At the end of my Tsum Tsum post, I mentioned I was going to try the Disney themed match-three game, "Disney Emoji Blitz," which I hoped might scratch my itch for Disney collectibles. Well, I certainly got what I was looking for. I'm currently a little over two months into this game, and pretty hopelessly addicted. "Disney Emoji Blitz" (hereafter DEB) is one of the most ruthlessly efficient timesinks that I've ever come across in my brief mobile gaming career.
The basic mechanics are simple. Play timed match-three games, win coins and power-ups, and use the coins to buy the various character emoji. It's a great selection of emoji too, drawing from characters from every corner of the Disney empire, from their classic films, the theme parks, and a handful of television shows. Each emoji is playable and has its own special power in the game - creating power-ups or clearing emoji in certain patterns. Get multiples of each emoji to level up their powers and make them stronger. Some of the emoji animation and gameplay is very clever. The Beast, for example, is cleared from the board by magic beams that briefly turn him into a Prince before he disappears. Jiminy Cricket makes star power-ups. Elsa freezes rows of emojis with ice blasts. Dory can summon a whale. Over the two months that I've been playing DEB, I've averaged getting one new emoji per day.
Where the timesink comes in is with the multiple avenues that are offered through which to earn coins. The main one is grinding through the 250 levels of challenges - use three sun power-ups in one game, play five games with a blue emoji, etc. - to earn various rewards. These progressively get harder the further you go. There are also three daily challenges of increasing difficulty, a leaderboard with weekly prizes, and collections of non-character emoji you can get through regular gameplay. And then there are the events, which are themed challenges that are only playable for a set period of time, usually two to five days. Events usually offer new or rare emojis as prizes, such as villain characters. If you want Captain Hook or the "Star Wars" emojis, but missed their event, you may have to wait months for them to show up again. If you don't check in constantly, you risk missing a chance at getting something neat.
What's especially aggravating (and clever) is that you're almost never able to specifically pick which emoji you're buying with your coins. Selections are randomized so you're really paying for a chance at getting a certain emoji. However, sometimes the chances for certain emoji are increased, so on certain days you have a 50% chance of getting a "Beauty and the Beast" emoji or an "Aladdin" emoji. Very rare power ups guarantee getting an emoji you haven't gotten before, or specific duplicates to level up already collected emoji. These are usually event or levelling up prizes. Of course, you can pay for more currency to increase your chances, or you can "max out" if you get a certain number of the same emoji, and the game will stop giving you more.
DEB plays nice, and you can get every single emoji and prize without paying a dime. And of course, you don't have to play any of the events or even any of the regular challenges. This is a game enjoyed by a lot of kids, so this is important. However, the monetization efforts are obvious. Some of the rarer "exclusives" are very difficult to get without paying, there are timers everywhere that you can pay to circumvent, and smaller prizes that can be collected by watching video ads. So far I haven't spent real money on the game, but I have watched an awful lot of the ads. And I admit I've joined Reddit's DEB community to get a heads-up on upcoming events and new emoji, to strategize when to play and what to save up for.
I've always been a completionist, but I'm not too invested in getting every single emoji in DEB - a few require Facebook interactions, which is a very hard line I'm not crossing. I honestly just like playing the game. It's like "Candy Crush," but with cuter graphics and a big old wallop of Disney nostalgia. It's also constantly being updated and adjusted and improved, by remarkably responsive developers, so there's always something new to see...
I think I've found my new favorite game.
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