Coin Master

Coin Master is a casual mobile game that incorporates mechanics from village building, slot machines, and social interaction. The game was developed by Tel Aviv, Israel-based company Moon Active. It could be argued whether the game falls into the social casino category or not.
Coin Master has been downloaded over 300 million times worldwide. It was also in the top-grossing mobile games in the UK (since February 2019) and Germany (since June 2019).
The objective of Coin Master is to win coins based on chance to upgrade items in order to build up villages and progress through the levels. Coin Master can be found under the 'Adventure Game' category in the app stores, but uses gambling mechanics.
The main focus of the game is to build and improve villages, with every village being an individual level. In order to build villages or attack the villages of other players, users must spin a slot machine to win coins. The number of hourly spins are limited to five (but it gets extended as level progress), but additional attempts and items can be purchased through in-app purchases. Some free spins are gifted by Coin Master through links on their social channels and by subscribing to their email newsletter.
Coins are acquired by spinning and winning, attacking another player's village, or raiding another player's fortune. A maximum of five shields, as well as the pet Rhino, can be used to defend villages. When a player's village is attacked, the game also allows "revenge" so a player can launch a counterattack.
The player needs to upgrade 5 items in every village in order to progress to the next level.
As of June 2024, there are 570 levels in the game. Each village has its own unique theme. Coins are used to upgrade village items and when players upgrade all 5 items on the village, the game will progress to the next level with a new village. The coins earned from the slot machine increase slightly as the levels progress.
Another feature in the game is the 'Card Collection'. Cards can be collected and traded to complete card sets, which usually rewards the player with spins and pet experience. Chests with collectible cards inside them can be collected using coins, during raids, rewarded for reaching the next level or bought through in-app purchases. Cards differ in value and there are several rarities. There are unofficial online social groups of fans that are dedicated purely to card trading.
Foxy, Tiger, and Rhino are the three pets that are designed to help players collect more coins each in their own unique way. Pets can be raised by obtaining treats for them and raising their XP (experience points) by using XP potions. Foxy gives the player extra coins for a raid up to 119% of player's raid value. Tiger gives the player extra coins for attacks. These extra coins can get up to 410% of the attack value. Rhino protects player's village from attacks. This pet protects up to 70% of the attacks on their village. Additionally, pets need to be kept awake with treats. For each treat they stay awake (usable) for 4 hours. They can stay awake for longer periods of time with multiple treats.
Players can gift each friend one Spin every 48 hours, and they can do the same for one. As long as the Spin bar is empty, they can collect up to 100 Spins every day. Gifting Spins to friends will not decrease the player's own inventory, but to collect 100 spins every day, one needs to have 200 active friends on Facebook.
VIP is a special status that gives extra benefits to players like extra spins, coins, exclusive events, a private Facebook group, and a permanent player ID. It was rumored that VIP status is given to players who spend a specific amount of money in the game depending on the country they play from, but people have accused Moon Active of not being transparent enough with the process.
Coin Master's main revenue comes from in-app purchases and microtransactions. The app made 59.15 million US dollars worldwide in July 2023 data. The application has now generated more than 3.5 billion US dollars in player spending over its lifetime. The US, UK, and Germany are the top spenders, contributing over 85% of its net revenue.
Specific data on in-app purchase conversion rates or average spending per player is limited.
According to the website OMR, Moon Active earned US$280 million until October 2019.
The company has investors from the tech industry, such as Gigi Levy-Weiss, the former CEO of the Gibraltar based online casino company 888 Holdings.
Jennifer Lopez, Khloé Kardashian, Eugenio Derbez, Kris Jenner, and Scott Disick have featured in advertisements for Coin Master. Other celebrities who have participated in advertisements for the game are Ben Higgins, Chris Harrison, Rae Sremmurd, Terry Crews, Emily Ratajkowski, Cardi B, Joan Collins, David Schwimmer, Dieter Bohlen, the Spice Girls, Thalia and Chayanne.
Coin Master was ranked in the top 20 of the acclaimed Top 50 Developers/Top 50 Mobile Game Makers list from PocketGamer.biz, published October 1, 2019. The game has also received countless mentions in industry publications regarding its continuous stance of 1st place in the weekly/monthly roundup lists of Top Grossing games on both the App Store and Google Play in 2019.
Coin Master has been used as part of "human verification" scams. As part of the scam, a malicious website prompts the user to "prove they are not a robot" by playing other games or installing applications, with the end goal of receiving in-game currencies.
Many websites claim to give free spins for Coin Master, but some ask users to download risky apps, putting their privacy at risk. Others promise cheap spins or coins for payment without delivering anything.
Coin Master has been widely criticized for using designs and characters appealing to children, resembling games such as Township in order to supposedly lure them into using gambling-like elements (like a slot machine and betting) and spending real-life currency on items and mechanics within the game. In an article about the game published by Pocket Gamer.co.uk in February 2018, the website called the game a "slot machine masquerading as a game".
In Germany, the game has particularly been criticized for its apparently harmful mechanics and negative effects on children. The State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia (Landesmedienanstalt Nordrhein-Westfalen) warned about the game and its advertising campaign in August 2019. A group of media outlets reported on the game in the following months, including Saarländischer Rundfunk, OMR and Der Spiegel. The federal youth protection initiative Schau Hin! also deals with the mobile game and noted that youth protection advocates see Coin Master as a "gateway drug to gambling".
The game further came into public attention in Germany after German journalist and comedian Jan Böhmermann criticized the game in his late night show on German public television channel ZDF. Böhmermann voiced his opinion that Coin Master is marketed to children and adolescents despite corresponding denials, citing among other things such as the child-friendly look of the game and advertising from popular influencers like Pietro Lombardi.
In collaboration with the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM), the State Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia filed a lawsuit against Moon Active. The focus of the legal proceedings was to determine that the game, in its existing version, could no longer be distributed within Germany. These proceedings were formally concluded on Friday, April 3, 2020. The resolution was facilitated by the substantial cooperation of the app's operator in adhering to German youth protection standards.
The modifications implemented by Moon Active include the introduction of double age verification and the restriction of minors from accessing the app. Additionally, the app now features a clear instruction on how to disable in-app purchases. Furthermore, the marketing strategy that previously employed influencers as brand ambassadors has been discontinued in Germany, underscoring that the game is not intended for children.
This case is notable for being the first instance in which a German media authority took legal action against a developer located outside of Europe.