Social Sandbox: Matchington Mansion
“A match fun & design puzzle.” Fun, I thought. I’ll enjoy this game.
Wrong, I was wrong.
This game is Candy Crush Saga → storyline with boring choices that require points earned by playing → Candy Crush Saga. No, it’s not actually Candy Crush Saga. The candy is now pillows; it is a mansion decorating game after all.
Perhaps I needed to play longer for it to really get fun? I played for 45 minutes. I met three new characters, advanced through different levels, and earned a reward, yet I still didn’t have fun. My favorite part was playing the pillow matching game, and everything else seemed like it was just watering down that fun. There didn’t seem to be much conflict in the way of me renovating the mansion. Yes, Rex Houston did say he wanted to turn the place into a Casino, but at least this far in the game, that hasn’t prevented me from carrying out my renovation tasks.
The major resource in the game are stars. You earn one star by completing one level of the pillow matching game. At this point in Matchington Mansion, the pillow matching game is easy to win on the first attempt and every renovation task costs only one star to complete. Furthermore, the number of aesthetic options that spending that star earns you are limited and don’t offer much of an outlet for creativity.
The procedure is an infinite loop: Earn a star in the pillow matching game → spend that star on a renovation project → pick an aesthetic option from ~3 choices → repeat. If you finish all the projects in a room, you receive a new room down the hallway with its own unfinished projects. And the game creators hope that your daily habits include this game too. During your first week on the app, you receive a reward every day you log on. On an online forum, I read that you get a bonus prize any day that you spend FOUR HOURS (!!) in the app.
This game is a form of abnegation. Of tuning out the world. Don’t get me wrong, I need that in my life at times. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve spent hours watching videos on TikTok or playing Candy Crush Saga for that matter. But this game made me feel frustrated, not zen. This game is wildly popular. Clearly my opinion is not that of the masses; if you try this game, I hope it brings you more fun than it brought me!
