Tack Shooter

"Shoots a short range volley of sharp tacks in 8 directions."

- Bloons TD 6 description

The  is a tower in the Bloons TD series that first appeared in the original Bloons TD. It appears in every BTD game except Bloons Adventure Time TD. The Tack Shooter is a pink and grey mechanical device that shoots a volley of tacks in eight directions. As of BTD3, upgrading the Tack Shooter can change the types and numbers of projectiles shot from it. For instance, the Blade Shooter and Ring of Fire upgrades modify it to shoot blades or flame rings respectively, instead of tacks.

Although it has a short range, these towers are very effective at thinning out crowds of Bloons at corners and intersections. They are also relatively cheap, making them useful in early rounds. Each individual tack that the Tack Shooter fires has a popping power of 1, which changes with various upgrades. Tack Shooters have a slow rate of fire, compared to other towers initially, which limits their strength.

Tack Shooters were previously called Tack Towers in Bloons TD. This was changed in later BTD games for unknown reasons, possibly for tower name variety.

Appearance
The base design of the Tack Shooter is a pink turret with 8 barrels arranged each in a 45-degree angle apart formation. The design of the tack emblem has evolved over the game generations, from a realistic set of two tacks into a black geometricized crossed two-tack emblem.

Game appearances
Tack Shooter makes 18 appearances:

Before Bloons TD 4
[...]

Bloons TD 4
In Bloons TD 4, the Tack Shooter returns. [...]

Bloons TD 5
The Tack Shooter makes a return in Bloons TD 5. [...]

Bloons TD 6
Bloons TD 6, the Tack Shooter returns. It... [...]

Target Priorities
Tack Shooter is locked on Close in all games, while Inferno Ring (BTD6 upgrade) has a meteor that is locked on Strong.

Quotes
"Monkey-operated Tack Shooters can clear bloons on all sides, especially useful at track corners and curves. Powerful upgrades include: Tack Sprayer, Ring of Fire, Blade Maelstrom."

- BMC Flash description

"Shoots volley of tacks in 8 directions. Can upgrade its shoot speed and its range."

- Bloons TD 1 description "Shoots 8 tacks spread in all directions, each tack can pop 1 bloon. Has short range and medium-slow fire rate."

- Bloons TD 5 description "Monkey-operated Tack shooters can clear on all sides, especially useful at track corners and curves."

- Bloons Monkey City description

Trivia

 * The Pre-Round Comments in Bloons TD 1 say that beating the original Bloons TD with only Tack Shooters is impossible. Despite this, the task has been done many times before.
 * Also, in BTD1/2, the player can create hypersonic tack shooters by pressing tab and repeatedly purchasing Faster Shooting, allowing it to shred through most bloons easily.
 * The Tack Shooter is one of only 2 towers to have its BTD4 3rd and 4th upgrades to be on completely separate paths in BTD5. A player could have Blade Shooter or Ring of Fire in BTD5, but not both. It shares this trait with the Mortar Tower. This has happened again in the transition from BTD5 to BTD6, as Ring of Fire and Tack Sprayer are on separate paths. Both transitions involved the Ring of Fire.
 * The icon for Bloons TD (iPhone/iPod) is a Tack Shooter.
 * If you have Monkey Fort, Tack Awesomizer, and a Tier 3 Tack Research Center, a single Tack can pierce through 3 bloons (4 every second shot).
 * In Bloons TD 5 Mobile, you can get a Tier 4 Tack Research Center, making the tack pierce through 4 bloons.
 * The Tack Shooter range is as short as the Ice Tower range.
 * In the artwork for BTD5, the upgrade Faster Shooting gives the shooter 3 tack icons on the top. It actually keeps the crossed over tacks on the top in the game. Vice-versa when you get Even Faster Shooting.
 * The Tack Shooter's attack method and appearance bears a resemblance to the Gloom-Shroom from the Plants Vs. Zombies games. The Gloom-Shroom, however, is much cheaper and much more powerful.
 * The cost of the Ring of Fire has been nerfed to make it more expensive in Bloons Monkey City Mobile. This also applied to BTD5 Mobile, but it has been reverted back to its former cost.
 * Ring of Fire cannot attack in a larger range when influenced by Monkey Beacon. The range will increase and the Ring of Fire will start attacking bloons once they get in that range, but the fire can't reach them until they get to the original range. This does not apply to the mobile versions of BTD.
 * In BTD5, Tack and Blade Shooters are depicted with only six shooters in their portraits, and Tack Sprayers only depict 12 shooters.
 * In BMC, the My Monkeys panel states the Tack Shooter as "Monkey-operated".
 * This knowledge is even further supported from one of the Monkey Mastery upgrades in Bloons TD Battles 2.
 * However, Battles 1 implies it is operated by clockwork.