One of the biggest commercial holidays of the year is here and social games aren’t going to be left out of the loop. A number of developers are up to something special for Valentine’s Day, so we decided to take a look at some of the top titles.
Here is our roundup of what the top social games on Facebook are doing for the annual day of love, based on their monthly active user rankings on our tracking service, AppData.
1. CityVille — The largest title on Facebook with nearly 96.3 million MAU, Zynga‘s CityVille is certainly involved in to the Valentine’s scene. However, all that is currently offered, of significance, are some special “Valentine’s Roses” at the cost of five Cash (virtual currency): the vibrantly colored flora does offer significant amounts of Goods for players that plant them.
However, players, at one point, could also create custom virtual cards to send to friends, as Games.com notes. Though the feature appears to no longer be available, users could receive these cards, which would grant them access to various Valentine-themed items. Additionally, to help with the purchases, offers to earn extra City Cash have also been tied to some useful real purchases including savings from ProFlowers and some nifty chocolate covered strawberries from Shari’s Berries.
[image via Games.com]
2. FarmVille — Even if FarmVille is now the second-largest title on Facebook, its veteran team has filled it with a tremendous variety of Valentine’s gifts and goods. Aside from the ability to gift unique Valentine items once a day, for 12 days, for a special bonus prize (all of which can be bought with virtual currency), players may have also noticed a curious new marketing mechanic. Users can actually visit a pre-designed farm that allows them to see all of the new items on display (think furniture showroom) and purchase them with a mere click.
Also of interest, FarmVille is using the special gifted of currency of “Valentines” sent via a special item and uses them to purchase other special goods; the same way it did with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Additionally, for those that might not be into the whole “lovey-dovey” element of the holiday, the game also offers some darker items such as the Black Cherry Horse, Broken Heart Home, or Black Rose Arch. To top it all off, this past weekend, players could purchase Farm Cash at a 20% discount. Also, players can also participate in offers from ProFlowers (as a note, the ProFlowers offer is available for most of the Zynga games) here as well.
3. Texas HoldEm Poker — Sadly, the third-largest game on Facebook, Texas HoldEm (Zynga) Poker, had nothing special for Valentine’s Day that we saw.
4. FrontierVille — FrontierVille actually had one of the more interesting Valentine’s Day mechanics. What better way to get into the holiday then let players play a digital Cupid. Zynga actually incorporated a series of special Valentine’s missions to participate in, but of particular interest are those involving the “Kissing Tree” and a little matchmaking. Building the tree with help from friends, players can actually choose the romantic outcome of the love triangle between the characters of Hank, Fanny Wildcat, and Bess, pairing any two together. After the pairing, extra missions unlocked for bonus experience, coin, and so on.
5. Cafe World — Cafe World actually got into the contests this year with its Valentine’s Day Sweepstakes. Yes, the game has Valentine-themed virtual goods, but along with this, players can participate in an eight part mission series in order to get two characters – “Espresso Joe” and “Lisa Latte” – together. Once completed, either through the help of friends or virtual currency, players are eligible to win some pretty hefty prizes including a Tiffany’s Pendant, an iPad, an iPod Touch, or 50 “Instant Thymes.”
6. Mafia Wars — Love happens in the criminal underworld too. The Valentine’s implementation here isn’t as involved as the virtual space-oriented Zynga titles, but Mafia Wars players can participate in the mission “Love Is Hard to Find.” By performing jobs, picking fights, robbing players, or gifting, users have a chance to find “Broken Hearts” which can be redeemed for special Valentine-themed armaments.
7. Millionaire City — Though the popular Digital Chocolate title, Millionaire City doesn’t seem to have any direct Valentine influence, we did notice some special offers directly tied to real-world Valentine’s Day gifts. One such offer stems from FTD Flowers in which players can purchase flowers at 20% off and earn 90 Millionaire Gold while doing so.
8. Treasure Isle — Yes, Valentine virtual goods and gifts are here as well. As it has in past holidays, Treasure Isle comes with some special quests for players to complete. For the most part, it is more of the same, meaning that players collect items from friends, and get help on a daily basis to build or train X, Y, Z (this time a Kissing Booth to collect Valentines from friends that exchange for virtual items and Cupid Monkey). But now there’s a little extra incentive. Players that complete all of the Valentine’s Day tasks will be entered to win 15,000 in the virtual currency, Island Cash.
9. Pet Society — Playfish has entered into the Valentine’s spirit with a range of specially themed items in Pet Society; but, better than that, users can also create some very nice Valentine video cards. Played against a cute, pre-made video, users can input their own messages and send them to their friends. Not enough for you? Well, until the 15th, there is a special offer dubbed “From Playfish With Love” offering 50% extra free Playfish Cash with virtual currency purchases. Furthermore, Playfish has special virtual currency earning offers from ProFlowers, Shari’s Berries, and one extra, Red Envelope. Unfortunately, while the latter offers more unique gifts (aside from candies and flowers), there is no special discounts involved with this offer.
10. Bejeweled Blitz — Though one probably wouldn’t expect it due to the nature of the game, PopCap‘s Bejeweled Blitz actually did have some Valentine’s implementation. By mousing over a friend that plays, users can hit the “Jabber” button and create simple e-cards to send and share.
11. Ravenwood Fair — You can bet that the LOLapps game Ravenwood Fair is hosting some specials for Valentine’s with a handful of decorations, games, and characters. In terms of the former, players can purchase, for Facebook Credits, items such as the Tunnel of Love, and even “try” it by placing it in their virtual space for a few minutes just to see how it looks. In addition to this, users can buy a handful of new characters to enthrall their guests including Cupid, Eros, and the goddess of love herself, Aphrodite.
12. It Girl — If you’re looking for something to make him blush, ladies, It Girl from CrowdStar, is the way to go for Valentine’s Day. Though it is technically still virtual goods, the virtual clothing from this game looks straight out of a Victoria’s Secret catalog, as it includes a collection of sultry lingerie and dresses.
Regardless, if this isn’t your style, it’s also possible to participate in a series of Valentine-oriented quests in order to earn a special dress, or if you’ve aquired a digital boyfriend in game (though doesn’t have to be), you can take part in the “7 Days of Kisses.” By digitally kissing a guy each day, from the 8th to the 14th, players could earn a sexy Cupid outfit; complete with wings. If you missed it, you can always make the purchase with Facebook Credits.
13. MindJolt Games — It’s not much of a direct implementation, but MindJolt Games, from MindJolt, has some minor Valentine’s addition in the form of a few themed games as part of its collection. Such titles includes games like Dodge Cupid and My Secret Valentine.
14. Happy Aquarium — CrowdStar’s Happy Aquarium is a bit less involved than It Girl, but it isn’t without its feelings of love. This fishy title comes with a number of love-themed animals, decor, and backgrounds for all your Valentine’s needs. Most cost virtual currency or Facebook Credits, but no need to worry, as offers from some of the noted real-world businesses are also available (ProFlowers, Shari’s Berries, etc.) so players can get some of these items, and possibly get out of the dog house if they haven’t bought a gift for that special someone yet.
In addition to this, there are specials for 20% off Love Potions today, that allow for users’ fish to mate more than once a day. All they need now is a little Barry White.
15. Car Town — Cie Games didn’t do anything noticeable for Valentine’s Day in Car Town, but they did implement some special Valentine offers in order to earn virtual currency. Along with the other noted offers in previously mentioned games, Car Town also incorporated savings on Ghiradelli chocolates.
16. Restaurant City — You’d better believe Playfish has Valentine’s spread throughout Restaurant City. As with Pet Society, the game offers 50% extra Playfish Cash with its “From Playfish with Love” offer, but in addition to this, provides a whole myriad of new Valentine’s Challenges (which require friends to gift candy hearts to one another), special decorative items, and recipes (which seem to be earned via the gifted candy). As an added bonus, Restaurant City is having a “Clearance Sale” with many of their premium items, including the Valentine’s ones, costing as little as 1 Playfish Cash.
17. PetVille — As far as PetVille goes, the specials are a little basic, consisting of a large collection of Valentine-themed virtual items costing either in-game or virtual currency. That said, there’s also a nice added feature to create a personal bouquet of flowers and share it with friends. Nevertheless, though it fits well with the holiday, this does not necessarily feel specific to Valentine’s Day. Having the flowers, will attract a “Golden Butterfly” that will give coins daily.
18. Games — Despite being a meta-app comprised of many smaller games, GSN‘s Games title is all alone this Valentine’s Day.
19. Crime City – Looks like Funzio has robbed Crime City of love this year as it has no Valentine’s specials of notice.
20. Mall World — It Girl predecessor, Mall World, from 50 Cubes is throwing in its lot with Valentine’s Day in a similar fashion, offering its female player base a multitude of themed items, including its own selection of spicy lingerie and dresses for the ladies. Moreover, this app too is offering virtual currency by making use of ProFlowers specials. Oh, and if players are looking to send out some valentines of their own, Mall World also has a nice greeting card creator so users can send them off to all of their friends.
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