Not Just Math: Economy That Hooks

When we talk about Game Economy, we often focus on numbers:

• How much things cost?

• How players earn?
  

But to drive Retention and Revenue, we need to ask deeper questions:

• How do players Engage with the game?

• How do they Spend?

• and Why do they Come back?

But to build THAT kind of Economy:

• you need to Master more than Math

• you need to work with these 6 elements.

Value

In general, players DON'T judge Value in isolation. What really matters is: How values relate to each other.

Value is all about comparison. 300 coins means nothing on its own — until you ask:

• What can I get for it?

• What else could I spend it on?

Let’s look at an example from Hexa Sort.

What can you get for 300 coins in this game?

• 10 Refreshes, 6 Hammers ot 3 Swaps

• It's enough for 1 Revive

• Roughly the same as 2 of the smallest $1.99 packs

  • That smallest pack? It’s a common Mental Benchmark — for players, and let’s be honest, for game designers too.

Now let’s talk about the actual Value of $1.99 — the Smallest Pack in the game.

For that price, you get:

• 150 coins

• more than 1 of each booster (from 1.5 to 5)
  

BUT here’s the problem:

• It’s not even enough for a single Revive — one of the most Monetized actions in Casual Games.
  

Let’s imagine:

• The player is stuck

• Ready to pay...

• But the cheapest pack doesn’t help (The Safety Net Offer, on the other hand, gives just enough)

Is it a good design choice or not? I’ll let you decide ;)

So, what about Ads?

Depending on the placement, it gives you from 15 to 100 coins.

It’s like buying a bottle of water:

• Cheap in a store

• More expensive in a café

• Super pricey at the airport

Same water — but the price changes depending on the place.

Additionally, an Ad may even give you a Revive.

In other words: A single Ad can give you what the cheapest $1.99 purchase CAN'T.

With Boosters we may see the great example of Designed Irrationality.

It’s not a trick — it’s Strategic Imbalance 

that drives the behavior we want

Players feel like they’ve tricked the system.

They’re not thinking about what the booster does —they’re focused on:

• How much they feel they’re Saving? 30 coins? 100 coins? The bigger the number, the smarter it feels.

  1 Swap for 1 Ad? Feels like saving 100 coins.

Time - Money - Ads

When we say “Currency”, we usually think of In-Game Currency OR Real Money.

But that’s just one layer.

In reality, Time, Ads, even the player’s Attention and Patience — ALL of that is currency too.

TIME

One of the most valuable resources — in games and in life. And in games, it shows up in 2 ways:

• Waiting time — Cooldowns, Bonuses, Energy regen

• Gameplay time — How long you can keep playing, or buy “5 more minutes”

MONEY

Very often, the alternative to Time is Money

We all know this setup:

• Wait a long time … or pay now and get it immediately

And there’s one more thing:

Players often justify small purchases by comparing them to Everyday things.

$1.99? That’s just a cup of coffee — no big deal.

ADS

Another trending currency. Watching an Ad also takes time. But more importantly, it costs Patience. And that’s a limited resource too.

Let’s look at a real example from Travel Town.

When you show ALL 3 currencies side by side —you let the player choose what works best for them.

Need 100 energy? You’ve got 3 ways to get it:

• Wait 3 hours

• Watch 4 ads

• Pay $0.25 cents

Same reward — different 'price'.

Let’s look at another example from Disney Solitaire.

This time, let’s measure Value by: How many Games the player can actually play?

• Hourly Bonus - Gives you just 1 game

• Daily Bonus - From 1 to 5 games (depending on your Bet)

• $6 Purchase - Up to 24 games

  
  

I like this kind of Contrast.

It shows just how much more Value a Purchase brings.

But let’s be real — that Hourly Bonus feels stingy.

Here’s what my session often looks like:

• Open the game

• Collect bonus

• Play 1 game

• … and close it

Just 2 minutes. Not even enough time to get Engaged — let alone want to Pay.

Emotions

Let’s talk about something you won’t find in Spreadsheets But it’s what really Defines Retention — Emotions.

Emotion is what turns Actions into Habits. It’s what makes players come back, again and again.

So if you want players to Get Hooked — you need to reward actions with positive feelings. Make them feel lucky, smart, powerful — whatever works.

A purchase is the perfect moment to Anchor Emotion.

Want players to buy again? Make them feel like Royalty. Like they just hit the Jackpot. Like the universe is on their side.

If they feel lucky — they’re more likely to repeat the action. Even if they don’t fully realize why.

“A purchase is like a first date —if they want to come back for more, you did it right :)”

Value

Emotions are great — but Players also need to understand the Value.

And that means 2 things:

• What they GET?`

• What they DON'T LOSE?

  
  

Let’s look at this screen from Royal Match.

The 1st pop-up tells you what you’ll GET:

• +5 extra moves

• and opportunity to continue the level

But IF that’s not enough… Here comes the 2nd screen — showing everything you’re about to LOSE.

And that hits harder. Because sometimes players pay: Not to Win — but Not to Lose.

And here’s one of the most powerful tools in games — Loss Aversion.

Pleasure from Gain is nice … but Pain from loss? Way more powerful

That’s what Loss Aversion is about.

You can offer a Bonus — and players will think about it.

But show them what they’re about to Lose? They’ll act fast to protect it.

Visualization

If something looks juicy — it feels Valuable.

Your job is to Trigger a the Desire, NOT a Calculation

The less players think — the faster they buy.

This offer doesn’t explain value — it shouts it.

By the time logic asks, “Do I really need this?” — the impulse has already hit “BUY”.

When I saw this, logic went out the window.

12 rewards?! I didn’t even check what’s inside.

Let's look at the Wheel of Fortune (one of my favorite feature) from Slotomania.

This is a great example of How good Economy works hand-in-hand with Visuals.

What’s the first thing you see on the Wheel?

Of course — the 3 biggest prizes.

And that’s the trick:

• Add a few juicy rewards to spark excitement

• Then highlight them Visually

In fact, the Average payout here is about 900K. But let’s be real — no one spins thinking about the average.

Emotionally? Players see a shot at the Jackpot — 4M+ And that feels exciting

Another reason why the Wheel feels so fun — is High Volatility.

Let’s talk about what that actually means — and why it works.

What High volatility actually means ?

Here are 2 reward systems

They have the same AVG value — but feels completely different

• The blue one? It's predictable — and safe. But also... kind of boring

• The red one?

• It's alive - you Win big, you Lose hard - you feel something

Let’s look at 2 more great examples from Merge games — Gossip Harbor and Travel Town.

Don’t just give rewards. Gamify them.

Add Volatility, add Chances, add Fun.

Players don’t pay for average — they pay for anticipation.

Like in a lottery, it’s not just about the prize —it’s the Hope and Hype before the reveal.

Would you be interested in more articles on this topic?

• Totally! I’m all in for more economy insights 💰
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