The ins and outs of retention in an idle game with merge and puzzle elements

• In 2023 the game generated $48M, surpassing $60M by the end of 2024.
• Retention was strong from launch (56% D1), but monetisation lagged until event systems and updates scaled revenue.
• Gold & Goblins producer Oleg Nalimov speaks about how genre-blending mechanics, player-focused design, and smart monetisation updates helped scale the game to $60m.

Oleg Nalimov is head of product at AppQuantum.

At first glance, Gold & Goblins is your classic idle game. But under the surface, there’s a lot more going on. The core loop is built around familiar elements: a starter station that generates gold, mines that bring in profit over time, and a cannon that shoots new goblin workers into the field, either on a timer or on demand.

Mines generate idle currency, which you use to upgrade them - pretty standard. But here’s the twist: every upgrade gives a random multiplier (x2, x3, x10, x100), and the player doesn’t get to pick.

That means some mines become jackpot earners at different times, so you’re always reevaluating where to spend your next upgrade. It’s not just numbers going up, it’s an extra mechanic that adds to the overall experience.

Just like in most idle games, players can click manually to collect gold or automate it using items they earn or buy. In your typical idler, there comes a moment where the manual grind gets a little too grindy, nudging players toward automation and, eventually, in-app purchases.

But Gold & Goblins flips the script a bit. Instead of relying purely on traditional idle progression, the devs layered in mechanics and features from other genres to add depth and keep things fresh.

How genre-blending keeps player engaged

One of the biggest challenges in idle games is what we call the fading pendulum. The moment when a player upgrades all available stations on a level, the gold runs dry, and there aren’t enough funds left to level up anything else.

Usually, this means hopping over to an event to grind more gold, then checking back into the main progression loop to spend it. 

Early on, this feels fine. The cycle is quick: finish a campaign level - do an LTE - come back and pump up your stations. But the deeper you go, the slower it gets, and eventually, players hit that dreaded glass ceiling. Nothing to upgrade, no progress to make. And that’s when motivation starts to slip.

Some idle games - like Trailer Park Boys, a staple in the genre - solve this with story. You stick around because you want to see what the funny guys in sleeveless tees do next. There’s a world to move through, a narrative thread to pull on. Gold & Goblins takes a different route. Instead of leaning on a story, it introduces an extra gameplay layer that organically fills the quiet moments between making upgrades and claiming profits. 

The Gold & Goblins devs decided to steer clear of the usual idler retention tactic in favour of a new permanent challenge. No daily quests. No rewarded checklists. Just a mine, full of rocks - and goblins with hammers.

Each level hides reward chests behind stone barriers. To get to the chests, your goblins need to dig. Some rocks are soft, some are tough, and some of them give you a bit of gold when broken. That’s where the real decision-making kicks in.

This isn’t your typical idle “grind X resources before bedtime” type of task. This is a strategy. Do you spend your upgrades now to merge two level 8 goblins into a level 9, just to break through that level 10 stone faster? Or do you flank it with two weaker goblins and chip away? Or maybe it’s smarter to split your team and aim for two different chests?

These micro-decisions turn the mine-clearing into a light puzzle layer - one with real consequences for your progression.

There’s even an active thread in the Gold & Goblins community where players swap optimal strategies for rock-clearing routes and chest collection.

And things only get more interesting from there. A new unit - the Goblin King - was recently added. He boosts the output of nearby mines and forges if he’s within three tiles of them. Sounds simple, but it adds another layer of tactical depth. To get him, though, you’ll need to collect and merge four rare cards, which creates a monetisation hook that’s directly tied to gameplay.

All these mechanics overlap and reinforce each other. Every time the core idle loop slows down, the puzzle kicks in. Every time the puzzle stalls, there’s an event. Every event feeds back into your core progression. The result? You always have a nearby goal, and it always feels worth chasing.

That’s how Gold & Goblins avoids the fading pendulum effect, even in the late game.

The progression curve is tuned so that players breeze through the first 5-10 tutorial levels in a day. Around level 7, they unlock events and Treasure Hunt, which is basically a twist on the battle pass, but built more like a mini-game.

Treasure Hunt lays out a grid. Every tile hides a reward - currency, cards, boosters, you name it. Players dig through the grid using shovels, a special resource with a daily limit. That makes every choice feel just a little more deliberate. 

Treasure Hunt in Gold & Goblins

In Gold & Goblins, the Treasure Hunt mode isn’t just another reward track - it’s an actual mini-game that plays with player psychology in a smart way.

Here’s how it works: you get a grid full of hidden rewards. You dig through one tile at a time using shovels, and you can’t skip ahead - it’s strictly one square at a time. Some tiles reveal regular rewards (currency, cards, boosters), while others hide premium rewards, locked behind the battle pass. And here’s the trick: you don’t know which type you’re about to uncover until you tap.

Eventually, you hit a point where every remaining tile is premium. The locked rewards start to pile up, and that’s when the pitch lands. Buying the battle pass doesn’t just unlock a future track. It instantly opens up everything you’ve already revealed but couldn’t claim.

Most mobile games lay out their battle pass like a scrollable path, tier after tier, rewards spread out across a long timeline. To figure out if it’s worth buying, players have to scroll, calculate, and guess how far they’ll get. Gold & Goblins flips that.

The Treasure Hunt grid shows you everything upfront. It’s not linear. It’s not abstract. It’s a map full of stuff - and you’re already standing on half of it. The other half? Just one tap away, if you choose to unlock it.

But there’s more: you don’t have to buy the pass to move forward. Once you finish digging up the current grid (even if you skip the locked rewards), a new region opens up for free. It comes with a new theme, new layout, new treasures. But if you walk away without buying the pass, those locked rewards from the previous field are gone for good.

So it becomes a choice: do you leave behind a pile of shiny bonuses? Or do you grab them now, and maybe pick up an offer for more shovels and diamonds while you’re at it?

That moment of decision - the clear value laid out visually, no guessing, no scrolling - makes Treasure Hunt feel less like a store, and more like a game. 

The game still surprises - even after level 100

There’s a belief that you don’t really feel the full depth of Gold & Goblins until you’re past level 30 or 50. Early on, bonuses from collectable cards or gems don’t feel all that impactful. But talk to players who’ve reached level 120 and beyond - they’re deep into the meta, grinding for specific item combos to maximise their mine and forge upgrades. That’s a different level of commitment.

The wild part? When the devs were building all these layered, cross-genre mechanics, they weren’t even thinking about monetisation. Not really. Their mindset was simple: give players something genuinely fun and different, and the money will follow.

And for a while, that was enough. Early on, Gold & Goblins hit a staggering 56% Day 1 retention, but the game barely monetised. That’s where our partnership came in. Together, we rolled out a wave of updates, added proper event systems (the game launched without any), and the game started generating serious revenue. In 2023 alone, Gold & Goblins brought in $48 million. By the end of 2024, it had passed $60 million.

And it still puts user experience first. Players don’t feel forced to spend, they spend because it makes sense. Because the game earns it. But here’s the advice we give studios starting out today: think about monetisation early.

You don’t need to squeeze every cent, but you do need to make sure the business side won’t fall apart when the game starts growing. Build the experience first, absolutely - but also understand where the value comes from, and how you’ll scale it. When you nail both? That’s when the game really starts paying off.