The Simpsons: Tapped Out is a new free iOS game from EA. You CAN play without Origin, but will not be able to access the social feature of the game (plus miss out on getting 2 free donuts!)
The storyline is, that Homer accidentally destroys Springfield after slacking off at his job at the Nuclear Power Plant. It's up to him to rebuild Springfield!
As you progress throughout the game, you place decorations, get land expansions, build buildings and unlock characters such as Moe, Mr. Burns, Luigi, and Apu, and you level up. The current max level is 25.
The two main currencies in this game is the basic money, and the premium currency is
mmm...donuts. Donuts are hard to come by, but there's a little secret to getting 10 donuts and a bonus...for free. We'll get to that later. For you rich boys out there wanting donuts, don't forget to get the Boatload of 2400 Donuts for $99.99! Some decorations and buildings cost donuts, such as the School Bus (which unlocks Otto) costs 120 donuts, and some decorations cost donuts too, like the Butterfly Tent for 20 donuts. You can unlock character outfits, (which do different jobs and sometimes earn more money than the original character) and standalone characters without a building (such as Kearney) with donuts, too.
You're going to need donuts, so don't waste them on speeding up that task that only has 1 hour left and you can perfectly wait for it.To earn money, you make characters do tasks for a certain period of time, such as making Marge "Clean The House" for 3 hours, or make Skinner "Drink at Moe's" for 8 hours. The longer the task, the more money you earn.
2 buildings "plant" things and you get extra money from them. Cletus's Farm plants plants, and Channel 6 News broadcasts programs. Some of the programs with Channel 6, cost, you guessed it, DONUTS! These "plants" cost money, and give you money after a certain period of time (such as Regular Programming with Channel 6, takes 8 hours.)
Have fun playing!