CityVille Player Appreciation week means double XP, free energy and more

While Player or Fan Appreciation Weeks have been held across Zynga's many games in the past, from Pioneer Trail to FarmVille, the feature has come to CityVille this week, rewarding dedicated players with a variety of boosts and a chance to win free City Cash.

First and foremost, the game is now offering double XP on your accounts, so you'll be able to level up quicker than ever before (if you remember to play the game frequently enough during this event, that is). Secondly, you'll receive double the amount of energy on neighbor visits, which can then be used back in your main town to earn all of those additional experience points.

Furthermore, a sweepstakes is being run, offering a 2,142 City Cash prize as of this writing (and climbing). You'll earn sweepstakes entries automatically by simply playing the game, constructing new buildings or completing goals. You can also purchase entries for City Cash, but that's a bit backwards if you ask us. What's great about these tickets though, is that each and every ticket will give you something, even if it's not the grand prize. Each ticket has its own chance of winning Zoning Permits, Goods, smaller amounts of City Cash, energy, coins or XP, so it's definitely worth collecting as many as you can. Good luck!

What do you think of the boosts being offered during Player Appreciation Week in CityVille? What would you do if you won thousands of City Cash during this contest? What would you spend it on? Let us know in the comments.

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CastleVille: Play Zynga Slingo for free energy and hypercrafts

It may be taking a while, but another Zynga Slingo promotion has finally launched on Facebook; this time, in CastleVille. Luckily, if you've already completed the matching promotions in FarmVille or Hidden Chronicles, you'll be ready to go for these free prizes as well, as all three promotions require the same thing: that you earn at least 30 Medals in total in Zynga Slingo.

There are a maximum of five Medals available in each of the early levels in Zynga Slingo, which combines slot machines and bingo boards. It's quite simple to earn these 30 Medals, but also rather time consuming if you don't get lucky early on. Either way, once you earn those 30 Medals in Zynga Slingo, you'll be able to go back to your Kingdom in CastleVille to receive your prizes. You'll receive 30 free energy, along with three Hypercrafts. If you're unfamiliar, a Hypercraft will allow you to speed up the crafting process of one of your buildings by an hour each.

We expect other promotions to launch in games like CityVille or even Cafe World over time, and we'll make sure to let you know if and when that happens. In the meantime, why not head over to Zynga Slingo and earn those 30 Medals so that you can earn a slew of prizes across CastleVille and Zynga's other games?

Will you play Zynga Slingo for items in CastleVille? Did you receive your free items in other Zynga games as well? Sound off in the comments.

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Adventure World Windmill: Increase your energy from 30 to 42

Perhaps more than any other game in Zynga's catalog, energy plays a major role in your progress in Adventure World, but you can now increase your maximum energy cap from 30 (its current maximum) to 42 points by placing and tending your new Windmill.

The Windmill requires you to collect quite a few items before it can actually be built:

7 Metal Blades7 Wooden Trestles7 Drive Shafts7 Spur Gears7 Weather Vanes7 Small Pumps
The Drive Shafts and Small Pumps are found almost exclusively on Expedition maps (you can click on them within the Windmill's menu to be taken to the appropriate maps), while the other four items can also be earned by asking your friends to send them to you.
Once you've finished building the Windmill, you'll be able to tend it once per day using Supplies. The first day that you tend your Windmill, your maximum energy cap will increase by +1, and you'll need to keep tending it once per day to keep it there. Likewise, if you forget to tend it for a full 24 hour period, the cap will drop back down (but can never go back below 30 points). If you're familiar with the Dam in CityVille, this feature is incredibly similar in that respect.

You'll need to upgrade your Windmill by collecting more and more parts, so that you can eventually reach Level 4, and have the most room for improvement. Level 2 will allow you to reach a maximum energy cap of 34 points, and Level 3 will allow you to have up to 38 points. Level 4, of course, finally raises the maximum allowed energy to 42 points. Again, you'll gain a point each day that you tend the Windmill, so long as you continue to do so without missing any days.

Will you try to upgrade your Windmill all of the way to Level 4, or are you fine with just having 30 points of maximum energy? Sound off in the comments.

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First Wendy's, now McDonald's grants free energy in The Sims Social

Is there something about fast food and Facebook games that just goes hand-in-hand? (Well, at least then we might have yet another excuse for American obesity.) EA and Playfish have partnered up with McDonald's to score its The Sims Social players some free energy in the game. And all they have to do is watch a cute little video. You know, the ones you simply can't resist?

At the bottom of The Sims Social game screen rests an icon that reads, "McDonald's Fries give your Sim a +3 Energy Boost!" Click on the link, watch the 17-second clip, and the McDonald's Fries item will appear in your inventory. The clips are cringe-worthy, self-serving advertisements touting the natural sources behind the fast food giant's delicious if calorie-packed food.

However, players can watch these videos over and over until their Sims' backpacks fill with 15 of the energy-packed McDonald's Fries. And it looks as if, when you use all 15 instances of the item, you can simply watch more clips and restock for as long as the promotion is around. Unfortunately, it's only available to U.S. residents, which is a shame considering Playfish is in the UK. At any rate, click on the ad below the game to load up on the free energy (and laughable McDonald's clips).

Would you click on these ads for the free energy? What do you think of this approach to in-game advertising in Facebook games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.

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Adventure World Sneak Peek: Coffee Plant energy boosts coming soon

Note: This feature is unreleased as-of-this-writing, but should be launching any day. Here's a guide on what you'll find once the Coffee Plant launches in your game.

Earlier this week, we brought you a brief sneak peek concerning a new Base Camp-focused energy boost system that will be coming to Adventure World in the near future. Well, once this update rolls around to every users' Camp, we'll all have the ability to place a Coffee Plant on our Base Camps for use everyday. This Coffee Plant serves as a one-stop-shop of sorts, allowing you to earn six free energy everyday - that's one collection for six energy once every 24 hours, if we're being technical.

It looks like we'll need to build this plant using building materials (I know, "building" a plant doesn't make much sense to me either), so if you visit your friends and tend their already completed plants, you'll have a chance to receive these building materials for your own. If you both already have completed plants, these visits will result in bonus coins for you and a random chance at receiving free energy.

While six energy still likely won't be enough to guarantee success at any of your current tasks, you'll be able to ask your friends for help in earning even more energy from the plant. Every 24 hours, you will have the ability to send out a request to friends, asking them to join a crew of sorts, which boosts the amount of energy you'll receive from the Coffee Plant. If six of your friends join your crew within that 24 hour period, you'll receive another 12 energy the next time you check on the plant within the game. That gives you a potential to earn 18 extra energy each day you play the game.

Whether you want to ask friends to help you or not, the six daily energy will still be yours. If you have plenty of neighbors, however, feel free to continue asking your friends for help daily for more energy. Just keep in mind that you might need those friend requests later on, when asking for items in Expeditions or story-quests, so make sure you're willing to "waste" them on this potential for extra energy.

[Via and image credit: Zynga]

Is this Coffee Plant a solution to the energy crisis in Adventure World, a step in the right direction, or something that only compounds the situation in your eyes? Let us know in the comments.

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Adventure World: Add new neighbors for tons of free energy

It was only a matter of time before the folks at Zynga launched some sort of progress bar in Adventure World in an effort to get users to invite their friends to try out the game for themselves. Well, a new promotion has started popping up for users, asking them to complete the task of adding five new neighbors in the game with the prize of free energy hanging in the balance.

Actually, just saying free energy really doesn't cut it here. You'll be given a whopping 50 free energy once you add those five neighbors. Unfortunately, this promotion doesn't seem to clarify whether they'd need to be five new people that have never played the game before, or if they can be long-time players that you simply haven't added as neighbors. I've sent out plenty of requests myself, trying to solve that question, but with no luck as of this writing.

Another thing that wasn't exactly clarified was how we'd be receiving these Energy points. Would they simply be added to our in-game total, or will they be energy packs that we can use at our own discretion? Will the energy points expire if not used immediately? Maybe these things don't matter, since we're ultimately getting something for nothing, but am I the only one that wants to know exactly what I'm getting into when it comes to me sending out random invites to friends?

Either way, we'll make sure to let you know if any other promotions launch in the game, or if the prize changes from energy to something more exclusive, so keep checking back.

Check out the rest of our Adventure World Cheats & Tips right here.

Will you try to add new neighbors for free energy points, or are all of your interested friends already playing the game with you? Sound off in the comments.

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Adventure World: Redeem a Zynga Game Card for 15 free energy packs

If you've become a fan of Zynga's newest Facebook game Adventure World (now Adventure World - An Indiana Jones Game), and are ready to lay down some real-world money in the game, you now have some extra incentive to do so. For every Game Card redeemed in the game, you'll receive 15 Energy Packs.

Unfortunately, we're not sure exactly what that means. We'd love for it to mean 15 full energy refills, but if you look inside the game, a 30 Energy pot of coffee costs a whopping 30 Adventure Cash. Now, I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like something Zynga would just give away for free, especially in bulk. This leaves us with another option, the single cup of coffee, which gives you just five energy points. This would be a decent boost, since we're talking about a "free" prize after all, but even then, it still likely won't take you long to burn through all of those bonus energy points.

What's worse, there's yet another option for energy refills: a Bolt that gives you just one energy point. Surely this isn't the "Energy Packs" Zynga is talking about, but it's something to keep in mind all the same. We're working on discovering just which kind of "Energy Pack" you'll receive when redeeming a Zynga Game Card, but for now, why not take a look at our tools upgrade guide, so you'll be able to upgrade your tools to do more work for less energy to make all of your points go that much further.

Will you redeem a Zynga Game Card to earn 15 free Energy Packs? If you have, which specific kind of pack did you receive? Sound off in the comments.

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FrontierVille Shower Collection offers Energy and Cloth as rewards

While the new Shower in FrontierVille may not seem like an ordinary building, it too falls under the general rule of thumb that every new item has its own collection. The new Shower Collection can be found by scrolling all the way to the end of the Collections menu. The five items therein can be earned by collecting the Daily Bonus from your Shower, once it has been completed on your land.

Here's what to keep an eye out for:

Dirty Water
Suds
Sponge on a Stick
Scrub Brush
Scented Soap

For turning in the Shower Collection, you'll receive a fairly average set of prizes: three Energy and five Cloth. Considering that you can earn both of these items simply by visiting friends, via the visiting neighbors daily bonuses, it doesn't give this collection much clout whatsoever. If I were you, I might save these collectible items just in case we need them in a quest down the line, as the rewards really won't help you that much.

What do you think? Is this one collection to ignore, or will you complete it just to say that you did? Let us know in the comments.

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CityVille: Sign up for daily emails offering free energy, crew members and more

by Brandy Shaul, Posted Apr 20th 2011 7:55PM

While most other Zynga games already offer a daily email rewards program, offering you items like free fuel in FarmVille or free energy in FrontierVille, the developer has launched a similar email system in CityVille, allowing users to be rewarded daily just for playing the game (and for giving Zynga permission to email you).

There's a catch here though - a good one, at that. Instead of being sent a random item, or just a single item that doesn't change everyday, you'll be able to choose your reward via the pop-up menu above, that you'll see when logging into the game itself. From there, just choose whether you'd like to receive free Energy, crew for one of your buildings, a building ingredient, or even a mystery item.

It doesn't seem as though you'll be locked into that choice though, as Zynga has shown off an image stating that you'll be given the option to choose yet again when receiving your email. If this does turn out to be the case, you'll be able to choose one price on Monday, a different prize for Tuesday, and so on and so forth depending on your current needs at the time. It's a nice setup, to be sure, but it only helps to further confirm that we're apparently stuck with the energy system the way it is, whether we like it or not.

What do you think? Which of these prizes will you most likely choose as your daily reward? Let us know in the comments.

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Tags: cityville, cityville daily email, cityville email, daily email, email bonus, free energy, zynga

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CityVille: $5 Starter Pack offering energy, coins, City Cash, and more for limited time

by Brandy Shaul, Posted Apr 12th 2011 8:10PM

With Zynga's CityVille losing 3 million players in the last month, it looks as though the developer is trying to bring some of those players back (or perhaps simply reward those that have stuck around) by offering a new value bundle of content that can be purchased for real world currency, all in one lump sum. The next time you log into the game, be on the lookout for a pop-up like the one above, showing you all that you're offered.

This Starter Pack contains 6,000 coins, 40 City Cash, 15 energy, and an exclusive Dog Park decoration, all for $5. For those that like saving money, you're told in big yellow numbers that this is a 55% off savings. Indeed - simply checking the "Add Coins & Cash" tab above the game shows us that 40 City Cash on its own normally costs $5, so if you'd like, you could think of getting everything else for free when making that purchase.

Zynga hasn't announced an exact date for how long this Starter Pack will be available, but even I (someone who has never spent real money in CityVille) can see the draw of taking advantage of this deal sooner, rather than later.

Will you purchase a Starter Pack for your city in CityVille, or do you have enough City Cash to last you a while yet? Let us know in the comments.
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Tags: city cash, cityville, cityville city cash, cityville dog park, cityville energy, cityville starter pack, dog park, sale, starter pack, zynga

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April Fools! CityVille Energy Bandits Goal: Everything you need to know

by Joe Osborne, Posted Apr 1st 2011 4:25PM

Even CityVille is taking part in the tomfoolery of April 1 with a new mini-goal of sorts, "Energy Bandits." In addition to your everyday Bandits, Energy thieves have appeared in CityVille, and it's your job to capture them personally. Upon logging into the game and collecting from a few properties, Sam will appear exclaiming, "The energy bandits have been seen in your town!" Clicking OK will present you a treat.

Save Energy!

Catch as many Bandits as you can in 30 seconds
As soon as you press that "OK" button, Sam will ready you to click on as many Energy Bandits as possible. When you accept, you'll have 30 seconds to catch as many Bandits as possible. The Bandits will then literally appear in the street and you must click as many as possible to get that much Energy in return as a reward. When you complete the shortest Goal in the game ever, a message appears reading, "April Fools!" A happy April Fools it has been, as you'll find that Energy posted to your total for being a quick clicker. Let's hope Zynga gets into more skill-based Goals and, better yet, games down the line.

Have you seen this Goal in your city yet? How many Bandit did you capture at once? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.
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Tags: april, april fools, April Fools Day, bandits, cityville, energy, energy bandits, goals, zynga

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CityVille St. Patrick's Collection offers energy as a reward

With Energy now looking to be a very scarce commodity in CityVille, you'll be happy to know that with the release of the three St. Patrick's Day themed businesses in the game this week comes a new collection that rewards you with a +3 energy boost when completed.

The St. Patrick's Collection contains five new items to watch out for, which can be earned when collecting from the Fiddle Shop, the St. Patty's Pub, and the Shamrock Sing-A-Long businesses.

4 Leaf Clover
Fiddle
Leprechaun Hat
Pot of Gold
Rainbow

The reward, as we said above, is not only 3 energy, but also 50 Goods. While that may not seem like a lot, keep in mind that the St Patty's Pub only requires 40 Goods to set into motion, so this prize will keep at least one business up and running just a little while longer.

With the changes to the game's energy system, now might also be a good time to check out the other collections that reward energy, as you just might need them in the future.

Check out the rest of our St. Patrick's Day 2011 coverage right here.

What do you think of the St. Patrick's Collection? Will you build the Irish themed buildings to complete it, or is your town too full of other businesses? Let us know in the comments. Bookmark this site!

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