Merge games focus on combining items to make new items. This is key to the gameplay. In most of those types of games, you will need to merge 3-5 items or more, similar to Match-3. In others, you may only need to merge two items or more.
This title is offered on Swagbucks for $365.50 and $414.23 on MyPoints. The terms now state a 30-day time limit. When I completed the offer at a lower reward level ($231.67), I had a 45-day limit.
Swagbucks TermsMyPoints Terms
A standard merging game, County Story is food-themed. Your character has just had her wedding fall through and has decided to restore her family’s cafe/restaurant.
The gameplay is restricted to a single game board. Events have screens and do not affect objects on the main board. Events will supply additional resources such as Energy, Food, Gold, or Gems.
Tip: put Benny’s dog house away in the fridge and don’t bother merging this item. The dog house task and subsequent tasks are intended to slow down the player’s progress through the game. The rewards provided for completing these tasks are very small and they do not improve over time.
You will advance through the game by accruing experience points from completed customer orders. No other task in the game will provide experience points. Gold coins are awarded for completing orders. The coins are then used to complete upgrades to the cafe.
Completing a full bar of tasks will move the story to the next day. Your player level will eventually decouple from the game day to some degree. Some tasks will allow you to choose decorations for your cafe. The building continues to grow in size throughout gameplay.
I purchased the monthly membership to get daily bonuses. I also purchased the VIP access, but I did encounter issues with that which I mentioned later.
Most items can be merged with the final tier displaying a yellow star. For chests, the higher the tier the better the reward upon opening. I would suggest saving your chests in the storage until you have enough to merge to the max tier before opening.
Each day you may claim an Energy chest and a Daily Gift (S). If you save the Daily Gift, it can be merged into either a Medium (2 days) or Large (4 days). The rewards from the Large chest are quite ample and in my opinion worth the wait.
I found the storage area to be a bit too small to be useful given all the objects that you have on the board. I would suggest spending the Gems to unlock 2 extra slots.
Warning: the VIP Fridge can only be unlocked for a limited period. The slots are only valid for the currently active seasonal event. They will go away regardless of how recently you purchased the VIP Pass. If you buy it on the last day, then you will have less than 24 hours of VIP Fridge access.
Tips:
Completed Paint sets can be freed from bubbles by watching an ad
Once a day you may collect up to 12 Energy in the Event Center menu
20 Energy points may be claimed by watching an ad every 10 minutes on alternating days. On alternate days, you can only watch ads to open bubbles. This resets at midnight.
If you watch an ad for Energy, you cannot open a bubble for another 10 minutes and vice versa.
Kryphos has changed almost beyond recognition in the last five years, and fallen celebrity Rowan needs your help to turn things around. Come and join us, and get lost in the world of Seaside Escape!
Terms
Reach the listed goals within 60 days to earn Up to 7,705 SB! (77.05 USD)
Must be installing Seaside Escape for the first time to receive SB.
Must complete events within 60 days of installing to receive SB.
In-app purchases and upgrades are available.
Award will pend for 10 days
Strategy
This title is a Merging game from the same developers as Gossip Harbor. It is similar to Alices Adventure.
There are rotating Events every week. A photo scrapbook will provide rewards for completed collections.
How you manage your playing space will be an important factor to consider. We will not have an Inventory function to manage space, and only five producers can be left active at a time.
We have been given a healthy 60 days to complete this game and the rewards have been structured without requiring purchases. Keep in mind though that reaching level 40 will only net us 10 USD.
The true value of this offer will be going beyond this point.
Leveling
Your Dock has seven levels and is the main entryway to the island map. This is where you will interact primarily.
Completing orders for goods from producers will earn you EXP to raise your level.
Tips & Tricks
Check the official Facebook page for energy giveaways.
Unlock new items, explore new lands, and create your own wonderland through matching and merging! Install and reach the listed events within 30 days to earn Up to 51,550 SB ($515.50).
The reimbursed purchases on this offer do not cover the entire cost of the spending, except for the $19.99 Purchase. I usually avoid spending on these types of offers, however, it may become necessary if you are experiencing difficulty leveling up.
There is an offer to purchase Keys after you reach level 10. This purchase is $30 and will count for the above-listed purchase requirements of $1.99, $19.99, and $29.99.
I have confirmed that all purchases are cumulative, so if you miss or skip the keys offer, you can still buy $30 worth of small boosts to clear the spending goals.
You will only receive experience points and level up your map by completing the missions on the main island.
Side tasks and temporary islands do not provide experience on your main map.
Tips
It is always best to merge 5x, not 3x.
Complete the limited-time worlds. The bonuses help out a lot. Use Coins to get more Energy here, not in the regular world.
Always complete your Daily Quest. When you have the “Spend 7 Gems” one, do two 5-minute timers.
Always merge to the highest Tier. Avoid the temptation to collect Coins, Keys, and Gems.
Check the game often, as your Energy replenishes fast, but will not exceed your cap.
I would strongly advise against spending any Gold or Diamonds on any of the temporary Event islands. These events are best used as a means of getting extra Chests for your main map and supplementing your Coin/Diamond reserves.
Event islands will typically include a number of treasure troves with lots of coins and coin materials available for merging. You should clear these first, before completing any side objectives on event islands.
Functions and Facilities
Keys: These get used for unlocking additional land areas on the map. One of the early missions you receive will ask you to merge to the highest level Key.
After finishing the mission, it is a good idea to go to a Purple Key before consuming them.
Chests: If you can manage to wait (patience), it’s best to merge these chests in groups of 5 until you reach the largest size Chest.
You will receive higher-tier items and more of everything from a bug chest.
Coins: Making food provides Keys and Coin materials. Most weekly missions will include merging to the largest coin. The Event islands are also a good source of Coins. Use your coins to purchase the 80 Energy in the Shop.
Diamonds: I recall there was one mission to merge the big gem. It is up to you to decide where to stop merging for this premium currency. I found myself stopping at the Red Diamonds most often.
Character Houses
The first inhabitant you unlock is the White Rabbit. Character houses can process food items that dispense Keys and Coin materials. After finishing the construction, you can make the basic foods. Further upgrades will unlock better foods. Higher-tier food will provide improved Keys and Coins.
The initial resources used to build a house (wood, teapots, or iron) will also be used to complete any further upgrades to the building. Once all possible upgrades have been completed, the associated resource will be removed from the map.
Resources
Wood: These are used to build and upgrade the home of the White Rabbit.
Teapots: The Mad Hatter’s home is built with teapots, and upgrades to his Hat Shop also use the Teapots.
Lumber: The Chesire Cat’s house is built with Bells and then upgraded using Lumber.
Fans: The Dutchess’ house is built using Fans.
Iron: The Iron mine is your source of Cauldrons.
Log
The first purchase, “Newbie Special $1.99,” went pending for me without buying anything.
Day 1
On my first day, I made it to level 8. I think I could have gotten further, but I did not realize that the Keys could be merged into bigger Keys.
This meant that I was unable to unlock some of the larger areas of the map. I also began running out of empty map tiles pretty quickly.
Day 2
The game really slowed down on my second day. I went ahead and purchased the Piggy Bank ($4.99), and then later that day, I purchased the Newbie Special ($1.99). I reached level 9 on my second day of play.
I did not realize that there was an area on the map that could be unlocked with Gems. Bambi’s section can be unlocked for 799 Gems, so it would be a good idea to save up for this when you first start playing.
Day 3
Sometimes, on the morning of my third day, I reached level 10.
I merged the Madhatter, but I still needed to reach his house. I didn’t unlock the path until just yesterday, so I still have a lot of obstacles to clear.
The path to the Madhatter’s house is just past the Teapots. At level 10, you start getting Cheshire Cat items. Space is very much at a premium.
I did not get to the highest tier of the Key before I used it. I was worried that I would waste too much time without clearing the Teapots. If you are just starting out, I would definitely suggest getting the highest-tier Key unlocked early on.
Day 4
Finally reached level 11 this morning, well, maybe the middle of last night. I’ve been really grinding on this game far into my evenings. In fact, I almost missed a test on Sunday. That would have been embarrassing.
I am getting close to unlocking the Cheshire Cat, and I almost have enough teapots to make the second upgrade on the Madhatter house.
On the static Fairy Tale island, I still have a long way to go. I am a few merges away from being able to unlock the scarecrow. I am nowhere near getting the Three Little Pigs or the Tin Man done.
I have been working on clearing one of the Event islands, I think it is Rapunzel. It’s not the fairy tale island; this is one of the temporary islands. I am combining iguanas now to try to unlock an outfit. This map does generate quite a bit of Gold, but energy is very hard to come by, and most tiles cost 30 points to clear.
I was able to place one of the teapots to upgrade the facility. It makes coffee now. I am also occasionally getting level 2 Keys from the bakery at the White Rabbit.
Day 5
Level 12 took forever to reach. I barely have any space, and the game keeps churning out event islands and seasonal events. First, I was dealing with Shamrocks, then Flowers, and now it is Beanstalks. There is also some ultimate witch thing going on. I have no space.
I still have not managed to collect enough Diamonds to open up Bambi’s area. I am getting close to finishing the Cheshire Cat. That will also knock off the last upgrade to the Mad Hatter’s house.
On Fairytale Island, I managed to merge Piglet with Pooh’s area on the map. I now need to finish the Clock Croc for Peter Pan and Ariel for the mermaid section.
This island is slow. But it has been a good source of Gold and Diamonds. The Fairytale map does not use Energy; you are reliant on watching ads to get single items, daily freebies from the shop, and cross-over chests or other items from the other islands.
Day 15
Things have really slowed down. It took several days to reach level 15, and I now only have 15 days left on the offer. I think I may only get to level 18 before I run out of time. I have not purchased the $20 or $30 items. I am still on the fence about dropping that much money on the offer.
Day 16
I bit the bullet and made some additional purchases, including unlocking the small part of the map with the Diamonds for $3.99. This brought my total spending to $21.45, and it checked off the goals to “unlock land” and “spend $19.99.”
So, if you miss the keys offer or don’t feel it is worth it, you can still spend $30 to get all the spending goals. You could even buy 6 maxed-out piggy banks for total efficiency (4,800 Energy).
Fat Wallet Refugee 