Who Is Gil Gunderson?

While long-term fans of Tapped Out instantly know the answer to this question (Gil Gunderson is a high-pressure salesman who offers deals that simply cannot be beaten!) players who are new to Tapped Out are understandably unaware of both who he is and why his deals cannot be beaten...

So while there is no way to accurately predict when he will appear in our Springfield or what his unbeatable deal will be, providing you with the full dossier on his activities in the land of beer and honey can only be a good thing, because it will help fortify your resolve to maintain what veteran players prefer to think of as the Emergency Gil Gunderson Reserve -- which we will cover in a moment.

Bringing a little order to the process, let's treat the question like the CIA would and build a dossier for you that not only answers the question, but also provides you with a historical view of what he had done in the past, as that will help you to immediately understand why being prepared for Gil to appear can only be a good thing!

The Gil Gunderson Story

The Story begins with a salesman named Gil who has a large family that is constantly hungry and in need of Cash -- a family that Gil supports on the commissions that he earns for making big-ticket sales to players in the form of special deals on important properties and structures in the World of Tapped Out.

Defined as a “Temporary Character” Gunderson only appears in your game when he has a deal to offer, and then his appearance is very fleeting, leaving very little time for you to acquire funds in the game! As a general rule it is said that those players who have the Money get some spectacular deals from the Gil man, and those players who don't have the money... Don't.

As a general rule Gil is a low-attention character -- that is to say that he can appear in your town but if you are not aware of him or you fail to click on him during the period of just a few real-world days during which he appears, you can easily miss-out on his current deal!

That means you should keep your eye out for Gil and keep an eye on the various websites that cover news for Tapped Out, as they are often the most reliable source for word of his endeavors!

A History of Gil and His Deals

While the game has been around for well over a year, Gil has only appeared a total of four times in all those many months -- and because it has been a long time since he last appeared, the Tapped Out Community speculates that we are due for a visit and a new special offer from the Gilster!

To put in perspective why that is such a big deal why don't we take a look at his previous four deals?

The Nerd Farm / Science Fund Deal (February 2013)

The last time that Gil appeared he was in the game for just four brief days, during which he offered a special deal that he called “The Nerd Farm / Science Fund” and that offered as a package deal a Homer Buddha and Frink’s Lab that was augmented with $50,000 of in-game Cash!

According to Gil this was a package that had an overall value of just under 500 Donuts -- which he was selling for just 250 Donuts -- or roughly half the estimated value according to Gil.

Clearly if you did not already have Frink's Lab in your game this was a sweet deal but if you did? Well, not so much...

A Sign of Doom (January 2013)

The next patented Gil Gunderson Deal was called A Sign of Doom, and featured a package deal that included The Springfield Sign and The Volcano Lair for just 250 Donuts.

If these structures / objects were purchased individually and at full price they set the player back 370 Donuts, which means that serious Tapped Out gamers could potentially save 120 Donuts on the deal -- if they did not already own one or the other (or both, sigh).

Gil's Donut Deal (December 2012)

The second official Gil Gunderson Deal was more of a boon for Donut speculators, this being one of those deals where the more real-world Money you spent, the better off you did.

The basic discount was up to 25% in Bonus Donuts in what Gil was calling his Day-Old Donut Sale -- the deal being a discount on the volume deals for Donuts that could be had from the Premium Menu in the in-game / online store.

To put that in perspective for you, the actual costs of the Donuts, depending on the volume purchased, worked out to a cost of between .13 cents per Donut for the smallest package to as little as .03 cents per Donut for the largest Boatload Package. Of course that still meant you spending a chunk of real-world Money, but if you are going to do it, you may as well get a 25% Bonus, right?

Gil's Christmas Special (December 2012)

The first deal that Gil offered on his first appearance in Springfield was quite a major deal indeed!

The Christmas Holiday was the theme, and for just 200 Donuts players could obtain the package deal that included Santa’s Village, Santa Homer (costume), and an extra Holiday Tree -- a package that if purchased separately would cost 275 Donuts and Merry Christians!

The Gil Gunderson Reserve

Savvy players and those who are serious about their Springfield (basically gamers who don't mind spending real-world funds for in-game Premium Currency aka Donuts) say that there because Gil's deals have never been for more than 250 Donuts, it makes a lot of sense to keep a minimum balance of 250 Donuts on hand at all times, just in case Gil shows up with an offer.

You have to decide for yourself how much sense that makes or whether you want to spend real-world Money on Donuts at all...

The objective of the SuperCheats Unofficial Guide to The Simpsons: Tapped Out is to get there without spending real-world Money, so we don't really have an opinion to offer one way or the other on this matter...

“Known” Upcoming Deals

It seems that gamers who routinely hack apart the data files that come with each Update to the game have found a number of potential “Gil Gunderson Deals” among them, though clearly based on the subject matter some of those so-called upcoming deals did not happen, being rather dated and so unlikely to happen.

Still we thought you might find it interesting to know what has been making the rounds as claimed Content from within the data files. These so-called upcoming deals include the following:

• Aztec Theater, Lard Lad Donuts, and a Homer Buddha (150D)

• Broadcast Dish and Burning Bush (30D)

• Duff Brewery and Springfield Sign ($29.99)

• Mystery Box and News Van (30D)

• Mystery Box and Squeaky Voice Teen ($4.99)

• Observatory and Tire Fire Package (75D)

• Otto’s Bus and $5000 (75D)

Of all of the speculative deals above the most attractive is probably the first one, but bearing in mind that if the player already has one or more of the Buildings the offer either may not be possible for them, or may not be worth pursuing...

But for new players however, Gil Gunderson's deals are just hard to beat!