What are the prizes to be won in the games?

Mobile games to “earn money by playing”: scam or not? Earning money by playing mobile video games? What’s the scam? Let me assure you, yes it is possible to win real gifts in some games, there is no scam. It is also possible to get paid for testing new applications or functionalities. But don’t expect to make a living from it. And be prepared to accept that you’ll often be wasting your time to earn some pennies.

Earning money by playing mobile games can help you to make a substantial income, like with poker. But some smartphone applications will not provide that.

Currently, it is possible to find in the iOS and Android stores several mobile applications that intend to pay you if you download them from their portals in other apps and play them.

Are there mobile games that give you prizes?

There were already several websites on the Internet allowing you to earn some money by playing online games (usually small card games, arcade games, Flash games, in short, nothing crazy), like InboxDollars, which also exists on iOS and Android, and which promises to pay you if you answer some surveys. But now, other apps are starting to flourish in the App Store and Play Store, allowing you to play more elaborate games for virtual money.

App Flame, for example, “recommends games (strategy, action…) that match your taste”, and in exchange, if you “try” them, you “will get a small reward” in “mCoins” (also called simply “coins”), a virtual currency that can be converted into Paypal money.  One mobile game, Gifts Prize Blast gives winners different real gifts sent to their home addresses. If you want to know more about it, don’t hesitate to visit their Web site.

Gifts and prizes in mobile games, good plan or scam?

You will find on the web a lot of websites explaining to you that you can earn about 10 dollars a day in the beginning, “and even more after,” until you earn thousands of dollars with this kind of application. Obviously, let’s say it right away, these claims are bogus, and for good reason: even if you play every day for 6 or 7 hours, or even more, you will never earn more than a few dozen dollars per month.

App Flame is not the only application of its kind. Other apps like Coinpop and AppLike on Android, and Time Wallet on iOS, offer you the chance to play games and earn mCoins in exchange, which can be exchanged for vouchers on Amazon, Steam, and Google Play, or for money via Paypal. So, what’s the scam?

How are these apps profitable for their developers if players earn money but pay nothing? The developers of AppLike, App Flame, or Time Wallet actually contract with game developers. When a player installs a game via one of these apps, the app earns a commission from the game developer, who gets paid through advertising. Basically, the players are like testers, which allows the game creators to increase their number of downloads as well as their number of players until they earn money in the end.

1.50 dollars after 4 hours of play, true or false?

You will not be “scammed” in the story, simply, you will never earn 20 or 30 dollars per week, as some dubious sites promoting Time Wallet, Coin Pop, or AppLike promise you. In concrete terms, after installing a game via one of these apps (basically, you are redirected to the App Store or the Play Store to download it), you will earn a paltry sum in mCoins after playing it for hours: “Beyond 3 hours of games, we hardly earn a single cent of euro,” notes Jouetopia.fr, which tested App Wallet.

And for a good reason, since you are paid according to the time spent on the applications and the remuneration varies enormously – for example, you earn a lot of mCoins at the beginning, then almost nothing after one or two hours. Also, note that the payout rate fluctuates depending on the game itself, and that if you invite your friends to play this game, you can earn bonus mCoins.