Clash Royale

 is a freemium mobile strategy video game developed and published by Supercell.^[1] The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arena.^[2][3][4] The game was released globally for iOS andAndroid on March 2, 2016.^[5]

Clash Royale ranks players according to level and arena. The maximum level is thirteen, while there are ten arenas (including the Training Camp) in total in the game. A player wins by destroying more towers than the opponent, or by destroying the opponent's "King's Tower", which grants an automatic three "crown" victory. At the start of each game, each player is given a "hand" of four cards from a "deck" of eight cards selected by the player. Cards must be played in order to attack and defend. To play the cards, the player must have "elixir", which replenishes over time. Once a card is placed, a new card from the deck is added to the hand. Players unlock different arenas by acquiring a certain number of "trophies", trophies are acquired by winning battles. However, trophies can also be deducted by losing battles. Players may increase their "level" by "donating" or "upgrading" cards. A level increase also increases tower hit points and damage. The amount of experience points necessary to rank up increases with each level.^{[citation needed]}

As a freemium game, Clash Royale offers players the ability to purchase "gems" and "gold" in the play shop using real-world money. These items are used to purchase chests and cards. When a player wins a multiplayer battle, he or she may obtain a "chest", which takes a certain amount of time to open depending on the chest. Chests take a certain amount of time to unlock: Silver Chests take 3 hours to unlock, Gold Chests take 8 hours, Giant Chests take 12 hours, Magical Chests take 12 hours, and Super Magical Chests take 24 hours. Gems may be used to speed up unlocking. Chests contain cards, gold, and gems. Different levels of chest contain different numbers or types of cards. When the player has a certain number of a troop's cards, they can upgrade it to boost its "damage" and health points, among other statistics. A player can hold a maximum of 4 chests at one time; to open up chest slots a chest will need to be opened.^[6] Free chests are also given to the player once every 4 hours. Once every day, the player also has the chance to win 10 "crowns" from victories to earn the Crown Chest. Both the Free and Crown Chests unlock instantly.^{[citation needed]}

They battle through 9 arenas each requiring a certain amount of trophies. You start in training camp which teaches you how to play the game and progress through eight battles. Once victorious in all of those battles they advance to arena 1 "Goblin Stadium". At 400 trophies they progress to arena 2 "Bone Pit", 800 for arena three "Barbarian Bowl". Arena 4 "Pekka's Playhouse" takes 1100 trophies to get their while arena 5 "Spell Valley" needs 1400. The next arena, arena 6 "Builders workshop" takes 1700 trophies. Arena 7 "Royal Arena" requires 2000. Arena 8 "Frozen Peak" require 2300 and "Legendary arena" take 3000 trophies respectively.^{[citation needed]}

Players may also form clans. Clan members may engage in "friendly battles" with one another, the outcome of which does not affect trophies or chests. The "friendly battle" feature allows for live spectating from other clanmates, and is used for tournaments. Clan members may also donate or request cards from one another, which provides some experience and gold when done.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2016, Supercell introduced a new "Tournament" feature was introduced. The feature is unlocked at experience level 8. Tournaments can only be created by using gems, but anyone may join. Based on tournament performance, players are awarded Tournament chests.^[7]

Release

The game was soft-launched in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and New Zealand for iOS platforms on January 4, 2016.^[8] The game was soft-launched on Android for those same countries on February 16, 2016 in the form of an Android application package.^[9] Both platforms received a global release on March 2, 2016.^[5]

Upon its release, Clash Royale became the most downloaded and top-grossing app on the U.S. iOS App Store.^[10] In fact, it was the fastest game to hit number one on both the App Store and the Google Play Store before it was surpassed by Pokémon Go.^[11]

Reception

Clash Royale received mainly a positive reaction, with TouchArcade's Eli Hodapp calling it "absolutely phenomenal" in his five star review.^[4] Pocket Gamer's Harry Slater gave the game a score of 9/10, summing up "It's an incredible amount of rewarding fun, it's nail-biting at times, and there's content here that will keep you busy for weeks if not months."^[12]Writing for Geek.com, James Plafke criticized "Clash Royale for being genuinely fun—more so than Clash of Clans—while the developer chronically interrupts the player from enjoying it.^[13] Clash Royale has received mixed reviews by the player base, averaging at about 4.5.