What it is
Gardenscapes is free to install. You match tiles to fix up a garden. Lives limit how long you can play, and boosters are sold for the harder levels. Coins in the game are not the same as money in your account, until a screen asks you to buy more coins with a card.
What it costs: optional continues and boosters, which add up if a card is saved. What you can do instead: play the free lives and leave the shop closed.
What to look out for
- Receipts for coins or boosters.
- A child who thinks the garden will fall apart if they do not pay. It will not.
- The same pattern in Homescapes, Township, or Fishdom, which are sister games.
Ways to stay safe
These steps are for Gardenscapes. 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.
- One of these puzzle games is enough. You do not need the whole set, because they all sell the same continues.
- Card off the device. In-app purchases off for a younger child.
- A failed level is a stop, not an emergency.
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 This BBC report is about higher age ratings for paid random prizes. Gardenscapes sells lives and boosters when a level goes badly. The report does not name Gardenscapes.
A way to start the conversation
You can say: "The garden can wait until your lives come back. Paying is not how we fix a level. And my card stays with me, not on your phone."
Video
Parent briefing
A short video for this guide can be added by an editor. Until then, the written briefing above is the one to use.