Monopoly GO
TBD
Start with Dice Dreams. Same dice, same board, same raids on other players. I quit that one and I am still playing this one. The reason is simple. Here you can make progress without paying.
I am around level 100 now. I got there without spending anything I was forced to spend. The dice refill fast enough to keep the game moving. When you run out, you put the phone down and come back later, and coming back later works. That sounds small. It is what separates these two games.
The rest of it is well made. There are a lot of mini-games inside the main loop and most of them stand up on their own. The co-op events pair you with strangers and I have enjoyed those far more than I expected to. There is a Looney Tunes partnership running at the moment.
Progression slowed down a lot once I got near level 100. I was expecting that. What I was not expecting is that it stayed fun anyway.
There is one question I use on all of these games. Would I still play it if the offer disappeared? For Monopoly GO the answer is yes, and I cannot say that about anything else I have tested. The offer gives me a deadline, and a deadline is useful, but the game is not the price I pay to get the offer.
One last thing. Freecash ran cashback promos on small in-game purchases, returning TBD of the money. I took a few of them early and I would do it again, and the reason matters. It was worth it for the levels those purchases unlocked, which moved me through slow stretches and kept the offer on schedule. The cashback on its own does not put you ahead. Whatever it does not return, you are still down. So judge a promo like that on what the levels are worth to you, and decide from there.