Tips and Tricks



Note: for information regarding unlimited money please visit the cheats page.

Easy money (awards which are easily collected in the beginning)

 * 1-6: build X road sections = roads are free to build and to demolish


 * 63-68: spend in the game X hours online = just leave your game on (and the ipad with it)


 * 94-100: move X facilities = moving is free also. Trees and shrubs count as facilities and are faster to move than buildings.
 * 113-118: post photos on Facebook

How to prevent unwanted in-app purchases
Paradise Island is a free game for the iPad. To make the game go faster you have the option to REALLY buy dollars or piasters, so be careful (especially if you let children or other people play this game on your ipad. Here is an explanation of how to disable in-app purchases (source):


 * Go to the Settings panel of your device and select “General.”


 * Select “Restrictions,” where you will be prompted to enter your 4-digit security pass code. If you have not already established a code, go ahead and do so now. This will prevent older children from being able to simply un-do any restrictions that you have set.


 * After your pass code has been entered, the “Restrictions” screen will appear. Scroll down to “Allowed Content,” and switch “In-App Purchases” to the Off position.

Never Miss the Pirate Chest
This only works on the Iphone version, since the application stays loaded and the game screen does not need to load. When you are finished playing move the screen to see the dock, and the location where the pirate chest should appear. Once you return to the game, open the application, and start clicking where you know the pirate chest should be. It will activate it, even if your time limit has elapsed, and the 5 hours till the next one restarts.

Hit The Yellow/Green Buck Awards
The best way to get them is to build 15 Hotdog Stands (You get an award for doing this anyway). You'll need to wait and watch for the buck signs ($) to appear, click the buck ($) signs as SOON as they appear. Wait again while watching the game, a little more than a minute or so later, the dollar signs will spawn in the order you clicked them again, leave them until they turn green and do it again. Going for these awards will also help get you towards the repair/tax collection awards, and will gain a fair amount of money if you upgrade them in the early game. You may also want to build 15 Cabins.

Bugs/Exploits

 * Android Version 1.0.13-21 (build 22-31).
 * Confirmed: bug/exploit involving hitting the "Move to store" button immediately after clicking on a building to create a duplicate in storage. This allows for instant/free building of any buildings (upgraded or not) even past build limits. Details are unknown.
 * Bug Details: While using two fingers to "collect" from a farm (in this case a hotdog stand farm) if several actions are being processed at once and you are able to bring up the action menu for the building and hit the "Move to Store" button at the exact moment, the game will skip over removing the building from your map, but sticks a copy of the building in your inventory. This glitch allows you to circumvent build limits, and gives you a building with the same upgrade level as the one you had selected with the action menu. (This bug has been repeated twice on a Nexus one running CM7 Overclocked to 1113mhz just in case devices speed causes this glitch)
 * I don't know what the "two fingers" method is
 * Another variant is to position the building on your screen such that it is under where the "Move to store" button will be, then repeatedly hit the building. If you hit fast enough it duplicates the building in storage. Seems to work better when the game is slowed by background processes and/or lots of things going on in-game. (Repeated 7x on my stock Droid X to create a total of 8 Business Centers). (Repeated 100+ times on my Cliq2 to create many business centers, bowling alleys, and waterslides).
 * This method worked great for me and I have like 20 business centers brewing for me, which is great honestly as I've just reached level 20 and the game was losing it's luster quickly as you reach a limit where you just can't accumulate piastres quickly enough to make the game worth playing. Obviously they designed the game intending on you spending real money to buy them as you simply cannot accumulate enough via business center / bank and awards. So this little trick honestly was a game saver for me as I've probably played it now for a couple month and came to the realization a few weeks back that it was going to become meaningless just collecting money but not have enough piastres to really accomplish a huge aspect of the game. Also this trick made it so I don't have to try the whole time forwarding trick, which seemed more complicated and risky. I do worry though what happens when you go to remove buildings and it reduces the resources needed as I'm wondering if that will come back to haunt me in some way...
 * I can get the method listed above to work the most consistently by quitting out of the game (using back button), starting it up again and immediately trying the trick on boot-up. Then, whether you succeed or not, quit out again. This works up to build 27.
 * I've had the most success with this exploit using the following method: Run some other program (I used Smartbench 2011, which is free in the Android Market) then run Paradise Island. Once your screen is in position, press and hold Home to switch to the other program, then do this again (no need to wait) to switch back to Paradise Island. While it's working on getting the game screen back, rapidly press in the spot where the target building is (which should also be the spot where the "Move to store" button will appear) and continue doing so until you see the storage screen. I've sometimes gotten multiple copies of the building with this method, as many as 4 at a time. This is still working for me as of version 10.0.21 (build 31) on my Cliq2.
 * Alternative method (even easier) that works fine on Desire HD: Select the building you are wanting to duplicate so it brings up its menu including the 'Move to store' button. Then remember where on the screen that button is. Hold the Home button on your phone so it switches to the phone's menu. Then switch back to the game (no need to run any other program) and while it is busy reloading the game screen tap the screen at the location where the 'Move to store' button is like crazy. Most duplicates I've gotten in one go is 7.
 * This glitch enables you to duplicate buildings, but also doesn't require personell and power for the copied building! Furthermore, you can demolish the copied building to reduce employed staff and consumed energy, eventually even going into negative numbers!
 * To get the most out of this exploit, copy your bank/business center multiple times. You can also construct a single high-profit building like the Bowling Club, upgrade it to the highest level, and then copy it multiple times. Fill your water with Waterslides and your land with Business Centers and Bowling Clubs! Unforutnately, you can't use this trick on the Totem of Prosperity (or other monuments), since monuments cannot be moved to storage. Keep in mind that when a building comes out of storage, it starts again at 0% accumulation, so don't copy a Bank that's about to reach 100% or you'll lose this progress. The trick is yet hard to use
 * I have an android can't get this tip to work. I've tried like twenty times putting all these programs running in background, etc. Is it possible that the developers have fixed this bug since the previous posts were written? Today is 7/6/11.
 * No, the bug/exploit is still working on the latest build (1.0.21, build 31). Perhaps it is dependent on your hardware.
 * Thanks for the quick response. Does the store need to be completely empty for it to work or is it ok if two out of my three spots are filled? I also tried running internet apps to take up more resources, but still hasn't worked. If the developers gave a more reasonable deal on piastres, I would even consider buying as I've enjoyed the game so much, but I'm not willing to spend the amount of money it would take to make a difference on my island.
 * You can have buildings in your storehouse, but you need to have at least two spots open. If you only have one spot open in your storehouse, you won't be able to get any duplicates, since the original building will take up one spot.
 * Im using a Samsung Captivate and this trick just simply wont work. Even when i have a ton of things running in the back ground and when i try all these tricks i never get a duplicate building. Any suggestions?
 * You can also use this trick to free up Employed employees and energy. If you duplicate a building it won't use extra power or employees. But if you demolish the duplicated building it will free the used energy and employees.
 * I confirmed this method as-of today (July 14, 2011) with game version 1.0.2.1 (build 31) on a Nexus One running Android OS 2.3.4. The objective is to tap the "Move to store" button as many times as possible in the short time that menu is up; that is, you want to be tapping where that button will be as the menu appears, and continue tapping as the menu disappears. In that way, hopefully the game will "record" multiple button presses. The first few times I drew a dot on my screen with a dry-erase marker over the button so I would be sure to press the right place.
 * I have, evidently, effected as many as four button presses doing this. This is evident because when the Warehouse screen appeared, I had two buildings in the two previously empty slots, and two pop-up warnings saying "No vacant spot in this storage!" (I have not yet purchased either extra space). Also the original building apparently does always move from the island and into the warehouse.
 * I tried the variants on this idea (running other apps in the background, switching back-and-forth, etc) and could not get any of those methods to work. As far as I can tell, the best way is to simply continually press over where the "Move to store" button is/will be, while the menu is coming up until the Warehouse menu appears. Maybe using other apps to decrease the phone's processing speed and ultimately provide more time for the menu to display could help, but I haven't noticed any improvement by doing so, and it's simply more trouble than it's worth for me. I usually have to attempt this several times before it works, but that's fine. Different methods may work better for different people, phones, etc. Also a Nexus One has a 1 GHz processor so one would think that, compared to other phones, the processing power dedicated to the game would be increased, making it more difficult on faster phones. Hence, if it's possible on a Nexus One, I would imagine that it is possible on other phones; it may just be more difficult on newer phones such as the Sensation and/or the Samsung Captivate (the Hummingbird processor being arguably faster than the Snapdragon). But, this is merely conjecture. It may be that faster phones are able to process a greater number of screen taps in the timeframe, hence making it easier to achieve multiple "button presses".
 * This method does work with special buildings (I now have three fireworks stores, only one of which I paid for) and buildings which have facility number maximums (I now have two Business centers). I am now working to determine if duplicating in this way will grant awards, or if you must actually build the last one in a series needed to achieve an award.
 * This method does work with special buildings (I now have three fireworks stores, only one of which I paid for) and buildings which have facility number maximums (I now have two Business centers). I am now working to determine if duplicating in this way will grant awards, or if you must actually build the last one in a series needed to achieve an award.

Unanswered Questions
Is there a way to downgrade from version 13 (the newest update as of 6/1/11)? I still have to above link saved but the game will not load after "updating" to version 2, however it does not have a problem playing version 13 when reloading it.

ANYHELP 03:28, June 1, 2011

You can downgrade from ver.13 to 2, but before you have to delete any special facilite obtained from new promotion (TV Tower, Pirate's Ship). Seems the old version don't recognize properly new buildings.

Glu

Does the award for "one of each" only want one of each facility because I have at least one of everything in the store and a couple promotional ones but still didn't earn the award? I also recently earned the "all special facility" and "all regular facility" awards just not the combined award. Is this a possible cheating penalty?

^ I think you have to have all of the facilities on the actual map at once in order to get the "one of each" award. Haven't gotten that far myself but I think that is what they want?

Thats the thing, I do have all of them on the screen. I even bought one of each of the plants to have one of everything available on the screen. Oh well.

ANYHELP 9:20, June 16, 2011

Does the "Move to Store" exploit work for the multiple building awards? For example, for the Casinos Fan Award, can I build one Crystal Casino, then use the exploit 4 times to get the 5 casinos needed for the award?

Do repairs appear after a certain number of $ collections or after a certain period of time? Is there any rhyme or reason to when something needs to be repaired and are there any techniques to keeping buildings healthier for longer?
 * YES, but you must bring them out of storage and place them on your land. You'll get the award as soon as you place the 5th casino. I've tried this with many of the secret awards, including the golf clubs, pyramids, and galaxy restaurant--it worked with all of them.
 * This did NOT work for me for the "Following the Montgolfier Brothers" award (build 3 Balloon launch platforms) even though it worked for all the others. Not sure why this one did not work--either it is different for this one award or something changed in one of the updates of the game (since this was the last of the "secret" awards I went for).
 * This happened to me as well with the "Lord of Excitement" where you need to have 3 pearl casinos, I had to stuff a couple other things in my store to make room for the casios and when i placed the third one nothing happened. What appeared to fix it for me was to empty all the items from the store and then place the 3rd casino in which it recognized the award immediately. So try that and see if that solves the problem. Course it also happened that I happened to gain another award at the exact same time this happened, so it might have been triggered by another award being triggered, not really sure. Still something to try...
 * Every time you collect money from a building (by tapping a yellow or green $), there is a 1 in 14 chance that the building will break down. Simple as that. There's nothing you can do to change this.

Space Saving Strategy

 * Roads are only necessary to PLACE a building, but once construciton is underway they are no longer needed. Demolish roads to pack in your buildings and maximize space. Also, it is amusing to watch your island visitors try to find their way around without roads, sometimes walking all the way around along the fence like ants at a picnic just to get a cheeseburger!


 * Some buildings do not even require roads to be placed. These include:


 * Energy Unit generating structures
 * Balloon Launch Platform
 * Travel Tent
 * Obstacle Course
 * Water structures (Springboard, 'Lightning' Catamaran, Water Slide, Pirate Ship)
 * If you click on the eye icon to change your view, you will see that these buildings do not have the adjacent green squares (indicating where the building can connect to a road) like other buildings.

Tips when demolishing...

 * Zoom in when demolishing things to make life easier
 * Click the "eye" icon in the upper right of the screen to switch the viewing mode. This makes it so you can select the square you want. Useful if trying to demolish / move small items that are behind larger ones.
 * Demolish multiple things at once - You can select multiple objects to delete instead of just one at a time (useful when going for certain awards). Click the bull dozer, then start selecting whatever items you want, buildings, roads, shrubs, monuments, etc... When you go to hit the green check everything you had selected will be demolished
 * In case you accidently selected something you didn't wish to delete, instead of hitting the red X to cancel everything, just hit the same thing you didn't wish to delete and it will "unmark" it for deletion (basically unselecting it). This is especially helpful when trying to demolish roads surrounding a building where you accidently fat fingered the building as well.
 * To instantly demolishing buildings without using valuable piastres, proceed with demolishing it, then select it and hit the "Speed up on 50%", note it will cost you money. do this twice and the building is instantly demolished.
 * A building can be demolished when it is in need of repairs, if you were wanting to demolish a building that happens to need repairing, buy all means don't repair it, it can just be demolished while broken down
 * Unfortunately when going for the road awards, I've not found a way to demolish a grid of roads, they need to be selected each square at a time. However when building roads you can daisy chain and build a grid of roads at once by selecting a start point, sliding down to an end point, then selecting another start point next to the end point and then slide down to another end point, etc... Then finally hit the green check when all done to build them all at once.