How does FrontierVille bonus meter reward work?

Answer: The bonus meter will start going up when you select the first item that was dropped after performing an action. There are 9 stages, giving more coins as you reach them. The bonus has a one-on-one relation with your level.

The exact order and associated coin bonuses are: (Courtesy of FrontierJack)

=> Pick one item and the bonus bar starts to come out and the reward comes after filling each bar like this:

fill BONUS = x1 (Fill as in fully to next level bar)

fill EXCELLENT =x2

fill AMAZING =x3

fill OUTSTANDING =x4

fill HOLY SMOKES =x5

fill EXTREME =x6

fill OMGEEZERS =x7

fill UNSTOPPABLE =x8

fill INSANE =x9 You may not notice this but its’ true. It’s just that sometimes the reward text doesn’t appear but if you observe closely it does give x9 reward. When in doubt check it or harvest things that don’t drop coins and you’ll see that after the INSANE bar is full your coins will add up a value of x9 of your level

After Insane the counter will roll over to Bonus again.

Example:

If you are level 10 and get your bonus meter completely flowing until it rolls over to Bonus again you will have gained: 360 extra coins.

A level 15 player will get 540 coins for reaching the same bonus level.

Notes:

Beware: this takes a lot of selecting and may not suit your style of playing.

The bonus meter has a timer function; after some time it will start flashing red. If you haven’t picked up a reward in time you start from Bonus again.

Higher-level players will usually have built up enough coins and can plant crops that return more from one harvest than the entire bonus roll-over.

Tips:

Starting Pioneers: When working on your neighbors’ Homesteads you should be able to reach stage Excellent every time if you plan your action carefully. Tend to items that are closely together. If your avatar has to walk a long way your timer will run out before you can pick up the next reward.

Experienced Pioneers: Before harvesting a large number of crops use the “move” tool to rearrange your ripe crops in neat lines. Leave a space of two plots between lines in case a groundhog pops up. That way you will be able to let ignore the critter and continue harvesting in an area not affected by it.

Additional info supplied by IronBlack

Since you pick up the the items and not your avatar, you can extend the duration of you timer by doing it another way.

If the action drops 3 items (1 xp, 1 food, 1 coin), only pick up one item at a time until you reach your destination and start the action IE select one, wait 3 seconds, select another, wait 3 seconds, etc.

You can really extend your timer that way without having to move things around. Although doing it this way is riskier since sometimes the lag can get you.