Do you like chess or playing cards, but maybe don’t have the time or don’t have cards? There is a great alternative on you’re phone! We want to put you onto the game that has sent the world into a craze, Clash Royale.
Clash Royale is a highly competitive two-player mobile strategy game that uses cards as weapons. Nearly 10% of the U.S population plays Clash Royale, which has an estimated 47.4 million players worldwide. With this kind of popularity, if you aren’t playing, someone you know is.
The trending game was developed by Supercell–a gaming company known for creating other popular mobile games, including Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars–back in 2016, but it has had a resurgence in popularity recently. At the forefront of this phenomenon is Twitch star Jynxzi, whose catchphrases include “Let’s play some Clash!” and “Bowler!!” His wit and charisma, as well as his skill, captivate viewers’ attention as he live-streams, encouraging others to play too. Jynxzi is iconic among the younger population in part because of his past gaming experience and his exotic cosplay as the Bowler and Berserker, both characters from the game.
The objective of this popular game is to take your opponent’s towers. Both you and your opponent start with three towers: two princess towers on the side, and a king tower that is activated upon damage and/or losing a princess tower. Once the king tower (or main tower) is taken out, you automatically lose the game. Similar to how a chess player advances their chess pieces forward to get to their opponent’s queen (while the opponent tries to place their own chess pieces in the way as obstacles), cards move directly towards towers unless the opponent places another card in the radius around it. The exception is “win conditions”; these are cards that strictly go for towers and not other cards.
Although it sounds simple, the game is pretty sophisticated. Your success depends on several different strategies, including managing elixir, specializing decks, and mastering troop placement. Elixir is the currency it costs to put down cards during a game to destroy your opponent’s tower. You and your opponent produce elixir at the same rate, so you must use it sparingly, not letting your opponent gain an advantage. As the game time increases, elixir is produced more quickly, allowing you to place more cards. If time runs out, the player with more hit points (which reflects the health of your tower and how far away it is from falling) wins. As each game progresses, there is a time limit that indicates how far players are from the end of the game. A typical game takes around three minutes; however, with overtime, the game can span up to five minutes. When the timer runs out, whichever player has lost a tower loses. If no tower has been lost or both players have lost a tower, the players enter overtime, where the first tower lost ends the game. Once overtime is done, the player with the lowest tower health loses.
As you progress through the game and win some battles, you can access more cards (thus potential tools to take down your opponent’s towers) and even evolutions, more commonly referred to as “evos,” that can even make a lowly Larry (a skeleton card turn into a force to be reckoned with.
Within the game, there are currencies like coins and gems that can contribute to wins and losses. Coins can be utilized to upgrade your cards, while gems can be used to buy miscellaneous items such as emotes (images to send your opponents and friends in the game), which you can use to taunt your opponents. To obtain more cards, as you progress through the game, you open daily chests that contain prizes. Hopefully, you will eventually obtain every card in the game and reach the top of the leaderboards, which many people consider to be the “end” of the game. Every day, the daily chests give players the incentive to check the store built into the game.
In addition, the game fosters player participation through weekly events and seasons that give players unique prizes that are somewhat seasonal–for instance, in December, you might unlock a festive Christmas tree tower. Of course, like most other games today, you can pay to win. Just grab your mom’s credit card (with her permission, of course!) and pay a couple of bucks to give yourself an advantage over other players, like buying the Pass Royale for more prizes that will help you gain more trophies. Every battle you win, you typically can get 30 trophies, and every battle you are defeated in, you can lose 30 trophies.
The game might sound silly to people who do not play, but as with other kinds of competition and even sports played in real life, Clash Royale can help players develop important skills. It’s beneficial for developing strategic thinking, planning, and resource management skills. It teaches players to analyze situations, make quick decisions under pressure, and adapt strategies to overcome obstacles.
The game also promotes social interaction since it allows you to invite your friends to play via text and add them as friends in the game. Once you do so, you can interact with other players by joining a clan (which helps you make friends digitally as you play with or against people around the world). A clan provides a welcoming atmosphere for both novice and competitive players, as they can seek help and participate in clan wars, where they go head-to-head against other random clans across the platform. As you can see, the game is also a great way to play and connect with friends, leading to some (hopefully) good-natured rivalry as you share how many trophies you have in an attempt to impress others. Knowing you both play the game, then, is a great conversation starter!
Another thing that brings players together is the game’s unique slang. Several popular phrases you may hear include Oh, guardian!, Mega Knight!, Goblin Machine!, Hog Rider!, and, of course, the name of the article itself: “This is why we Clash!” Most of the slang from the game comes from the monologues of the Clash Royale cards, and these phrases help players identify each other. Cards have phrases upon placement in arenas(battlegrounds), such as “Mega Knight.”
However, this game is not just all fun, fireballs, and friends; it’s a fast-paced and competitive game that can also lead to negative effects, such as aggression and a “just one more game” syndrome similar to gambling. That is because, as a player loses a game, they also lose trophies, which are highly coveted by the majority of players, who are from Gen Z and Gen Alpha (so ages under 28). Many players become quite aggravated with the game and even “rage quit” after consecutive losses, but this presents an opportunity to work through those negative emotions.
As players ourselves, we believe that everyone should give the game a try. Personally, the game has allowed us to connect and make friends. Clash is also a great way to waste some time while doing something rewarding. The game is a fantastic mobile game that is accessible to everyone, and you should try it!
