Why, oh why?
I downloaded this app for my shiny new iphone mainly because
a) It was free
b) Downloading apps was a novelty and I quickly became addicted
c) I thought my son would like it as he loves playing on the penny two pence slot machines that can be found on the Haven holiday sites where we usually holiday every year.
After a slightly costly learning experience involving a different app where my son managed to buy some 'coins' rather easily, he is now banned from my phone and some games have been deleted. However, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of this one, I have to very sadly (and embarrassingly) admit that I'm quite hooked on it.
What is Coin Dozer?
As I've mentioned, the app takes after the same arcade machines that can be found in those tacky Amusement arcades found in seaside towns up and down the country. The premise is that you push your coin into the slot at the perfect time, for it to fall into a space and then be pushed by a sliding shelf into many other coins, hopefully pushing the other coins to the front edge where they will fall off, you win those coins and can then pocket them or as happens in most instances end up putting them back into the machine. We usually save up our two pences through the year so our eldest can play these games on rainy days when we are on our hols. Quite honestly, they are a mugs game, most coins slip down the sides of the machines and into the owners pockets, but to entice the kiddies, many places now add cheap toys into the mix, which is what the kids are really after.
Anyway, this is exactly what Coin Dozer is. It simulates these machines, although there is obviously no 'slot' to put your coin in, you just have to tap at the top of the screen instead. It does help to time and position this correctly though, otherwise your coin may end up be pushed onto the top of another, or push others in the wrong direction and they will slip down the sides and into oblivion instead of into your winnings.
The screen
The game takes up much of the screen, but there are helpful icons at the top which are quite self explanatory, but I'll give a quick run through.
At the very top left is a yellow circle with a star. Inside the star will be a number, this is the amount of coins you have to play with, it also shows a little timer counting down, every thirty seconds you are actively playing the game you regenerate a coin. When the game is not in use, it takes nine minutes to accrue a coin. There is a limit to how many coins can be regenerated, but this grows as you level up.
In the top centre is a thin bar, it shows how many XP points you have and how many you need to level up. You gain 1XP for every coin that you win. To the left of this bar is a star showing which level you are currently at, to the right is a picture of a coin showing the bonus you will receive when you next level up. This bonus is usually one of the special coins listed below or a regeneration bonus.
Just underneath this bar are four white stars. Four coins can be played at once and the stars represent the coins, it takes about five seconds for each coin to regenerate and the star will light back up when the coin is ok to play.
In the very top right corner is a purple circle labelled PRIZES. If you tap on this it takes you to a new screen showing which prizes you have won. You can also sell the prizes here if you wish.
Underneath the yellow circle with your coin amount, there are two smaller circles which you can tap on to access. One is labelled 'Coin shop', the other 'Free coins'. Coins are sold in packs of 50 (59p), 300 (£2.99), 750 (£5.99) or 2000 (£14.99), 'Free coins' is also a bit misleading, it shows you a list of more apps which you can download to earn more coins, but the majority of these apps actually have to be paid for, the free ones don't give many coins anyway.
Personally it seems like madness to go down either route and sadly, because the option is there it means I won't let my son play this game because it's rather easy to do.
I advise turning the game off and getting on with normal life while your coins accrue all by themselves!
Game play
The slider moves between what looks like rooftops. In front of the slider are rows of coins. The aim is to tap the screen to drop your coins and edge the others closer to the drop at the bottom of the screen. Dropping a coin at the wrong time can pile coins on top of each other, meaning they do nothing, dropping a coin in the wrong place can push coins off the sides and you won't get anything. All in all, it's actually very simple, there is only so much you can do and if a special coin or prize is dropped to close to the side edge it's usually going to end up in the gutter anyway! The main pull of the game for me is levelling up and collecting the randomly dropped prizes and special coins:
Coins
Doubles: These coins are silver and larger than the usual ones, when these are won, they earn two coins each.
Blue: These have a picture of three stars on them and when one give a coin shower, where nine coins are dropped into the game
Red: This drops an enormous coin into the game. When it drops it bounces everything up into the air, sending coins all over the place. It's a double edged sword with this, as sometimes it can bounce items that were vering to the sides back into play and sends loads of coins into your winnings, but it also can do the opposite and send prizes down the sides and it leaves big gaps, so you need loads of coins to fill them back up to gt the game back on track.
XP: These can come in amounts of 15, 30 or 50, and help you level up more quickly.
Gold Dragon: This drops a variety of the above coins, usually about four.
Light blue: Gutter coin, this puts walls up to stop any coins or prizes falling down the sides and out of reach.
Prizes
There are nine different groups of prizes, fish, umbrellas, rings,dice, gems, bears, sunglasses, whistles and yo-yos, each group has four different coloured prizes (blue, magenta, yellow and red) to collect and if you collect a group you win a bonus. Each bonus has six tiers, meaning all four items in all nine groups need to be collected six times to unlock the full potential of the bonus.
An example of a bonus: a new prize will appear whenever you collect a giant coin. Higher tiers will make the prize start closer to you (which hopefully should mean it would be easier to collect.)
The graphics are quite basic and cartoonlike, but it is a really simple game and as it's for the mobile I wasn't expecting anything special. I usually have the sound turned off, all it is really is the sound of the coins dropping, a 'heavenly' little sound when a prize is dropped into the game and a chorus of 'Yeahs' or 'Awws' depending on if you win or lose prizes or coins.
Recommended?
With three kids I don't get much free time to myself and what time I do get I like to spend on here, so there isn't much point in getting stuck into a good book or anything at the moment. But when I'm waiting in the school car park for my eldest and my two youngest are asleep in the back of the car, this game is just what I need to waste a few minutes. It's easy to pick up and start playing and it's just as easy to put down as you don't have to finish levels and you're not going to lose your place or forget what you were doing.
This is hard to recommend as games are such a personal taste. If you want something that's slightly addictive, doesn't need much brain power, can easily be put down or picked back up at any time and helps to while away a few minutes if you're bored, then yes. If you like action and adventure or even braintraining games, then probably not, it will probably bore you rigid!
The game is available from itunes and developed by Game Circus LLC.
It is compatibale with iphone, ipod touch and ipad. It's size is 11.9MB.
Stops me dozing........ 
