A few people have commented that the Golden Scratch-R was a smart move by EA as it has tempted them into making their first ever in-game purchase. And it seems to have generated a lot of interest, going by the search terms hitting my blog. So, here are the steps you go through in buying one, including something that surprised me (but probably shouldn’t have).
My apologies upfront to Android players – this post primarily goes through the Apple device process. If anyone would like to add a comment highlighting and similarities or differences for Android users, that would be great!
A Golden Scratch-R costs $US0.99 (or the rough equivalent in your local currency – e.g. £0.69 in the UK, $HK8.00). For that investment you get one chance and one chance only to win donuts – and if you want a second go, you have to pay again. This means that it operates just like a scratch card in the real world. The payment comes from whichever payment method you’ve attached to your iTunes or Google Play account or any account credit you have. Every ticket wins you something, though, and the least you’ll go away with is 6 donuts.
As soon as you hit the blue bar indicating that you want to buy a card, this message comes up:
But you have a second chance to think about it, because for Apple devices, the following message comes up from iTunes (and I’m assuming a similar message comes up through Google Play):
Apple players then need to enter their iTunes password for the purchase to go through. Once that’s done, this is what you see:
And then the game tells you exactly the same thing:
Now, you’re ready to play, and the game tells you this by taking you straight to the Golden Scratch-R screen (which means you can’t change your mind at this stage and use your purchase for anything but the Golden Scratch-R game).
Now, here’s the bit that surprised me but probably shouldn’t have. Unlike the regular Scratch-R, once you’ve played, the Itchy and Scratchy logo doesn’t seem to go away. It stays until you have decided that you’ve bought enough Golden Scratch-R tickets and buy a regular Scratch-R instead.
For increasing in-game transactions, that’s definitely a smart move, EA.
For Android users unable to purchase donuts:
I moved over from playing TSTO on an iPad to playing on an Android (something about gravity, a falling bicycle and a defenseless iPad glass screen forced the issue…)
…anyway… I’ve been unable to purchase donuts at all, as the email associated with TSTO on my iPad differs from the email I use for Google Play store. I attempted to create a similarly named account with Google Play, but still no luck with donut purchases. On digging deeper, it appears that not only do both (TSTO and Google) email addresses need to be the same, but in addition, your Google Play account must be a @gmail.com address in order to tie in with Google Wallet and, thus, enable in-app purchases.
This is a major bummer, as I would really like to purchase the Snake Log and Snake Stump. I need more of them critters to whack.
…and both Origin’s and EA’s websites have been a complete dead end so far. Terrible customer service.
I guess until this issue is resolved, I’ll have to spend my money elsewhere (like on REAL donuts!). Apparently, EA has enough money and doesn’t need mine.
Thanks for this
Just won 20 donuts!! $3 bucks spent and 38 donuts won….a lot bang for your buck!!