A coin that is not money
- Your moneyGemsThe outfit450 gems
Open the shop in a free game and the outfit is not priced in dollars. It costs 450 gems. You cannot pay 450 gems, because you do not have any. So you buy gems with money first, and then spend the gems.
- 80 for 0.9981 gems per dollar500 for 4.99100 gems per dollar1,200 for 9.99120 gems per dollar2,500 for 19.99125 gems per dollar6,500 for 49.99130 gems per dollar
Real prices from one big building game. 80 gems cost 99 cents. 500 cost 4.99 dollars. 1,200 cost 9.99. 6,500 cost 49.99. The bigger the bundle, the more gems each dollar buys, so the bigger spend always looks like the clever one.
- DollarsGemsOutfit
The outfit costs 450 gems. Can you pay for it with dollars straight away?
Yes. The shop takes dollars for anything.
Not yet. The shop takes dollars only for gems. The outfit's price is written in gems and it will not take anything else.No. First you buy gems with dollars, then you spend gems on the outfit.
Right. Two steps, always. The game could take dollars directly, and chooses not to.No. Gems can only be earned by playing.
Not yet. Some gems can be earned by playing, but the shop sells them too. That sale is the whole point of pricing things in gems. - Bundle500 gemsOutfit450 gemsLeft over50 gems
The bundles never match the prices. The outfit costs 450. The nearest bundle is 500, so you buy 500 and have 50 spare. Fifty gems buys nothing. They sit in your account, almost enough for something, and the shop shows you what.
Move the control to pick a bundle. The outfit costs 450 gems, which is a made-up item at a typical price. The bundles are real.
Gems in the bundle80 gemsSpent on outfits0 gemsLeft over80 gems80 gems for 0.99 dollarsThe 80-gem bundle costs 99 cents and does not reach the 450-gem outfit. You would have to buy another bundle.
Gems in the bundle500 gemsSpent on outfits450 gemsLeft over50 gems500 gems for 4.99 dollarsThe 500-gem bundle costs 4.99 dollars and buys 1 outfit, with 50 gems left over. Those 50 gems buy nothing on their own.
Gems in the bundle1,200 gemsSpent on outfits900 gemsLeft over300 gems1,200 gems for 9.99 dollarsThe 1,200-gem bundle costs 9.99 dollars and buys 2 outfits, with 300 gems left over. Those 300 gems buy nothing on their own.
Gems in the bundle2,500 gemsSpent on outfits2,250 gemsLeft over250 gems2,500 gems for 19.99 dollarsThe 2,500-gem bundle costs 19.99 dollars and buys 5 outfits, with 250 gems left over. Those 250 gems buy nothing on their own.
Gems in the bundle6,500 gemsSpent on outfits6,300 gemsLeft over200 gems6,500 gems for 49.99 dollarsThe 6,500-gem bundle costs 49.99 dollars and buys 14 outfits, with 200 gems left over. Those 200 gems buy nothing on their own.
You buy the 1,200-gem bundle and get two outfits. What is left?
Nothing. Two outfits use the whole bundle.
Not yet. Two outfits cost 900 gems, not 1,200. Every bundle leaves something over, because no bundle is a multiple of the price.Enough for a third outfit.
Not yet. A third outfit needs 450 gems and 300 are left. Being 150 short is where a further purchase begins.300 gems, and 300 is not enough for a third.
Right. Two outfits use 900 of the 1,200. The 300 that remain are two-thirds of an outfit, which is the shape the shop likes: close enough that a small top-up finishes it.Move the control.
- 4.99 dollarsfeels like money500 gemsfeels like points
Why gems at all? Two reasons. A price of 4.99 dollars feels like money, and 500 gems feels like points. To know what the outfit really costs you have to do a sum, and most people do not. And spare gems bring you back to the shop to top them up.
- about 1 centOne gem450 gemsOutfit
In the 500-gem bundle, a gem costs about one cent. What does the 450-gem outfit cost in dollars?
dollarsRight. Four and a half dollars. The number on the label was 450, which is what a person sees, and the number they pay is 4.50, which is what the game sees. The gap between the two is the reason for gems. Of every 100 dollars spent on games in the world in 2023, how many were spent on phone games?
Pick one. Nothing is scored.
- Phone games49 of every 100 dollars · 49%
- Consoles29 of every 100 dollars · 29%
- PC22 of every 100 dollars · 22%
About 50.People guess low because a console or a gaming PC looks like the serious money. Phone games took about half of the world's games spending, more than consoles and PCs each, and nearly all of it through shops like this one.- One pack1,000 silverSword1,250 silverTwo packs2,000 silver
A different game sells Silver: 1,000 for 9.99 dollars. A sword costs 1,250 Silver. What does a player who wants the sword end up doing?
Buying two packs for 19.98 dollars, and keeping 750 Silver they did not want.
Right. One pack falls 250 short, so two packs it is. The 750 left over is three-quarters of a second sword, and the shop will show them one.Nothing. The sword cannot be bought.
Not yet. It can be bought, just not neatly. Two packs cover it with change. The untidiness is not a mistake in the shop; it is the shop.Buying exactly 1,250 Silver for 12.49 dollars.
Not yet. The shop does not sell 1,250. It sells packs, and the packs are chosen so that a price never lands on one.
Lesson complete
A game sells its own coin first, so prices are harder to feel and some coins are always left over.