The Appeal of Moneygrabber

I'll admit it. I'm a Moneygrabber addict. It doesn't matter if I spend 30 seconds or 30 minutes with the adorable touch-controlled game. I can't get enough. And while critics aren't all aflutter about it, there's plenty to love about the peach-colored, full-screen bit of silliness that goes against what we're supposed to love about mobile games and subscribes to Bite-Sized Game Monthly.

But while it isn't being received well by my colleagues (or even fellow reviewers at Modojo) I find myself enjoying it a little more every single day. What's the point, though? It's really simple. You play a disembodied face that peers out at viewers from the iPhone/iPad screen while money drifts downward. With a quick tap you need to grab the money. And you can't miss, not even once. If you do, it's game over. Tapping will send your "arm" from the side of the screen over to the right, and the longer your tap the longer reach radius you get.

Sometimes coins will drop down, and sometimes it's cold, hard cash. If you're lucky, you'll see multipliers raining down too. If you're super-coordinated and can grab all the money as well as break through a rock, you can score gems that are worth even more than the dollars that you can collect as well. It's all about staying focused though, like in real life. Because if you look away for one second from the prize and start relying on reflexes or thinking you're going to coast, that money goes right out the window.

That's why Moneygrabber is so appealing. You've got to stay on top of your A-game for each round, and when you falter, you get to save the money you have, but you have to start from the very bottom once more and work your way up to the top. That's why when you finally decide to spend some of the money you've worked so hard to amass, it feels a lot like letting some of your work go. Much like in real life, despite the fact that there are interesting rewards to pick up in-game (glasses are pretty stylin', after all) you're just never compelled to spend it.

What's important is making more and more money, playing longer stretches, and amassing a small fortune. Then, when you've finally earned enough money to buy everything in the game once, you start over and do it again, or at the very least earn that scrilla scratch once more. Thus, the cycle begins anew. You keep playing, because you've got to earn just one more dollar or add just a little more time onto your best run. And it doesn't hurt that the "money" song is pretty bumpin'.

So let the world hate on Moneygrabber. I've got empty pockets that need filling, and they're certianly not going to get fat from my real-world endeavors. Why not let it be within Moneygrabber?