AdVenture Capitalist

-2.03
Bad
Price: Free
Ads: Yes
In App Purchases: Yes

iOS App Store
Google Play App Store

Temporal Dark PatternsTemporal Dark Patterns

This game has 17 reported Temporal Dark Patterns. There are 2 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

-3.93

3 votes
Playing by Appointment -
3 / 0 votes
Being forced to play according to the game's schedule instead of yours.

2 votes
Daily Rewards -
2 / 0 votes
Encourages return visits every day and punishes you for missing a day.

3 votes
Grinding -
3 / 0 votes
Being required to perform repetitive and tedious tasks to advance.

3 votes
Advertisements -
3 / 0 votes
Forced to watch ads or given rewards for watching ads.

3 votes
Infinite Treadmill -
3 / 0 votes
Impossible to win or complete the game.

3 votes
Wait To Play -
3 / 0 votes
In-game timers that make you arbitrarily wait for something.

2 votes
Can't Pause or Save -
0 / 2 votes
The game does not allow you to stop playing whenever you want.

Monetary Dark PatternsMonetary Dark Patterns

This game has 21 reported Monetary Dark Patterns. There are 6 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

-3.03

3 votes
Premium Currency -
3 / 0 votes
Exchange rate between real money and in-game currency disguises the real price of items.

2 votes
Pay to Win -
2 / 0 votes
A player can spend real money to purchase something that gives them an advantage in the game.

3 votes
Artificial Scarcity -
3 / 0 votes
Limited time offers with unnecessary urgency.

3 votes
Pay to Skip -
3 / 0 votes
Spend money to avoid waiting for a timer to expire.

2 votes
Recurring Fee -
2 / 0 votes
Encourages players to play as much as possible to get their money's worth.

3 votes
Power Creep -
3 / 0 votes
A permanently purchased item in the game becomes less valuable over time.

2 votes
1 votes
Anchoring Tricks -
2 / 1 votes
Placing a cheap item next to an expensive item to make it look more affordable.

1 votes
1 votes
Gambling / Loot Boxes -
1 / 1 votes
Spending real money to play a game of chance for a reward.

1 votes
1 votes
Pay Wall -
1 / 1 votes
The game becomes impossible to continue playing without payment.

1 votes
1 votes
Waste Aversion -
1 / 1 votes
Capped inventory forces you to destroy items or upgrade inventory. Also, having small amounts of left over premium currency.

2 votes
Accidental Purchases -
0 / 2 votes
Making it easy to accidentally spend money with no confirmation or ability to undo or refund the action.

Social Dark PatternsSocial Dark Patterns

This game has 2 reported Social Dark Patterns. There are 12 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

2.92

1 votes
1 votes
Fear of Missing Out -
1 / 1 votes
If you stop playing you'll miss out on something or be left behind and unable to catch up.

1 votes
1 votes
Competition -
1 / 1 votes
The game makes you compete against other players.

2 votes
Social Pyramid Scheme -
0 / 2 votes
You get a bonus for inviting your friends and then they have to invite their friends.

2 votes
Social Obligation / Guilds -
0 / 2 votes
To avoid letting down your friends, you are obligated to play when you don't want to.

2 votes
Friend Spam / Impersonation -
0 / 2 votes
The game sends spam to your contact list or social media account.

2 votes
Reciprocity -
0 / 2 votes
Feeling obligated to return a favor, share resources, trade an item, etc.

2 votes
Encourages Anti-Social Behavior -
0 / 2 votes
The game incentivizes players to lie, cheat, or backstab other players to get ahead.

Psychological Dark PatternsPsychological Dark Patterns

This game has 5 reported Psychological Dark Patterns. There are 10 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

0.1

2 votes
1 votes
Invested / Endowed Value -
2 / 1 votes
Having already spent time and money to improve your status in the game, it's difficult to throw it away.

1 votes
1 votes
Badges / Endowed Progress -
1 / 1 votes
Reluctancy to abandon a partially completed goal, even one forced upon the player.

1 votes
1 votes
Complete the Collection -
1 / 1 votes
The urge to collect all the items, achievements or secrets in a game.

1 votes
1 votes
Aesthetic Manipulations -
1 / 1 votes
Trick questions or toying with emotions or our subconscious desires.

2 votes
Illusion of Control -
0 / 2 votes
The game cheats or hides information to make you think you're better than you actually are.

2 votes
Variable Rewards -
0 / 2 votes
Unpredictable or random rewards are more addictive than a predictable schedule.

2 votes
Optimism and Frequency Biases -
0 / 2 votes
Overestimating the frequency of something because we’ve seen it recently or memorably.

App Store Ratings

iOS:  (4.50) with 412,036 votes.
Google Play:  (4.58) with 1,484,621 votes.



Recent Dark Pattern Reviews

Artificial Scarcity reported on May 23, 2021
Temporary offers in the in-game shop. It opens random windows telling you about "first time buyer" offers that are available for a limited time.
Aesthetic Manipulations reported on May 23, 2021
'cha-ching' noises when you buy something in game like an upgrade. When you go into the 'gold' (premium currency) part of the shop, it asks if you are 'feeling indulgent'. The first-time buyer offers say they are for "savvy capitalists".
Waste Aversion reported on May 23, 2021
You pay real money for Gold but the gold is in weird bundles of 55/115/240/624/1300. But most items in the shop are multiples of 10 aside from one item which is 25 gold - eg if you bought the 55 gold bundle, you would always have 5 gold leftover unless you used the gold 'inefficiently' (eg. buying 3 1d time warps 10g each and one 7d at 25g, which gets you less overall time warp days than 2x 7d time warps at 50g total with 5g left).
Pay Wall reported on May 23, 2021
It's not a real pay-wall, just one where progress can end up painfully slow if you don't pay for boosts etc. You go from upgrading things constantly to suddenly being unable to do so without waiting for days for profits to accrue.
Badges / Endowed Progress reported on May 23, 2021
You get achievements for practically everything.
Power Creep reported on May 23, 2021
The early game "businesses" become effectively worthless over time.
Recurring Fee reported on May 23, 2021
'VIP' which comes with things like gold for logging in daily.
Pay to Skip reported on May 23, 2021
You can pay 'gold' (premium currency) for "Time Warps" which give you X number of days worth of profit instantly.
Wait To Play reported on May 23, 2021
As it's an idle game, you sometimes need to wait for in-game currency to accrue in order to be able to do anything to progress.
Playing by Appointment reported on May 23, 2021
If you don't play regularly, you'll hamper your progress by not using your in-game currency to upgrade your "businesses". There's also limited time events.


Report a Dark Pattern

Screenshot Welcome, eager young investor, to AdVenture Capitalist! Arguably the world's greatest Capitalism simulator!

Have you always dreamed of owning your own business? Being the master of your own destiny? Forming your own multi-national conglomerate to create a world-wide, monopolistic economy? Then AdVenture Capitalist is the game for YOU!

Begin your quest for world domination by clicking on the Lemonade Stand progress bar. Keep clicking until you can afford to pay for more squeezers! Now you’ve got the hang of it.

Hire employees, purchase cutting edge upgrades, dominate the market, and attract eager Angel Investors to boost your profits! The only way to go is UP UP UP!

AdVenture Capitalist - you can't spell hedge fund without F U N!