and then close or open your task book. After about five to ten seconds you'll see all your XP and money whisk into your account without the need for you to tap on any more of it.

4. Choose your buildings carefully

When it comes to adding on to Springfield, it's good to choose what you'd like to build carefully. Each property has the potential to earn you money and XP but how much?

Commercial spaces such as the Kwik-E-Mart and others have the ability to earn you higher income but it comes at the cost of time. While you can trigger more tasks at once, they'll most likely take longer. These are good ones to have as a steady stream of income. I typically trigger tasks when I can and definitely always have tasks running while I'm away from the game. That way I come back to a nice pile of cash the next time I play.

Residential properties will earn you income tax on a pretty regular basis but it isn't a ton of cash. You can supplement this by checking on the houses and making sure there aren't any other tasks you can perform. For example, at the Flanders you can send Lisa to babysit. These kinds of residential tasks take longer but earn more cash.

5. Level up faster

Items such as trees will earn you XP, which you'll need in order to level up and unlock other items. While these items don't earn you cash or donuts, it's important not to forget about them. Certain characters, buildings, and other items can only be unlocked when you reach a certain level.

In order to level up, you've got to collect XP. Adding trees, landscaping, and other items are cheap ways of earning XP faster.

6. Consult with the Conform-O-Meter

By tapping on the star rating in your left bottom detail view you'll be shown the Conform-O-Meter. There are many different areas that are dictated by star ratings. The higher the star rating you have in each category, the faster you'll rake in bonuses on top of the XP and money that is paid out for each task. For example, planting more trees will cause the tree hugger portion of your conformity score to climb, therefore increasing the bonuses you can collect for performing tasks in that category.

7. Buying donuts vs buying cash

Tapped Out gives you the option to buy donuts and cash via in-app purchase in order to accelerate how fast you can beat and unlock new objectives and items. When it comes to buying cash or buying donuts the better option is normally buying donuts.

The reason I recommend buying donuts over cash is that donuts allow you to finish objectives faster by rushing them. This in turn gives you cash quicker. In essence, you're really accumulating both faster in turn giving you more money to buy items faster and increase your XP by rushing tasks.

8. Your tips and tricks!

If you play Tapped Out regularly, what tips and tricks have you found that either help you accumulate more items or clear objectives faster? Let us know either in the comments or through our forums. There's already a Tapped Out tips and tricks thread going so if you know anything you think other iMore readers and forum browsers would find useful, be sure to add it in!

iMore senior editor from 2011 to 2015.