It’s time for another #freemiumfriday! Today we look at
Yahtzee by Scopely. Big fans of the dice game have undoubtedly already
downloaded the app and decided for themselves, but is it fun for everyone else?
I preface this by stating that Yahtzee was never a popular
game around my house. We always had it and never played it, because putting die
in a cup and shaking it out didn’t really hold our attention. Besides, poker
(the game that inspired Yahtzee) exists. But there are real-world Yahtzee
tournaments, Yahtzee fan groups, and specially branded editions of the game, so
we’re probably just oblivious to its charms.
Yahtzee is a fairly fast game when played in the real world.
Add the “with buddies” part, however, and you could have games that stretch on
forever. This is assuming your opponent still plays—I had an issue with the
game suggesting I start games with people who went ghost. An automatic
forfeiture after one week would be a great addition. Accidentally starting
games is also an issue, as the app lumps suggested new games in with your turn
in games already in progress.
I would suggest that any potential players change their name
at the very beginning. The game will lose your progress if you change it later.
There does not seem to be an option for uploading an avatar if you do not
connect the app to your Facebook.
Users are able to play in dice duels, in which players may
take no more than three minutes per turn. I nearly lost a tournament when the
game hung on a screen for over a minute, however. The glacial loading times are
worse during prime time in the eastern United States. Achievements (XP),
claimed one at a time by the user, take forever to enter. The loading speed
ruins the experience. Additionally, I did not receive anything for winning
duels, despite the promised prizes.
There are also special tournaments. However, I have never
been able to place in one and cannot review this portion. There is one free tournament and dice duel entry per day, along with some tournaments and dice duels that cost diamonds.
Finally, there are special “ladders” in which the player
defeats one foe per day to earn special die and other prizes. Have you seen the
commercials in which Yahtzee has film tie-ins and wondered what that could be
about? Players currently play either tropical fish or Ghostbusters characters
to win. Players must achieve a certain score as well. I won, but fell eight
points shy and failed to move on.
There are several problems with the game that go beyond
whether or not a person finds rolling dice fun. Nag screens abound. The ads between every
single turn are obnoxious, especially since the player then has to manually
back out 2-3 times to get to the screen with their next game. The game’s
computer allows opponents to start multiple games against you at once, which
can be confusing. The game suggests you play opponents who are inactive, and
there is no way to back out of those games unless you forfeit. Frozen screens
and force closes cause this app to be almost impossible to enjoy. Finally, and
this is the biggest issue, the app sometimes deletes dice (bonus rolls) that
players have earned and many reviews reference paid dice disappearing.
As it is now, this game is the worst freemium game that I
have encountered. Life is unfair, silly phone games should not be. There are
numerous dice games in Play Games and users should turn to those before
downloading this garbage app.
Yahtzee At a Glance
Category: Board
Developer: Scopely
Last updated: 20 July 2016
Is it worth playing? Only download if you really and truly
love playing Yahtzee. The inherent unfairness of this game makes it worthless
to anyone else. Even if these issues are fixed, players who prefer speedy games
with fast loading times are not going to have very much fun. One more caveat:
If you download this game, you will eventually run into near-constant ads. Do
not download if data caps are a concern.
What is the time commitment for this game? A few minutes a
few times a day, although tournaments must be played in one sitting and
theoretically could take nearly half an hour if each player takes the entire
three minutes they are allowed each turn. In my experience, most time is spent
waiting for new screens to finish loading.
How long does it take for free games/energy to refill? Not
applicable
How intrusive are the ads? In the beginning, the only ad is
a tiny banner at the bottom of the screen. But once I reached level 10, BLAMMO!
Constant 30-second ads between turns ruin the experience. I don’t object to
ads, or even frequent ads. But the ads in this app are truly excessive and do
not work quite right—instead of leaving the player on the page they had before,
the player must back out an extra time to reach their games in progress.
How is premium currency earned? Two extra bonus rolls are
given upon leveling up, or may be purchased. Avatar frames and decorative dice
can be earned through gameplay. I have seen people reference receiving free
rolls by watching videos, but I never found this option in-game and it may have
been removed with an update.
Top tip: Achievements (XP) must be claimed manually. If you
are at a low level and have a large achievement to claim, it might be better to
wait—if you jump up two or three levels at once, you only receive the two die
you would claim while leveling up once.
Does the game utilize Google Play Games? Yes, although I did
not find a way to play the people on my Google+ profile.
Does the game grant achievements? Yes.
Hello - do you by any chance have screenshots of two old sets of dice - Watermark and fluttershy? Please email me if you do. I would very much appreciate it!!! xaimuu@gmail.com
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