Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28829111-20160623232230/@comment-28829111-20160627223035

NEW PLAYERS ONLY READ THIS:

I think for any newer players reading these posts it is important for them to realize that "Friends" are important to this game play. On a security note, those concerned about frineding people should note that there is no chat box (like Dice w Buddies, etc..). The other players do not have to know anything about you so your privacy issues shouldn't deter you from friending.

1) Get some Friends early on - use the random friend selector built in the app under the Friend tab

2) VISIT Friends - this means the game app takes you to a "preview of their screen" so you can see which rooms they have unlocked and are actively playing. Click on a room and it gets a check mark. This helps your friends, but it also helps you (in some cases) by rewarding you with a collection item -more on that ....

You can also "charge" their trophies up above or the Tool Making Stations (whatever they are called). In the beginning you can only charge X amount of rooms or trophies per friend. So click on the next friend in the lower bar and VISIT them. Charge their rooms/trophies. Ignore the messages as sometimes you think you can't help by what the message says but keep going until you have charged as many Friends Map Rooms as poosilble and you can't get any more green checkmarks to come up.

3) As you progress in the game and visit your friends each day you are able to your Reputation will grow and soon you willl be able to "charge/checkmark" more rooms per player.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CHARGE THESE ROOMS? Well for you, there is an added benefit of receiving collection and fixer items from some of the players as well as XP and coins, I believe. What I have discovered through play is:

BEFORE PLAYING A ROOM ON YOUR OWN MAP - CLICK ON ONE OF YOUR FLOATING FRIENDS AVATARS - not the townspeople but the other players your are friends with. Then play the game/puzzle for that room. If you win the game or complete the puzzle the next day when you are VISITING and CHARGING ROOMs for that same "HIRED" friend you get an extra collection item. I've gotten some great pieces by doing this Visiting and Charging thing.

It is not intuitive for everyone that "friends" are different for this game than many other. Sure go ahead and get your IRL friends on board, too, but this Friend in app is really key to progressing in the game, and IMHO actually liking the game. I know too many people who deleted the app before they fully understood how to play this one. Hope this helps some other newbie.

Any regular players feel free to correct anything I got wrong but despite but the rules say for this game....Hiring and Visiting seem to help each other out mutually and there is a corollation to the collection gifts.