Clash of Clans

What it is

Clash of Clans is free. You build a village, wait for troops, and attack. Waiting is the design. Gems skip the wait. The Gold Pass is a paid season of extra rewards. Plenty of people play for years and never buy either.

What it costs: gems, the pass, and special offers, with no ceiling if a card is saved. Clan chat is the other issue. The people in a clan are not automatically friends from school.

What to look out for

• Gems spent to finish a building or an upgrade “just this once”.
• A Gold Pass renewing every season.
• Clan chat that moves to Discord, WhatsApp, or requests for photos.
• A clan they joined from a public search.

Ways to stay safe

These steps are for Clash of Clans. The house rules still apply on every app.

• Do not put your card details on their device. Not in the App Store, Google Play, the game, or PayPal. If you choose to pay, type the card in yourself for that purchase, then remove it.
• The waits are part of the game. Skipping them with gems is a want, not a need.
• Play in a clan with people you can name, or turn chat off.
• Card off the device. If you ever buy a pass, you do it, for one season, and you remove the card after.

In the news

Published reports you can read yourself. A headline is the proof, not a set of instructions, and this page does not repeat graphic detail.

• Games that sell random prizes are getting higher age ratings BBC Newsround · 2026 PEGI told the BBC that paid loot boxes in games children play will usually be rated 16 or 18.
• Top-selling mobile games breaking rules on loot boxes BBC News · 2024 The BBC checked the top-grossing phone games. Most that sell random purchases were not saying so in the advert. This report does not name Clash of Clans. That game sells gems and a pass in the same kind of shop.

A way to start the conversation

You can say: "Waiting is free. Gems are not. The people in your clan are strangers until we know them. And my card does not live on your phone."

Video