Dice Dreams
social casino / builder
I quit this one. Before you read further, open the Monopoly GO write-up next to it. These two games run almost the same machine and I reached opposite conclusions about them, so they explain each other.
Dice Dreams is well made. I want to say that clearly before I complain about anything. The art is good, the board progression is satisfying, and raiding other players gives it a social edge that most games in this category do not have. If someone had shown it to me with no offer attached, I would have played it for a few weeks quite happily.
The economy is the problem. You roll dice. Dice are the only resource that matters and they run out fast. Everything in the game is arranged around the moment you run out of them. That is casino logic. Every screen you see after that moment points at the shop. I have no way to check whether the rolls themselves are fair, so I am making no claim about that. I am describing how the game is built, and it is built to make spending feel like the obvious next step.
Then the offer sat on top of all that. The milestones Freecash listed were far past the point where free dice could carry me. To finish them I would have had to buy dice, more than once. So the game economy and the offer pushed me in the same direction, and that direction was my wallet.
I stopped. The hours were not worth what waited at the end of them.
One honest exception. This can work if you are willing to spend and you sit down first and do the arithmetic, spend against payout, before you start. Some people do that and come out ahead. Be clear with yourself that it is a different activity from earning. You are buying a position in a game and betting the offer covers it. Going in that way with your eyes open is fine. Going in expecting to earn by playing means you will spend instead.
Then look at Monopoly GO. Same dice, same board, same raids. I reached level 100 there without paying for anything.