You could be forgiven for forgetting about Pokémon Shuffle. Pokémon’s other mobile game became a bit of a desolate place once Pokémon GO was released. For those who don’t know, Pokémon Shuffle is a freemium, match three puzzle game. Which is just a fancy way of saying that it is sorta Candy Crush but with Pokémon. You make friends with other players (up to 30), and they can send you mini-hearts once a day to keep you playing more.
But as Pokémon GO was released, I realised the stream of mini-hearts being sent to me slowed, and I noticed that out of my 30 friends, half of them had not been online in weeks. There is also the issue of being a freemium game – you only get 5 lives, with each life taking a half hour to regenerate. And the long grind for coins if you need to buy items to get past a certain level. Taking into account those two features, I can see how Pokémon GO is a more desirable alternative for day to day play.
Perhaps noting the slow in players–however it is being billed as a celebration for reaching 10 million downloads–Pokémon Shuffle is giving every play 10000 coins and 30 hearts. This is by far the most generous gift they’ve given out in the year that I have been playing the game. Will it be enough to bring back players? Is there anyone who even cares about Pokémon Shuffle apart for me?
Hot tip: Pokémon Shuffle will feature on Train Games very, very soon.
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