FAQ/Strategy Guide by Zillion2One

Version 0.95, Last Updated 2011-07-20


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Guide version 0.95 This is my first guide ever, so please bear with me!

For those more experienced Tiny Tower players, there's a section at the bottom I've named "Tips and Info for the Obsessed".


Floors can now be renamed by tapping on the white box in each floor's detail screen.
New VIP, the Real Estate Agent
5 new businesses, one for each category
Scroll to the top of your tower by tapping the top of the screen
Changed dream job reward from 3 bux to 1 bux


Increased chance for bux tip from elevator passengers
Ability to sort Tower Bitizen List

The Basics

Your goal: To build the most awesome, profitable tower ever!

Your tower starts with only one floor: the lobby. This floor doesn't technically make any money for you, but it will be where you pick up VIPs and regular elevator passengers, which will earn you coins and even Bux.

Each floor in Tiny Tower can only contain one unit, either a business or a residence. After the tutorial, you'll have built two more floors: a residential one and a business. Each time you build a floor, it costs more coins than the previous floor. The newly built floor starts out empty. Tap on it to choose what unit to build there.

A residential unit, or apartment, can house up to 5 bitizens. These residents become the employees for your various businesses. Business units will be your major money makers. There are 5 different categories to choose from: Food, Service, Recreation, Retail, and Creative. A business unit can have up to 3 bitizens working there at one time.

Main Menu

The main menu is accessed by tapping the green Menu button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Bitizens - Pulls up the Tower Bitizen List, where you can see all bitizens living in your tower. Here you can view the major stats for each bitizen: Name, Job, Skill numbers, Dream Job, and Happiness. Tap on an individual listing to pull up that bitizen's Detail Screen.

Settings - Toggle sounds and notifications. There is also a button that allows you to reset your game.

Games - Closes the game and opens the App Store to a list of all games by NimbleBit.



Stats - Across the top, labeled Business Demand, are 5 colored bars representing the amount of demand for each type of business. Sales per Min shows how many sales your tower is making per minute. Obviously, the higher the number, the better! Floor Distribution shows how many floors you have of each business type as well as how many residential floors.

Elevators - Allows you to upgrade the speed of your elevators. First upgrade is 25 Towerbux, second is 75, and the third is 125.

Get Bux - Allows you to purchase towerbux. You have 3 choices: 10 for $0.99, 100 for $4.99, or 1000 for $29.99.

Bank - Here you can trade in towerbux for coins. You can get 250 coins for 1 bux; 1,500 for 5; 20,000 for 20; or 100,000 for 50. To get the best deal, wait until you have 50 bux before trading in.

BitBook - This is a version of Facebook for your bitizens. It's purely for entertainment.

What does this all mean?

Bitizen Detail Screen

There are two ways to access detailed information on a bitizen. Tap on a floor to pull up the Floor Detail Screen, then tap on the icon of one of the bitizens who works/lives on that floor. Alternately, you can go into the main menu, tap the Bitizens icon, and then tap on the bitizen of your choice from the Tower Bitizen List that pulls up.

Information on this screen:

Bitizen name

Dream Job

Home - floor the bitizen lives on

B-day - if you play Tiny Tower on one of your bitizen's birthdays, you'll receive 1 towerbux

Skill Numbers

Happiness level:

Red frowny face = Unemployed, or employed with a skill level under 5
Yellow neutral face = Employed, but not in dream job
Green smiley face = Employed in dream job

Employed at - Bitizen's current job

Dress Up - Tapping this button will change your bitizen's whole outfit. The only thing that stays the same is their skin tone and hair color. The results are completely random, but it only costs 1 coin, so you can keep tapping until you find something you like.

Job - Gives you the option to change this bitizen's job. A message will pop up telling you that you can't change their job if they are working at a business that is currently restocking.

Evict - Gives you the option to remove this bitizen from your tower, leaving an empty spot in their apartment and their job. A message will pop up telling you that you can't do this if they are working at a business that is currently restocking.

Floor Detail Screen - Business

Tap on a floor with a business unit.

Information on this screen:

Business name - You can change the name by tapping on it.

Demand - The higher this percentage is, the busier the business is supposed to be. The percentage goes down if there are more of that type of business than of the others, and goes back to 100% when there are the same number of each of the 5 types of businesses.

Business type - There are 5 types: Food, Service, Recreation, Retail, and Creative

Employees - There are 3 blue boxes for the 3 employees a business can have. Each box will either have a picture of a bitizen or the word "hire" if that job spot is available. Tapping on one with a bitizen's picture will take you to the Bitizen Detail Screen for that employee. Tapping on one that says "hire" will bring up the list of all bitizens in your tower, w.here you can choose one to hire. Even bitizens that already have jobs will show up. You can hire a bitizen that is already working somewhere else as long as that business isn't currently restocking. If you have a bitizen in an employee spot you will see their picture as well as their happiness level, and their skill level for the current business type is shown underneath.

Products - Each business can stock up to 3 different products, depending on the number of employees it currently has. If a business has 1 employee you will only be able to stock the level 1 product, which sells for 1 coin. With 2 employees you'll be able to see the level 2 product and stock it; Level 2 products sell for 2 coins. And with all 3 employee spots filled, you can stock level 3 products which sell for 3 coins.

Delete - You can delete this business, as long as it is not restocking. Deleting costs nothing, and you'll be asked to confirm. Any employees that were working there become unemployed. The floor returns to being an "empty floor" like when it was first constructed. You can then tap on it and choose to build any unit.

Move - For 1 towerbux, you can move this unit up or down your tower to a different floor. All other units are moved up or down a floor to accommodate this.

Paint - You can change the color scheme of your business. You start out with 100 paint buckets, and can buy another 100 for 1 towerbux if you run low. Just like changing your bitizens' outfits, the changes are random, so you'll just want to repaint until you find something you like.

Floor Detail Screen - Residential

Tap on a floor with a residential unit.

Information on this screen:

Apartment name - You can change the name by tapping on it.

5 Bed Residential - All residential units say this

Tenants - There are 5 boxes representing the 5 bitizens that can live in a unit. When you first build a residential unit, all 5 spots are available. When available, the box contains the words "For rent" and the picture of a towerbux. Once a bitizen moves in, their picture shows up in one of the boxes, as well as the icon representing their happiness level. Next to their picture is their name and where they are employed. You can tap on the picture to access their Bitizen Detail Screen.

Delete - You can delete this apartment as long as there are no residents. Deleting costs nothing, and you'll be asked to confirm. The floor returns to being an "empty floor" like when it was first constructed. You can then tap on it and choose to build any unit.

Move - For 1 towerbux, you can move this unit up or down your tower to a new location.

Paint - You can change the color scheme of the residence. You start out with 100 paint buckets, and can buy another 100 for 1 towerbux if you run low. Just like changing your bitizens' outfits, the changes are random, so you'll just want to repaint until you find something you like.

Let's get it started

There are two types of currency in this game: coins and towerbux. Coins are the easiest to get, and are needed for most of the actions in the game. Coins are used to buy new floors and to restock product for your businesses to sell. You earn coins from your businesses, from elevator passengers, and from renting your apartments. Towerbux are used to speed up certain aspects of the game. You can use bux to speed up product restocking and floor construction, move a bitizen into an apartment without waiting, upgrade the speed of your elevator, and you can exchange bux for coins. Towerbux can be earned by finding a specific bitizen when asked, occasional tips from elevator passengers, and sometimes as a reward for completely stocking your businesses. You can also purchase bux from the Main Menu.

As you'll learn from the mini-tutorial, the first thing you'll need is a residential floor. You need bitizens living in your tower to work in your businesses. There are three ways to get bitizens to live in one of your apartments. The first is to wait for a regular elevator passenger to ask to be taken to a residential floor. If there is at least one free space in that apartment, the bitizen will automatically move in. You can also get a bitizen to move in when you deliver the Real Estate VIP to a residential floor with at least one free space. And if you want a quicker way, you can pay 1 towerbux to move someone in without having to wait.

Working hard for the money

When you first build a business, it will appear dark. It will have no employees and no product to sell. In order to make money from the business, you will need to hire at least one employee and have at least one product in stock. Tap on the floor to pull up the Floor Detail Screen. If the business has one worker,this screen will show only the level 1 product for that business. With two workers you can see levels 1 and 2, and with all three workers you'll be ableto see level 3 as well.

Products are listed with their name, the coin cost of restocking them, the amountof product, and the time it will take to restock. You can only have one productrestocking at a time. If the business has other products available, it willremain open while restocking. If it doesn't, or if they get sold out while restocking, the business goes dark and won't get any more customers until therestocking is finished.

Get a job, why doncha?

When a bitizen moves into your tower, they start off Unemployed. There are two ways to assign them a job. One way is to look at the bitizen's detail screen, tap the "Job" button, and choose from the available jobs that are listed. If a business already has 3 employees it will not show up on this list. You can also choose "No Job" at the top of the list to have them be Unemployed. Another way to give a job to your bitizen is to tap on a business. If there are any available jobs at that business, one or more of the blue squares at the top of the screen will contain the word "Hire" rather than a picture of a bitizen. Tap this square, and a list of all bitizens (including ones that already have a job) will come up. You can hire a bitizen that is already working somewhere else, as long as the business they work at is not currently restocking. If it is, you'll get a warning letting you know you can't hire them.

Who's the best man for the job?

There are two bits of information to look at when deciding which job to give to a bitizen. The most simple is to look at the skill numbers each bitizen has. You'll find them listed in the Bitizen Detail Screen, or you can see the numbers for each bitizen on the Tower Bitizen List. Each bitizen has a set number for each of the 5 business types. If you put them in a job where their skill level is 4 or lower, their happiness level stays as a red frowny face. If you put them in a job where they have a skill of 5 or higher, they'll have the yellow neutral face. The happiness level doesn't appear to affect anything in the game; it just helps you see at a glance if you've put a bitizen in a job that is a good fit for them. An employee's skill number gives you a corresponding discount off the restocking cost of the products. You get a percent off based on the skill numbers of all employees. So, if a business has one employee with a skill number of 6, you'll get 6% off your restocking costs. If it has 3 employees, each with the maximum 9 skill number, you get the maximum 27% discount.

The best job to put a bitizen in is their dream job. You can see this either in their Bitizen Detail Screen or listed on the Tower Bitizen List under the bitizen's skill numbers. First of all, you'll earn 1 towerbux when you first place a bitizen in their dream job. (This only happens once per bitizen, so don't think you can move them to another job and then back for more towerbux) The advantage of having a bitizen in their dream job is that the amount of product you can restock doubles, but the price stays the same. When a business has 1 employee whose dream job is a match, you get double the product amount when restocking the Level 1 product. Two dream job employees and you get double the product on for Level 1 AND Level 2. And with all 3 employees with matching dream jobs you get double product for all 3 levels of product.

Micro Manage your Tiny Tower

There are a number of events that will happen in your tower that require action. For each, an icon will appear in the bottom left corner of the screen. Tapping on this icon will take you to the floor where the event is taking place. These events and their icons are:

Red, two triangles: This is the most common event. A bitizen visits your tower and wants you to personally escort them to their desired floor. Tapping the icon takes you to the lobby. Tapping the lobby gives you control over the elevator. Two large buttons appear on screen, an up and a down button. You must take the bitizen to the floor they request, since they won't get out of the elevator until you do. You can also simply touch the left side of the screen to make the elevator go up and the right side for down. Because of this, you can't access the Floor Detail Screen on any floors while controlling the elevator. You can access the Main Menu. If you take the bitizen to a residential floor with an open spot, they will move right in. Otherwise, they "tip" you for your service. You'll usually receive coins, double the number of the floor you took them to. Sometimes they will tip you a towerbux.

Red, VIP: A VIP is visiting your tower! Tapping the icon takes you to the lobby. Tapping the lobby brings up a message telling you what the VIP will do for you, and then gives you control over the elevator, which works the same as when transporting a regular passenger. But, with a VIP, you get to choose which floor to drop them off on. You will be asked to confirm, so if you stop at a floor and change your mind, you can move to a different one. VIPs are the most rare event, and provide a big bonus. When a VIP arrives and you go to the lobby, you can see them waiting in the elevator. The way they are dressed gives you an idea of what bonus they'll give you.
Orange clothes with a yellow hat = Construction Worker - Takes 3 hours off the construction time if taken to a floor that is under construction.
Brown clothes with brown hat = Deliveryman - Takes 3 hours off the restock time if taken to a floor that is restocking.
Pink shirt with sunglasses = Celebrity - Increases the number of customers for the floor they are dropped off at for a short time.
Green shirt with sunglasses = Big Spender - Will buy out all of 1 product from whatever floor they are taken to. The product they buy out is random,
so if you can, take them to a floor that only has level 3 product in stock.
Blue clothes = Real Estate Agent - Will move one bitizen into any residential floor you take them to (as long as there is at least one spot free)
Take advantage of the fact that you can see what type of VIP you have before you pick them up. If you see it is a construction worker and you don't have any floors under construction, you can start one and then take the VIP to it. If it is a delivery guy and you don't have any floors that are restocking product with a long restock time, you can start something restocking and then take the VIP to that floor.
Blue, head and shoulders: A message will pop up asking you to find a specific bitizen in your tower. It will show what they look like, and if you accept, a picture of them remains at the bottom of your screen for reference. While you are searching you can't access any Floor Detail Screens. If you tap on a floor that does not contain the bitizen, a message will pop up telling you they aren't there. There is no penalty for tapping the wrong floor. Once you find the bitizen and tap on the floor they are on, you are rewarded with 1 towerbux.
Orange, exclamation point: One of your business units has run out of product and is not restocking anything. Tap on the icon to be taken to that floor. The business will be dark. Tap on the floor and start restocking a product. An empty business doesn't make any coins!
Light orange, open box: One of your business units has finished restocking a product. Tapping on the icon takes you to that floor. A product that has completed its restocking time is not actually available until this icon has pulled up and you tap on the floor

Tips and Info for the Obsessed

  • Businesses need employees to restock product, but not to sell it.
  • You get a bux whenever you play the game on the same day as one of your bitizen's birthdays.
  • You get rent from your bitizens; you'll get 100 coins per bitizen living in your tower each day, the first time you open the game after midnight.
  • Cost of building a floor: (Number of the floor)^2 x 150
  • Time construction will take: [Number of non-empty floors (including lobby)] x 30 minutes

Business Stats

TypeBusiness NameL1 TimeL1 QtyL1 CostL2 TimeL2 QtyL2 CostL3 TimeL3 QtyL3 Cost
FoodAsian Cuisine0:10150900:253752250:45675405
FoodCoffee House0:0575450:10150900:20300180
FoodFancy Cuisine0:10150900:304502700:50750450
FoodFrozen Yogurt0:0575450:152251350:30450270
FoodMexican Food0:011590:10150900:30450270
FoodPizza Place0:0575450:304502700:45675405
FoodSky Burger0:10150900:152251350:30450270
FoodSmoothie Shop0:0460360:152251350:30450270
FoodSub Shop0:10150900:152251350:20300180
FoodSushi Bar0:0230180:08120720:25375225
FoodTea House0:0575450:253752250:40600360
FoodVegan Food0:10150900:253752250:35525315
FoodBBQ Place?????????
ServiceBarber Shop0:0575450:10150900:30450270
ServiceDay Spa0:456754051:009005402:001,8001,080
ServiceDentists Office1:009005402:001,8001,0803:002,7001,620
ServiceDoctors Office1:009005403:002,7001,62016:4015,0009,000
ServiceFortune Teller0:304502700:456754052:402,4001,440
ServiceHealth Club0:304502700:456754052:001,8001,080
ServiceMartial Arts4:003,6002,1608:007,2004,32011:4010,5006,300
ServicePrivate eye3:002,7001,6208:207,5004,50016:4015,0009,000
ServiceShip & Print0:152251350:304502703:203,0001,800
ServiceTravel Agency0:152251351:009005402:001,8001,080
ServiceTutoring Center2:001,8001,0803:002,7001,6206:005,4003,240
ServiceWedding Chapel0:304502702:001,8001,0806:005,4003,240
RecreationBowling Alley0:0575450:304502705:004,5002,700
RecreationComedy Club0:0575450:08120720:25375225
RecreationCyber Cafe0:152251350:304502706:406,0003,600
RecreationMini Golf0:304502701:009005402:001,8001,080
RecreationNight Club0:0575450:10150900:45675405
RecreationPaintball Arena0:456754052:001,8001,0804:053,6752,205
RecreationVideo Rental0:0460360:152251350:30450270
RecreationVolleyball Club0:304502701:009005405:004,5002,700
RecreationRock Climbing?????????
RetailBike Shop0:203001800:304502701:201,200720
RetailBook Store0:152251350:253752251:00900540
RetailComic Store0:152251351:009005403:002,7001,620
RetailFabric Shop0:10150900:456754052:402,4001,440
RetailFurniture Store0:203001801:009005401:201,200720
RetailGame Store0:203001800:406003602:402,4001,440
RetailHat Shop0:152251350:456754051:00900540
RetailMapple Store0:304502702:001,8001,0805:004,5002,700
RetailMens Fashion0:152251350:355253153:203,0001,800
RetailMusic Store0:10150900:456754051:501,650990
RetailPlant Nursery0:131951170:385703420:55825495
RetailRecord Shop0:253752250:507504502:302,2501,350
RetailShoe Store0:203001800:304502701:00900540
RetailTech Store0:304502701:009005403:503,4502,070
RetailToy Store0:0690540:152251350:30450270
RetailWomens Fashion0:152251350:355253153:203,0001,800
RetailAuto Dealer?????????
CreativeAd Agency0:456754052:202,1001,2605:304,9502,970
CreativeArchitect Office2:001,8001,0805:204,8002,88013:2012,0007,200
CreativeArt Studio1:401,5009003:203,0001,8006:406,0003,600
CreativeCake Studio0:456754051:151,1256753:203,0001,800
CreativeFashion Studio1:009005405:004,5002,7008:207,5004,500
CreativeFilm Studio2:001,8001,0803:203,0001,80011:4010,5006,300
CreativeGame Studio1:009005403:203,0001,80011:4010,5006,300
CreativeGlass Studio1:009005402:001,8001,0805:004,5002,700
CreativeGraphic Design1:009005401:401,5009005:004,5002,700
CreativePhoto Studio0:152251350:304502701:00900540
CreativePottery Studio1:009005401:201,2007203:403,3001,980
CreativeRecording Studio0:456754056:406,0003,60010:009,0005,400
CreativeSoda Brewery0:203001800:406003601:401,500900
CreativeSoftware Studio1:009005403:203,0001,8008:207,5004,500
CreativeTattoo Parlor0:456754052:402,4001,4405:004,5002,700
CreativeWood Shop1:009005402:402,4001,4405:304,9502,970
CreativeFloral Studio?????????


Copyright 2011 Janalyn Elzinga This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Title created with bigmoney-nw : by nathan bloomfield (xzovik@gmail.com)

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