Acquiring and Spending Gold

If you look it up in the App Store, you'll see that Battle Camp is free to download, and ostensibly free to play. But there's no such thing as a free lunch, and PennyPop isn't really giving the game away. They make their money through gold, the in-game currency of Battle Camp.

You can choose to play without ever touching gold, but you will miss out on some things. And ultimately, at very high levels, Battle Camp is pay-to-win. If you want to be in the top tiers of events, you're going to need gold, and lots of it.

On the other hand, for those of us who aren't worried about beating thousands of other players for that first place medal, a little bit of gold can go a long way. And you don't even have to spend any real money.

Spending Gold

There are currently three uses for gold: storage space, extra energy, and grabs.

Buying storage is straightforward. If your monster inventory is less than the maximum size, you can buy more slots. Additionally, you can buy storage lockers, each of which holds 10 monsters. Your default storage is pretty small, so many players will want to save some gold for these upgrades.

Buying energy can be done at any time, but most people will save it for events. More energy during an event lets you get more trophies, and thus get into higher tiers for better rewards. It can be especially beneficial if you've already used elemental damage boosters to increase the power of your team.

Grabs are essentially just a pull on a slot machine. Getting something good from a grab is a matter of luck (although you are guaranteed to get something). Be aware that you can also acquire free grabs from event and quest rewards. There are many types of grabs, some of which are easy to find, and others that are slightly hidden.

Grabs Available in Store Tab:

• Monster Grab - 5 gold - Common, Rare, Special and Super monsters, and Super puzzle pieces.
• Ultimate Grab - 50 gold - Rare, Special, Super, Ultra and Epic monsters.
• Avatar Grab - 25 gold- Avatar clothing (this grab is only available as a quest/event reward)
• Event Grab - 50 gold - Rare, Special, Super, Ultra and Epic, including "event monsters" that do bonus damage during the event (this grab is only available during an event).
• Avatar Store - This is the one place you can actually buy something, rather than taking a gamble. You can purchase outfits and clothing pieces.

Hidden Grabs:

• Lucky Grab - 50 gold - These offers pop up on your screen occasionally, and are basically an Ultimate grab, but with a 300% better chance of getting a particular monster (usually an Ultra or Epic).
• Special Grab - 25 gold - Offers only Specials. You can get to this grab by visiting your pet in the troop hall, tapping on it, and then tapping on the little "store" icon on the specials donation tab.

Getting Gold

There are three different ways to acquire gold:

• In-app purchase
• Watching video advertisements
• Completing TapJoy offers

All of these options are available in a window that opens when you tap on the coin symbol on the status bar at the top of the app.

In-app purchase is the most straightforward. You give PennyPop real-world money, and they give you gold. Options range from $3 (US) to $100. The more you spend in one transaction, the better deal you will get.

To earn gold watching ads, tap the "watch video offers" button. For each video you watch, you'll receive 2 gold nuggets. Nuggets are stored in the "items" section of your inventory. The Nuggeteer, in the bottom right corner of the "Camp" zone, will trade one gold for 20 nuggets. So you have to watch 10 videos to earn 1 gold. In my experience, there are usually 10-30 videos available per day.

To earn gold through TapJoy offers, tap the "complete offers" button. These offers can be a variety of things, including buying something, signing up for a website, downloading and running an app, taking surveys, or watching a video. Offers earn anywhere from one to hundreds of gold.

TapJoy also has an app and a mobile website. In my experience, the best offers are only available on the website. For example, On the website I sometimes see offers of 5-10 gold just to download and run an app, but these same offers never show up in the TapJoy app or in BattleCamp. If you want to get gold without spending money, these offers are your best bet.

Ultimately, if you want gold, you're going to have to spend either time or money.