Review - Coin Dozer

Here's a casual time-waster, Coin Dozer for the iOS and Android. If you've already read my post about going to Dave and Busters for the first time, then you know that I have played an actual coin dozer game. So how good is this app in simulating the gameplay digitally?

Tapjoy - Well, first off, let me point out that I got this game off of Tapjoy from Dead Trigger to get some additional gold in-game. If any other app games you play uses Tapjoy, you can get Coin Dozer off of Tapjoy for whatever game you'd like. In fact, I got some gold for downloading and playing it, and some more for reaching level 4 as a second offer from Tapjoy.

Gameplay - Coin Dozer is a simple, generic coin dozer game simulator. You drop coins near the top of the screen, and try to push off coins off of the platform at the bottom of the screen to collect your earnings. However, anything that falls off the sides on the left or right of the platform will be lost. Very simple concept, with fairly simple gameplay. It's a game that anyone can just jump in and play and quit whenever you want as the state of the coins and prizes on the platform will be retained until you come back to play it again.

While you play, you regenerate coins every 30 seconds so that you can keep playing after waiting when you run out of coins. However, if you leave the game, the coins regenerate at a much slower pace of 1 coin per every 9 minutes. There is also a maximum limit to how much your coins can regenerate, so forgetting about the app and coming back to it a week later won't get you any more coins than waiting a day.

Other than the basic coins, there are some special coins and prizes that have additional effects when dropped at the bottom. They are...

• Silver Coin - Worth 2 coins.
• EXP Coin - Gives the amount of EXP shown on the coin.
• Coin Shower - Drops a bunch of coins at the top.
• Giant Coin - Drops a giant coin that shakes the platform. The giant coin is worth 5 coins.
• Coin Walls - Raises two walls where the side gutters are for a few seconds, making it easier to drop coins down the bottom. 
• Coin Present - Get 4 special coins at the top.

Aside from these special coins, you will also get prizes on the platform occasionally. These prizes come in a set of 4 different colors, and when you collect all 4 colors of the same type of prize, you unlock special bonuses. The sets and bonuses available are...

• Bears - Coins regenerate faster. Higher tiers give even faster regeneration.
• Puppies - New Coins will sometimes change to Silver Coins. Higher tiers increase the chance.
• Feesh! - A new prize will appear whenever you collect a Giant Coin. Higher tiers make the prize start closer to you.
• Tier 7+, gives a chance of a special coin spawning.
• Tier 8, Up to two special coins
• Tier 9, up to three special coins
• Sunglasses - Special Coins and Prizes give more XP. Higher tiers will give even more XP.
• Umbrellas - Increase Coin Shower Coins. Higher tiers will increase the Coins even more.
• Cars - More new Coins will appear after a Giant Coin drops. Higher tiers give even more Coins.
• Dice - Coin Walls stay up longer. Higher tiers make Coin Walls stay up even longer.
• Gems - Get extra Coins whenever a Special Coin drops. Higher tiers give even more Coins.
• Hearts - Special Coins and Prizes appear more often. Higher tiers make them appear even more often.
• Whistles - You get the Prizes that fall off the sides. Higher tiers give a chance to save Special Coins too!
• Yo-Yos - Increase Coin regeneration limit. Higher tiers increase the limit even more.
• Tier 7+ allows the regen limit to be ignored while playing.

These bonuses normally go up to 6 tiers by collecting 6 of each color of a set, but can be upgraded to go up to 9 tiers with cash. Cash can be obtained by completing "Puzzles" (which aren't puzzles at all, just more prizes to collect) which is unlocked at level 10. However, when these bonuses start stacking up, it can easily break the game to the point where you will be gaining much more coins than you can drop them in the game due to the coin dropping cooldown, indicated by the 4 stars at the top.

Aside from dropping coins, you also get Shake Points which can be used to shake the platform. Shaking the platform will move the coins towards the bottom. There are three different strengths at which you can shake the platform at, depending on how much of the Shake Point Gauge is filled. The Shake Point Gauge fills up as coins fall in the side gutters, I believe. This is a great way to get prizes to show up early on, as dropping multiple coins at once increases the chance of getting special coins and prizes to show up on the platform.

Graphics - Graphically, this game is very cartoon-y and simple looking. Coins are large and thick, the walls and background are fairly colorful, but always stay the same, which can get boring to look at. Frame rate is usually smooth (at least on my device), and has a decent physics engine so you won't see anything TOO funky looking... usually. You might occasionally get some coins that just stands on its rim, with no sign of rolling or falling without something pushing it. Overall, it is rather unimpressive visually. The graphics can be easily out-shined by the other elements of the game, like the overall gameplay... or addiction.

Sounds - There's no background music to this game, which is fine. The sounds are pretty nice, particularly the sound of a coin falling on the platform sounds like an actual coin falling. Too bad there's only one or two variations of the sound, so you'll hear it an awful lot. Aside from that, there are sound effects for other events in the game, like when special coins drop in the game, or a subtle ding when you regenerate a coin.

Overall - It's one of those games that can be so simple that it's addicting. But it is also so casual that there is little going for it aside from it being a simulator for the actual thing. Even then, however, this game lacks some other interesting features that actual coin dozer games have, like a slot machine that activates when a coin falls through a certain slot, which I have experienced. It certainly doesn't help that the only challenge to this game is to getting things to fall down the bottom of the platform instead of the sides.

In the end, it's a simple, casual time-waster that could give you something to do. If not, just get it for the Tapjoy currency, then uninstall it. If you DO like it though, there are other versions of this game it seems.

Now excuse me while I go look for an actual coin dozer game with some coins already spilling off the edge to play on...