Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

FISHDOM is definitely in my top 5 match-3 games. I am in my 40's and I find this game fun and challenging. I have a kindle fire 8HD and it plays great. What I love about this particular game is that, although there is always an option to make in-game purchases to get through the game faster, the game is often giving you opportunities to earn needed items by beating levels, and through special timed events, which last on average 2-3 days. There are some that are more of a competition event, where others are more of an event of trying to beat so many levels within given time. All of which, give you opportunities to win free play time for so many hours, or in-game bonuses to help you conquer levels such as bombs Plus every day you get to look under a shell and win a prize. It may be coins, so you can buy something for your aquarium, or a bonus like bombs, or diamonds which if they add up can help you to continue a level, or buy more bonuses. These are all things that can be done without spending money. So with some PATIENCE, determination, perseverance, and a little luck it can be done. Not saying it is easy, especially as the game progresses, it of course, gets harder, mainly on certain levels, like in other games, but if you wait long enough, it will become passable. Even without any bonuses. I try my best to save those bonuses for the hard levels for that reason, but even in that case, there are some that really get ya. You can use everything in your arsenal and still can't beat the level. Then you just have to have patience, usually it becomes passable after that. However, if you don't mind spending some money, and your Patience meter is running low, they do offer deals on occasion, too, or of course you can purchase the items you want as you please. So this is kind of how the system works: with earned coins (you earn coins for every level you complete) you can customize multiple fish tanks as you move along in the game, as well as purchase fish of your choice, with coins too. You can choose a generated name for the fish or type in a name of your choice, and they are quite unique in another way, after playing for a little while, the fish will start interacting with each other, and with you, referring to you by name with adorable little comments on how they have missed you or paying you plenty of compliments on your gameplay or encouraging you if your are not doing so well, even producing little hearts to show their love - they are a great little confidence boosters, smile producers, and digital friends or pets for all ages). You earn diamonds after completing a few levels on average, for feeding your Fish, cleaning their tanks as needed, and for certain achievements or competitions for example. And as for the aforementioned "shell game". Just simply choose a shell and you will win what is under it. You will win either diamonds, coins, or helpful gameplay items such as bombs. As I said, they do offer pretty frequent competitions, or special games (which you usually have 2-3 days to play) in which you have to win 5 levels in a row and then win the contents of a treasure chest, which usually includes play for about 2 hours without losing a life and other bonuses. The higher you go, the better the prizes, or a competition in which you gather lighting bolts during the levels played within the given time, and at the end of the competition, the top winners in your group win a large collection of prizes, these are just a couple of examples of events that are often offered. So, as I said, the game is fun, I love decorating the aquariums with lots of different options of things (which you can move to other aquariums or sell as an option), and I love the beautiful fish to choose from (there are lots). I do recommend this for older children if they plan to go very far in the game(only because of the increasing difficulty, and you can't go back to earlier levels), unless they have a lot of patience to wait for needed items if they can't buy them, but if they can, I would DEFINITELY set a limit on how much can be spent, because the $ spent can go very, very fast. I know someone in their 70's that plays this game and it is her favorite by far. She is nearly to level 700, and she has honestly not spent one penny on this game. And she herself would tell you she is not fluent in computers AT ALL, but this game she gets and has a blast with (of course, she hits some of the really hard levels, and thinks how can I possibly get past this?, but she eventually does, and repeats what I say, that level finally became beatable, it finally let me win!)! She has to have the patience, determination to play, because she has the small bank account that many of us share! I really feel FISHDOM is great fun, a cute, and family friendly game. I do want to mention this, only because it was brought up on Fishdom's Facebook page by another player - A player had stated they had a problem with the use of magic in Fishdom, there was a fortune teller that was supposed to be part of an event from what I understand, however, I did not see a fortune teller, though I saw where it was mentioned. It was in against their faith. I have completed many of the aquariums and I hadn't noticed much that would possibly create a problem with one's faith, however, I understand that it is very important and these are what I noticed that could be a POSSIBLE confliction for diverse faiths. In the Greece aquarium there are two mythological creatures for and option to buy, a gorgon/medusa and a centaur, and Poseidon. In Japan, there are options to buy 2 different dragons, one fishing, one fanning itself, also a buddha statue. So far that is all I have noticed. I realize a lot of people will be confused at what I have listed, but according to different faiths, these things can be good or bad, depends. So, just listing them as possible conflicts. My Faith is important to me as others share the same feelings about their own. My solution, personally, is I don't add something that is in conflict with my beliefs to my aquariums. You don't have to. If you feel this is too much in conflict for you, I am just making you aware, so it is not a surprise later in the game, so you may want to think about it some more, before downloading. I personally still think this is a family friendly game, and hadn't considered mentioning this until this seemed to cause quite a stir on Facebook, and I am hoping this will deter another needless online battle. Hopefully, this is all helpful information for you to know whether or not this game will work for you. I apologize for the longevity of this review, but I hope it has been informative, and answered questions you may have had. Have a beautiful day! Share a smile, it's a free gift you can give every day!