CityVille Cheats and Tips: A Goods Management Guide

CityVille Goods
Now that you've expanded your Franchise empire along with the boundaries of your booming town in CityVille, it's time to get those Goods in line. I don't know about you, but I often find myself maxed out on Goods upon logging into the game. In fact, it's gotten to the point where, at times, I can't even harvest my crops before somehow getting rid of my gobs of Goods. However, there are a few ways to optimize your Goods management so that you don't run into the same problem.

1. The Right Crops for the Right Time
The number one way to control the amount of Goods you produce is planting smart. This isn't FarmVille anymore where the motto normally goes, "The more crops, the better!" Remember to be sure of the yield of each crop and its harvest time before planting. Now, you don't have to break out the calculator or anything (well, unless you're that intent on efficiency), but an idea of how many Goods are waiting for you in a few hours or days is good to keep in mind. For instance, I would strongly recommend against planting a field full of corn when you already have half of your Goods limit in storage.

Jump behind the break for four more tips on how effectively manage your Goods.
CityVille Storage
2. You're Gonna' Need a Bigger Boat
Or in this case, a bigger barn. There are currently only four storage solutions in the game and they're as follows:

-Silo: 250 coins; 100 Storage
-Red Barn: 1,000 coins; 415 Storage
-Sticks: 1,125 coins; 485 Storage
-Cargo Shed: 10 City Cash; 1,000 Storage

While it is mighty tempting to just say, "Forget it," and put up for the Cargo Shed, smart buys and even smarter positioning can help you avoid paying real dollars just to keep your Goods in safe keeping. While Silos are the cheapest solution to Storage, they're not exactly efficient. A much better strategy, although more expensive, would be to line up multiple Barns and Sticks adjacent to one another facing your farmland. In fact, the best way to build in CityVille is in a grid format similar to this, though it's not 100 percent necessary. The bottom line here is that if you place Barns and Sticks intelligently along the borders of your farmland or city, letting Silos fill in any unavoidable blanks, you should be fine when it comes to Storage.

3. Time is Money (and Goods)
Say it with me: Collect from and supply businesses as often as possible. Actually, collecting from Businesses should hold a much higher priority than collecting rent, taxes and free from residential buildings. Here's a scenario: if you only have a few Energy left, yet both your Businesses and Housing are ready to be collected from, which would spend your remaining Energy on? If your answer was cutting down Trees, you're are not even close to getting it. All kidding aside, just collect from the Businesses. This way, you'll get both coins and will be able to supply those Businesses, which costs nothing but Goods--and that's exactly what we want to get rid of.

Franchise Supply
4. Meet Expanding Demand with Expanding Supply
Franchises are a funnel for Goods. Every day, you'll be able to supply a huge portion of your Goods to your Businesses in other cities. And it only gets better with the more places your Businesses pop up. As soon as you're able to, open another Franchise as soon as possible. (Second and third Franchise opportunities open up at Levels 10 and 20.) With two Franchises running Businesses in multiple cities you could easily unload 75 percent of your Goods the moment you log in and click the "Supply" button a few times.

5. All Aboard!
While we've touched on Shipping before, we didn't exactly touch its importance when it comes to Goods management. And the reason why it's at the end of this list is because, frankly, it's a last resort. But don't think it's not equally as important. To put it into perspective, shipping Goods via Train can rid you of up to 700 Goods in an instant. While many of us haven't expanded to a local waterway to give international shipping a go, surely that will provide an even better way of dumping excess Goods elsewhere while making some money in the process. So, when you're at a loss of where to put the rest of those Goods after everything else has been taken care of, send them off on a train and make a few friends happy.

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

CityVille Collections Guide: Where to find items, and the rewards you'll receive

As most CityVille players have picked up on by now, there is a huge section of CityVille dedicated to the completion of item collections. Similar to the collections found in other Zynga games (FarmVille and FrontierVille, as examples), these collection items can be earned by simply playing the game. Collections are themed, and if you can find all five items in a particular collection in CityVille, you'll be able to trade those items in for a helpful goodie(s) in the game. These prizes can be Experience Points, Energy Refills, or even exclusive items businesses, and houses that can only be earned through trading in collections, among other things.

Meet us behind the break for a complete list of the current collections available in CityVille, including the buildings that you'll need to collect from to earn these items, and the prizes you'll receive if you complete the collections.

Collection items usually have about a 3 percent chance of being dropped when you collect rent from a business or house, or harvest a crop. Of course there are exceptions such as the Danish from the Desserts Collection which has a 13 percent chance of being dropped. We'll go through the collections in the Collections Menu, which can be accessed by clicking on the Present / Cardboard Box icon in the bottom right corner of the CityVille gameplay screen, and clicking on the Gold Collections trophy.

Retail Collection - Earned from Tofu Burger, Grocery Store (City Supermarket), Department Store
Reward: 3 Energy & 25 Goods

Houseware Collection - Earned from Appliance Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 25 Goods

Home Furnishings Collection - Earned from Furniture Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins

Home Entertainment Collection - Earned from Music Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins

Bookworm Collection - Earned from Bookstore
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

Peaceful Living Collection - Earned from Cozy Cottage, Lake House, and Country Home
Reward: White Picket Fence (1% Bonus item)

Suburbia Collection - Earned from Family Townhouse, Suburban House
Reward: Red Dog House (1% Bonus item)

Main Street Collection - Earned from Loft Apartments, Stylish Contemporary Home
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

City Life Collection - Earned from Terraced Apartments, Apartment Complex
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

Rural Collection - Earned from Newlywed House, Ranch House, Rita's Country Home
Reward: 3 XP & 25 Goods

High Society Collection - Earned from Colonial Chalet, Modern Chateau, Sprawling Mansion
Reward: Driveway Gate (2% Bonus item)

Down Town Collection - Earned from Hotel Suites, Upscale Condos
Reward: Tavern (Building requiring 80 Goods; rewards 352 Coins by default)

Jet Setter Collection - Earned from Skyscraper Condos, Glass Condos, Atrium Lofts, Penthouse Tower
Reward: Tuxedo Rental (Building requiring 125 Goods; rewards 575 coins by default)

Just Desserts Collection - Earned from Bakery
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

Garden Collection - Earned from Flower Kiosk
Reward: Purple Flowers (1% Bonus item)

Early Riser Collection - Earned from Coffee Shop, Hot Cocoa Shop
Reward: 3 Energy & 50 Goods

Game Collection - Earned from Toy Store, Video Game Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 Energy

Fast Food Collection - Earned from Burger Joint
Reward: Gray Hen (1% Bonus item)

Comfort Food Collection - Earned from Diner
Reward: Hot Dog Cart (1% Bonus item)

Forever Young Collection - Earned from Cosmetic Store
Reward: Pink Flowers (1% Bonus item)

Watering Hole Collection - Earned from Pool Hall, Tavern
Reward: 3 Energy & 3 XP

Fitness Collection - Earned from Bike Shop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

Designer Collection - Earned from Shoe Store, Sunglasses Store, Handbag Store
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

French Cuisine Collection - Earned from French Restaurant
Reward: Bird Fountain (9% Bonus item)

Surf and Turf Collection - Earned from Seafood Restaurant, Tower Eats
Reward: Black Cow (1% Bonus item)

Asian Cuisine Collection - Earned from Sushi Bar
Reward: Japanese Maple Tree (4% Bonus item)

Bridal Collection - Earned from Wedding Store, Tuxedo Rental
Reward: Newlywed House (Home offering 100 Population)

Silver Screen Collection - Earned from Cinema
Reward: Highway Billboard (9% Bonus item)

Convenience Store Collection - Earned from Corner Store
Reward: 3 Energy & 3 XP

Perfect Fit Collection - Earned from Seasonal Clothing Store, Chic Boutique, Laundromat
Reward: 50 Coins & 25 Goods

Bling Collection - Earned from Jewelry Store
Reward: 3,000 Coins

Corn Collection - Earned from Harvesting Corn Crop
Reward: White Goat (1% Bonus item)

Strawberry Collection - Earned from Harvesting Strawberry Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

Watermelon Collection - Earned from Harvesting Watermelon Crop
Reward: 3 XP & 25 Goods

Pumpkin Collection - Earned from Harvesting Pumpkin Crop
Reward: 3 XP & 3 Energy

Carrot Collection - Earned from Harvesting Carrot Crop
Reward: Gray Bunny (1% Bonus item)

Wheat Collection - Earned from Harvesting Wheat Crop
Reward: White Chicken (1% Bonus item)

Eggplant Collection - Earned from Harvesting Eggplant Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

Pea Collection - Earned from Harvesting Pea Crop
Reward: Corner Store (Building requiring 60 Goods; rewards 270 coins by default)

Cranberry Collection - Earned from Harvesting Cranberry Crop
Reward: 50 Coins & 3 XP

Lunar New Year Collection - Earned from Fireworks Shop, Noodle Shop, Martial Arts School (Dojo)
Reward: Country Pagoda

Remember, these collections are subject to change at any time, meaning that you may not always be able to find these items from the listed buildings - they might start randomly appearing from others. If / as things change with these collections, we'll make sure to update this space to ensure that you have the best possible information when trying to complete your own collections in the game. Happy collecting!

FrontierVille Gingerbread House changed - CityVille cross-promo removed

If you're one of the many FrontierVille players that are struggling to finish your Gingerbread House (either the first or the second time), due to a glitch with the CityVille cross promotion that doesn't give you a Chocolate Bar in FrontierVille after finishing the branded CityVille mission, you'll be happy to know that Zynga has listened to your concerns and has removed the CityVille cross-promotion from the Gingerbread House in FrontierVille altogether.

Whether you're on your first or second go around with the Gingerbread House, there are now just two cross-promotional activities that you'll need to take part in: one for Mafia Wars and one for Treasure Isle. To earn the Chocolate Bars, you'll now have to simply click on the "Ask for More" button from within the Gingerbread House's menu. This will allow you to post a news item to your wall, asking friends to send you a Chocolate Bar. This is a "Give one, get one" situation, so your friends will earn a Chocolate Bar in return, if they help you out.

The rest of the Gingerbread House building requirements remain unchanged, but as the cross-promotional links have now been fixed, this is one feature that now looks to be running fairly smoothly, all things considered.

Could FarmVille, FrontierVille give CityVille Factories a needed boost?

After perusing the CityVille forums, I've come to notice a general discontent with the brand new Factories feature. Several experienced mayors claim that the 10 percent payout bonus that premium Goods provide pales in comparison to what some well-placed decorations can. Frankly, the time and Energy costs are not worth it when forum users like buildingaworld can use one Energy to receive over 3 thousand coins from a Tower Eats in seconds. But tlclark2418 proposes a brilliant idea: Why not just use FarmVille and FrontierVille to farm our Goods?

HarvestBoth of Zynga's most recent games included farming as a major mechanic, and, quite frankly, it's silly. Why should players have to farm in every game, especially CityVille, the epitome of a capitalistic play style in a videogame? Industrialized nations import more Goods than any other on the planet, so why shouldn't this be realized in Zynga's biggest game? Here is an excerpt from tlclark2418's forum post:

"I would love to replace the farms with factories or at least reduce significantly the dependency on farms as they are required for supplying franchises," tlclark2418 writes. "I would have hoped that Cityville would eventually do away with farming as I grew very tired of that aspect of Frontierville and Farmville. Why not have an option to import goods from Farmville or Frontierville?"

In this player's perfect world, FarmVille players would have the option, when harvesting crops, to send those crops as Goods to CityVille. This would eliminate the need for farms altogether in the game and validate the existence of Factories. These new buildings would then serve as processing plants and storage for Goods to supply Businesses. Like we said, this works from a logical, real-to-life standpoint, but from others as well.

What if Zynga gave players the option to farm in either game, but each method had its advantages and disadvantages? For instance, importing crops from FarmVille would give more payout yet took longer to process, but farming domestically would be quicker with lower payouts. Each serves its own purpose, but also entice players to play both games more often when possible. It's not as if this would be impossible--FarmVille English Countryside will communicate with the original. Will you look at that-- a feature that would make for a more interesting game for us players while increasing player retention for Zynga. This is a win-win.

Zynga changes CityVille Daily Bonus yet again to reward items

Make up your minds, Zynga. Or is it us that needs to come to a final decision? Regardless, the company has changed the Daily Bonus in CityVille once again. Don't worry, it's not a total revamp like before--you'll still be rewarded Energy for the first four consecutive days played. However, the fifth and final day of the Daily Bonus now has the chance to reward even more Energy or some attractive items.

Here's the breakdown, according to CityVille Info:

    5 Energy – 50% chance
    Bed and Breakfast – 28% chance
    Grain Silo – 20% chance
    Penthouse Tower – 2% chance


Considering Energy is widely useless in CityVille--even with the new limits it's still simple to avoid using it nearly altogether--I'd much rather have the Grain Silo or the Penthouse Tower( which was a already included in the Daily Bonus). In fact, why not just give players a choice of what they'll receive, but giving certain choices a cool down of sorts? For instance, say I want a Penthouse Tower now. I can choose that as my reward, but I won't be able to receive another one for another 10 days, or skip one Daily Bonus.

March Madness Facebook Game Showdown: FINALS

Click here to see the winner!

In the finale of our March Madness Facebook Game Showdown, we have what can only be described as shocking turn of events. We have a finals match-up between two games that no one would have thought would have made it to the last round -- Pet Society by PlayFish and Bejeweled Blitz by Pop Cap.
playfish popcap march madness facebook game showdownClick the image to see the bracket!

Pet Society was an underrated competitor, which was able to tap into its popularity and vanquish newer games with more current players. Pet Society defeated Zynga's Treasure Isle fairly easily 60% to 40%.

The HUGE upset in our tournament has been Bejeweled Blitz's gutsy victory over the behemoth of CityVille. To give you perspective on the magnitude of this upset you need only one piece of information: CityVille has 19 million daily players while Bejeweled Blitz has a modest 3 million plus. Amazing! Bejeweled Blitz won by the slimmest of margins, 52% to 48%.

If we would have told you at the beginning of our tournament that no game made by Zynga would have made the finals you would have laughed at us. Zynga games made up half the field and nearly all the higher seeded games. To say that this finals match-up is a Cinderella story is an understatement. Or, as Dicky V of ESPN would say "It's TOTALLY AWESOME, BABY!"

So -- now is the time to pick which Facebook will win our Showdown this year. Vote early (and often) in the poll below.

Sorry, this poll is now closed. Final results will be posted soon. Thanks for visiting Games.com - The Blog!

Click here to see the winner!

CityVille Sneak Peek: Rest your head in a Hotel, coming soon

Do you remember how big of a deal Cruise Ships were in CityVille when they first launched? Yeah, whatever happened to those? This seemingly abandoned feature will apparently be given new life in the future, however, as Zynga has posted a sneak peek of a new Hotel feature that will apparently incorporate them. The details of how and when this will happen are still up in the air, but we do know that we'll need to start collecting Sunglasses and finishing the construction on our Cruise Port to have a chance of keeping up.

In the meantime, let's speculate. If Cruise Ships themselves were supposed to increase the amount of tourists in our city (and therefore speed up our Businesses), could these Hotels mean that the speed increase could last longer, as tourists have a place to stay? Perhaps we'll need to collect special items like toiletries and towels to stock each hotel room to receive extra bonuses? It's a shame that so many details are unknown right now, as I honestly think this could have a lot of promise. Let's just hope Zynga doesn't force us to rely on City Cash and excessive friend requests when details do finally come to light.

What do you think the Hotel feature will entail? Do you think it will just be another Community Building, or will this be an ongoing event?

CityVille Pirate Ship Ride Attraction: Everything you need to know

If you liked building and then operating the Go Karts ride in CityVille and are looking for another ride to add to your virtual amusement park, you'll be happy to know that Zynga has released a second attraction to the game: a Pirate Ship Ride. The ride costs 5,000 coins to purchase from the store, but of course simply purchasing the base is only part of the battle.

After placing it, you'll need to collect a series of ingredients, but if you're lucky you might already have five of them sitting around. Here's a rundown:

    5 Ship Prows
    5 Safety Nets
    5 Gold Plating
    5 Jolly Rogers
    5 Overhead Bars


Again, you might have the Gold Plating already in your inventory, leaving you to collect the other 20 items. You'll be able to ask for the Ship Prows and Jolly Roger flags via general news feed items posted to your wall, while the Safety Nets are earned through individual gift requests sent directly to friends.

Once you've finished building and have opened the Pirate Ship Ride for guests, you'll be able to watch the ride run for five minutes at a time, with 2,000 - 5,800 coins being earned each time you set the ride into motion. In order to re-open it, you'll either need to wait for maintenance to complete, or collect wrenches with friends to re-open it sooner. It doesn't require Goods to operate, so you don't necessarily have to operate it at all (or build it, for that matter), but it's just so cool that I can easily justify the space it takes up in my town.

As a few notes, if you have both a Go Karts track and Pirate Ship Ride operating in your town at the same time, all of the Wrenches you collect are used as one request. That is, if you ask for Wrenches to operate your Go Karts, you can't ask for Wrenches within the Pirate Ship Ride shortly thereafter. Additionally, you'll need to be at least level 25 to access this feature, which may not have rolled around to your account yet.

[Image Credit: Zynga]

What do you think of the new Pirate Ship Ride? Do you like it better than the Go Karts track? Has your amusement park / summer-themed area started to take over the rest of your town, or have you only adopted these attractions and little else?