What’s Wrong with Gin Rummy Stars from BeachBum?

Want to know what’s wrong with Gin Rummy Stars from Beach Bum?

I’ve been playing this game for a very long time, and I have two major things I don’t love about it.

But first of all, I want to be clear — the game’s great.

The LiveOps schedule is fully packed, all the features are in place, and the core mechanic is very engaging. But sometimes, it feels like they either don’t care, or just know nothing about me as a player.

The game could definitely benefit from some personalized approach.

So here are the two examples I want to discuss:

1. “No Ads” Purchase

From the first session, they highlight everywhere that the first purchase will grant No Ads — so I won’t see those damn interstitials anymore. I love that. This is my top personal monetization driver in any game with AdMon.

And it is SO cheap!

So I converted. They really did switch them off.

But then… they continued to promote No Ads to me in all the same places, as if my purchase never happened! Sounds crazy. What would it take to change the UI and remove all those No Ads labels after I buy it? I’m convinced it wouldn’t take much. But still — it never happened.

I keep seeing these:

And so on, and so on...

2. Promo Popups

These are pure evil when designed like this.

They show about 4–6 promo popups every day because there are many concurrent events happening, and they want to promote them.

Just as example, all these come one straight after the other:

Ok, I understand that on my first session of the day, I need to be informed.

But imagine being forced to see them all over again every time you return to the main screen!

It feels like being repeatedly punched in the face.

I give a clear signal by pressing the X button — I’ve seen it, I’m informed.

But they must think I have the memory of a goldfish, because they keep showing them every 5 minutes when I come back to the lobby.

Just remember that I’ve seen them, guys, that’s all.

Otherwise, it just makes me hate it all — more and more with every next promoting attempt.

Eventually, I’m reaching the point where I remember these negative feelings stronger than the positive ones. So I hesitate more and more to launch the game.

And the game is actually great. I loved it.

Not so sure anymore.

Michael Khripin has spent 25+ years in online games: LiveOps, monetization and production, including Wargaming R&D and LiveOps on Hero Wars Mobile at Nexters. Author of Game Shops: Ultimate Guidelines. Runs New Perk, a game shop and LiveOps consultancy.