Pay me and I’ll reward you with strong characters that you can recruit to win my game. In a nutshell, that’s the modern Gacha game model. Gacha games are video games of chance. You need strong characters on your team to complete missions and win. And in order to get the best and strongest categories, you have to win them.

Gacha games were a big hit on mobile devices, now they are popular on computers too. If you have heard of “Genshin Impact”, “Fire Emblem Heroes”, or “Raid Shadow Legends”, you have come across an example of Gacha games.

Where Does “Gacha” Come From?

The gacha game model began to take shape over a hundred years ago, inspired by U.S. vending machines of the late 1800’s. These vending machines would take the user’s money and dispense a random prize, like superballs, gumballs, jacks, stamps, or candy. Some prizes were prized than others.

Skip ahead to the 1960s, Ryuzo Shigeta, a Japanese entrepreneur and inventor wanted to improve the vending machine experience. He loved the elements luck and chance, but hated how vending machines would dispense cheap, poorly made products. So he came up with his own vending machine and called it the Gachapon.

Gachapon is made up by the two sounds Ryuzo’s machine make, “Gacha” and “pon”. “Gacha” is the sound the machine’s hand crank make when you pull it to dispense the toy and “pon” is the sound the toy capsule make when it drops.

Toys companies like Bandai popularized the Gachapon and it didn’t take long for this model to start appearing in Japanese mobile phone games.

What is a Gacha Game?

In gacha games, instead of using real money to buy an item like the Gachapon, players use game currency instead, which they can earn by paying with money or actually playing (which usually take a lot longer).

Mobile gacha games became popular when Konami released the iconic Dragon Collection in 2010. Since then, many company have try to come up with their own twist of Gacha game which led to further popularization of the genre.

It became so popular that even the giant RPG franchise, Final Fantasy, has its own genre of gacha, called final fantasy gacha games. Some of the notable ones are Final Fantasy Brave Exvius or Final Fantasy Record Keeper.

Are Gacha Games Bad?

“Bad” is a relative term. Most gacha games are free to play, so it is up to the game developers work really hard to create fun, if not addictive user experience to incentivize players to stay around keep playing. The best gacha games are ones with the best chances for the best prizes.

What makes a gacha system good or bad?

Rewards

Every players know that gacha games are like lotteries, with rewards being left entire up to chance.

The difference between a good gacha game and bad one is the rewards system: how the rewards are given out and what the rewards are.

Most popular gacha games have a “10x” mechanic which allows player to do multiple (usually 5 or 10) consecutive gacha. Players get a cheaper price than if they do individual gacha AND have a higher chance of obtaining a good character or item.

For some gacha game, this is left entirely up to chance which discourages many players from continuing to play or spending their own money.

It feels unfair to players who have spent tons of money on a game, but come up short on getting good rewards. Players end up leaving games with bad rewards system and rally to ones that incentivize them to spend their money with a better UX.

Engagement

Since most gacha games rely on people trying to get their favorite characters or winning rare items, they have to continually come up with new game content.

New content could include a new collection of characters or items every month, or life events that players can participate in and earn rewards that boost their characters’ strength.

Gacha games that are not regularly updated will lose players over time as they leave for newer games that are updated more frequently.

Balancing Issue

As mentioned above, if the rewards are too hard to obtain, that might discourage players from playing. However, if the gacha rate is high and it is too easy to get strong characters, it can make the game less challenging, and in turn becomes boring. The best gacha games know how keep their prize system balanced. Getting a good prize is a hard pursuit. But it’s not impossible, and when you do obtain a top prize it feels amazing.

Are Gacha Games Legal?

Gacha games are legal in the United States and most countries. Even though some question the prize lottery model, gacha games are only increasing in popularity.

However, Kompu Gacha, a subset of gacha games that used to be very popular in Japanese mobile gaming culture, were recently banned in Japan. Kompu Gacha was declared illegal by Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency in 2012.

Kompu Gacha, or complete gacha rules, is one of the gacha game features that grant super bonus to players if they own a specific (expensive) set of items or characters.

Major Japanese game publishers removed complete gacha rules from their game shortly after Kompu Gacha was declared illegal.

Is Gacha an Anime?

Since most gacha games are created by Japanese mobile game developers, Gacha and Anime share a similar artistic style.

Most gacha games have their own original stories and characters, but sometimes they do collaborate with anime franchises. Or their games will have cameos from popular anime characters.

And there some gacha games actually based on anime such as Dragon Ball Legends or Fate Grand Order. The popular comic and movie franchise Marvel also has its own gacha game called Marvel Strike Force.

Can Kids Play Gacha games?

Kids can play gacha games just fine. Most gacha games have kid-friendly visuals and stories. Most Gacha games do not contain any chat features, which prevents your kids from talking to stranger on the Internet.

Furthermore, most of them are free to play. For games that do cost money or offer in-game purchases, parents need to exercise appropriate supervision and put controls in place like not giving their child their credit card or linking their digital wallet.

Is Gacha Still Popular?

Yes, Gacha games are still super popular, especially so near the end of 2020 with release of Genshin Impact.

Can You Win money for Playing a Gacha Game?

Even though you are incentivized to spend when you play a Gacha game, you can actually score yourself some cash by playing some Gacha games.

How to Win Money Playing Gacha Games

Well, you can begin earning by sign up for a platform like Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a free online rewards platform that rewards members with cash and free gift cards for taking surveys, watching videos, trying new apps, and playing games.

Once you have signed up for Swagbucks (it’s free and takes under 60 seconds), visit the “Discover” section. You’ll find it in the navigation bar at the top. After, select “Games”.

Start by browsing through the game section and see what catches your eye. Some of the featured games are gacha games. You just need to read through the game descriptions.

You can earn $1 to $50 for the featured games. For some games, you just need to install the app and register. For other games, you may need to reach a certain level within 7 days. Or you may need to complete a certain mission. Game developers want you to discover their game, play it a lot, and hopefully come to really love it and share it with friends.

Right now, there are dozens of free games you can play on Swagbucks in order to earn cash rewards. If you completed just a handful of the highest-paying game offers, you could make over $250. Check out the list of games in the next section below.

Are there any games that pay you cash for playing?

There are MANY games that pay you cash for playing, especially on Swagbucks.

Here are the Best Free Games You Can Get Cash for Playing

Earn cash for playing these games on Swagbucks.

  1. Gin rummy. Reach level 45, earn $25.
  2. Foothills 3. Complete Foothills 3, earn $50.
  3. Solitaire Cruise. Reach World 15, earn $35.
  4. Slotomania. Get 2,000 Dash Points, earn $15.
  5. Mafia City: War of Underworld. Reach level 25, earn $100.
  6. Grand Mafia. Reach level 25, earn $100.
  7. Bingo Story. Play 150 games, win $10.
  8. Kings of Avalon. Reach level 22, earn $50.
  9. State of Survival: Walking Dead. Complete Headquarters 21, earn $50.
  10. Lord of the Rings: Rise to War. Reach Town Hall Level 10, earn $10.

And there are dozens more app games available on Swagbucks that pay $0.50 to $100.

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Top Things to Know About Swagbucks Games

  • Available games and apps are regularly updated.
  • The games and prizes shown in this article were current at the date of the article’s publication.
  • Additional rules may apply for these games. For example, you may need to reach a certain level within a certain number of days.
  • You must be a Swagbucks member in order to play these free games and earn the cash reward.
  • It’s free to sign up for Swagbucks and takes just 60 seconds or less.
  • Swagbucks has paid out over $500 million in free gift cards and PayPal cash, earned by members for taking surveys, watching videos, playing games, and more.

Final Thoughts on Gacha Games and Games of Chance

The gacha game trend isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s popularity is growing every day. Even if you’re not big into games, it’s worth checking out. And if you are a big gamer (or semi-big gamer), then it’s worth checking out Gacha games.

And if you’re into Gacha games and games of chance, you should get paid to play games. You can earn over $250 just playing a handful of the free games with the highest prize earnings.

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