Disney Tsum Tsum

I’ve downloaded hundreds of mobile games and I’ll play most of them for only a short while before they’ve lost their value and I forget about them. But every so often, a game comes along that captivates me and makes me want to play so much that when I close my eyes I actually see the game running. Disney’s Tsum Tsum game is my newest addiction, and it’s actually so unexpectedly good that I had to write my first app review on it.

Anyone’s first impression of the game is probably not so great. Seeing so many badly branded products based off movies, the newest fad, or an already well established franchise, you know that these games are just quick money-grabs. Especially because it’s Disney and it has all these cutesy stuffed animal characters, Tsum Tsum looks exactly like some cheap game thrown together for deranged girls and kids with lazy parents.

When you get into the app, you’re blasted in the face with a carnival of stuffed animals getting ready to open the Disney Store. They dance and roll around and do silly things with all their fluffiness, and after signing in with your Line account you’re thrown into a menu where you’ll notice it follows the same format as all those money-centered apps. A weekly high score chart indicates that you have to keep playing if you want to maintain your ranking. You get 5 heart slots, which you spend to play a round, and it refills one heart every 15 minutes. The free currency that you can earn in the game is Coins, and the premium currency for buying more Coins, hearts, or for adding extra time to your round is Rubies.

Everyone’s probably rolling their eyes at this, but unlike the other similarly structured games, the entire economy of Tsum Tsum is perfect. Usually in those games there’s some annoying hiccup, like the wait times are too long to refill the game attempt tokens, or the items you need buy in the game are too expensive, or the economy just destroys all the fun. But there are elements throughout this app that, working together, form a fully wrapped package that covers all the corners and leaves you in awe at how well thought out and constructed this game is. Things like the heart sending system where you get coins if you accept within an hour, the well-compensated friend invitation system, and the overall perfect formula between earning coins and buying things all contribute to making this environment feel fun and not like some tedious grinder. Not only does the whole system work, its synergy adds hardcore elements like the need to strategize how and when you should play. On top of all that, there are daily missions and milestone promotional events to get you wanting to play for more coins. Constant events and bingo cards keep me coming back even though I try very hard not to.

That was just the economy, how about the game itself? It’s a connecting game where you match tsums into the longest chain possible to get a higher score. As you clear them, more tsums will fall. You have the option to play with the accelerometer so that you can roll the tsums around and reposition them. You pick one tsum to play as your MyTsum, which gives you its special powerup and will show up in every round. Some tsums clear other tsums, convert other tsums, and even reposition other tsums so there is a wide variety of play styles and strategies. As you clear tsums, they will level up and generate more points for you. You actually have your own level, and leveling yourself up will increase your score bonus and reward you with heart refills and rubies. There is just so much to it – bubbles, combos, fever mode, all so you can generate the highest score and the most coins. It’s fast paced and extremely rewarding. There seems to be no end to it all. You want you play a lot to get coins to buy stuff, which will help you play better so the more you play, the better you get and the more coins you’ll earn to buy even more stuff. With the number of tsums you can buy and all the levels you can grind through, expect to spend all your waking hours trying to collect them all. You use coins to buy boxes, either the Happiness Box or the Premium Box, to get more tsums in your collection and skill-level them up so their power is stronger. New tsums steadily come out to the English version – the Japanese version is the most updated.

Design-wise, it looks great. There is definitely a Japanese feel to it with all the high pitched voices and over-the-top cutesy effects, but it doesn’t put me off and actually gives me a lot of satisfaction just navigating the menus and playing the game.

The even cooler aspect is that there’s a physical component to it – you can buy the tsum plushies online or in Disney Stores. It’s a hugely important addition to Disney’s business, and it is a major success. At least to me, it’s got the perfect formula that makes grinding fun and rewarding, and that’s why I’m so hooked to it. I used to be the type of person who could go to Disneyland only once every few years – it was just so tiring and expensive and I never felt so compelled to go. But now I pass by Disneyland on the way to work every day, and coupled with this constant exposure to the tsums, I am actually feeling myself wanting to buy them and go to Disneyland. Yes, this game is super addicting and very well put together. Yes, I don’t see myself quitting it any time soon. Yes, my girlfriend says it’s ok if I ignore her all day as long as I’m playing this game (because it’s Disney).

Rating: 5/5