You don’t actually spend gold, everything you earn is cumulative. This is counter-intuitive to how every other currency works in the game, so I’ll try using an analogy to better explain how this works. Honestly, I didn’t realize this until very recently.

How Gold Works

If you are 6′ 2″ and want to go on a roller coaster that requires you to be at least 5′ 0″ tall. You don’t spend your height and leave the roller coaster only being 1′ 2″ (well… not unless things went horribly wrong) you’re still going to be 6′ 2″ when you leave. So you’re not spending gold, you just have to have accumulate a specific amount of gold to unlock prizes and options in the game.

Personal Prizes

Barbarian Homer & Homer Barbarian Prize: #1 200 Gold Castle Recycle & Archer Lisa Prize: #2 400 Gold Cheaters 20 Pack Prize: #3 800 Gold Boxingham Palace & Goblin Bart Prize: #4 1,400 Gold Wizard Marge Prize: #5 5,000 Gold Elixir Bundle Prize: #6 9,500 Gold Hot Air Balloon Prize: #7 15,000 Gold Three Towers Prize: #8 22,000 Gold Catapult Prize: #9 30,000 Gold Barbarian Statue & Banners Prize: #10 38,000 Gold

So what do I do with gold?

You use (not spend) gold to upgrade your characters. This increases their stats and provides other bonuses, such as earning more elixir from the jobs they earn while in costume. The highest level that matters is Level 10, after that your characters can still level up but the game specifically says it’s for bragging rights only.

So it’s safe to spend gold? Shouldn’t I save it to unlock prizes faster?

In case you missed the explanation, gold isn’t something you spend. So go nuts an upgrade your characters as soon as you have enough gold to do so. It’s not going to reduce the gold you have accumulated so far, and it won’t take away from the gold requirements to unlock personal prizes.

Conclusion

Gold doesn’t reduce when you use it to upgrade characters, but elixir does deplete when you use it to upgrade your castles. This is why you can buy elixir in the shop for donuts (Wednesdays only) and you can’t buy gold. Gold is not a resource you spend, it’s just something accumulate for playing the game. You’ll get gold for just about every action related to this event: attacking, defending, rebuilding, etc.

So use your gold to increase the level of your characters and collect as much as you can to unlock those personal prizes! Before you know it you’ll have the whole Simpson household walking around in the costumes you see on the splash screen.