Lily’s Garden: Design & Match Reviews

I do love this game & find myself playing the puzzles more than doing the upgrades (I currently have about 300 stars) but I found the ads to be a bit misleading though. One ad shows that we’re finding logs to put into a fireplace, or making a path for lily to run across etc. they showed us doing “puzzles” that had us interacting with Lily. The game is absolutely nothing like that. That must be the new marketing technique to draw people in because the other similar style renovation games do the same thing in their ads as well. So basically, if you are looking for a game that is shown in the ads, this isn’t it. It’s a tile matching game with limited moves with revolving events. I do enjoy the fact that I can pick up and put down the game without any timers, plenty of rewards & the packs aren’t super expensive. They don’t give much coins in the packs or for winning rounds considering it’s 900 coins to continue a game (5 more moves). Winning a game, we get about 50-60 coins. I understand it’s how the game makes money but the ratio is rough. Luckily theirs plenty of unlimited lives bonuses. I just think the games should give at least 100 coins for winning.
Cute game, fun & great to pick up even when I lost have a few spare minutes. It’s just NOTHING like the ads claim lol

Continued to receive ads for this game while playing Words With Friends. After weeks of having said ads shoved in my face, I decided to download it. I love decorating and figured this would be a cool way to keep with that hobby without the extra time, money and headache that can sometimes come with actually decorating. The game is fun and admittedly, very addicting. I love the challenge it creates and has been a great way to relieve stress while in quarantine. However, as the levels progress they get more challenging while the amount of coins and stars you earn remain the same. There’s no reason why I should be on level 200+ and only earning 50 coins per level; even on the levels that are intentionally more challenging. It also makes no sense that you only earn ONE star per level despite its difficulty level and despite the fact that you need to accumulate stars in order to be able to decorate/renovate the property. Often times, the decorating tasks require 2-3 stars per task; which means you have to beat at least 3 levels just to complete ONE task. Not to mention the fact that while you can pay more money to purchase add’l lives and boosters to beat levels, the option to purchase add’l stars is nonexistent. Reading through all of the reviews and this seems to a common gripe amongst players. I really hope the developers actually take this feedback seriously and implement these changes to make the game more enjoyable.

This game is truly one of my favorites to play. The game in the beginning is great, but the further in levels you get, the harder the levels become to beat, especially after you’ve finished the main story. In my experience with the game, if I’m playing a level that takes me more than 3 times to pass, the level is literally unplayable. I find myself closing the game, coming back to it a few hours later and then magically the level is super easy and I win in one try. It’s very frustrating and make me want to play the game less and less. Also, I’ve noticed there are “normal” levels that are a lot harder than the actual “hard” level. Again, this is frustrating and is enjoyable. I would suggest that the game offers 2 stars for every level that is labeled “hard”. Kind of odd that I get the same reward for a hard level that I would a normal one. Lastly it should be a choice to use power ups that are given by Philip. I have a had so many streaks ruined because I had to use the power ups and ironically something that is meant to be helpful, actually does the complete opposite. Other than that, I still continue to play the game because I love the story and I love the satisfaction of picking things for the garden and other parts to the game. Also would like to mention that, though I love the game, this is the third time for me coming back to it after taking a break because of how frustrating/enjoyable the game can be.

A fun twist on the typical match three game. Levels are challenging but not so difficult that progression is stagnant. Different variables added to “collect” during game play keep the game from becoming boring. Storyline keeps developing and characters come and go to add depth to the storyline. Seasonal chapters offer considerable rewards as levels are completed and the levels are less challenging. Because of the seasonal chapters’ rewards of bonus pieces and currency, purchasing additional moves and helpful “tools” can be added to the inventory without needing to spend actual money on in-app purchases. The currency reward for completing levels is very low (typically 20 to 50 coins) and purchasing additional moves costs 900 coins and purchasing “tools” costs more than 1000 coins. The rounds allow for quick game play (a few minutes per round) so a large time commitment isn’t necessary.
Would give 5 stars but the coin return on level completion is so very little compared to the cost of bonus items and extra moves. However, the developers will occasionally throw in time periods of unlimited turns and extra bonus items that allow players to progress through particularly challenging levels, which has kept me playing. Without the seasonal chapters and unexpected release of unlimited turns/extra “tools”, I would have stopped playing long ago.

I’m not an avid game player, but I find this one semi addictive yet fun and a relaxing break when I need one. Really has helped during this stay at home year of 2020. Probably one of the positives among all the negatives! I love the combination of the puzzles as well as getting to remodel the property. Love the graphics and storyline. Had to reinstall because of problems. Could be my older iPad mini though. Often it got to where it would crash or in the end just stayed on the middle of one task with the characters moving but in a constant loop. That was one of the levels over 2300, but love it enough to try and start over. —
Update—
Finally gave up using my iPad mini for this game. Was either going in extreme slo-mo or crashing after every puzzle. Sometimes, crashing during a task(losing stars) or after puzzle completion but before awarding star.(also losing star). Was really getting frustrating. One thing I hate is that with all the problems, the timer continues to tick off your time even when you are having to wait for it to reload after crashing, which in many cases was taking as much as a half minute before everything was back to where you could start again.
Got a new iPhone for the early Christmas and downloaded it on there. Seems to work ok so far. Time will tell.

I absolutely loved this game. For the past month every time I go to play I get the screen up, then it cancels out and goes blank and back to my home screen.
First the game would start to freeze and unfreeze.
Then if I lost a game, I would get another chance to replay it. If I won a game then I would get my coins and then poof back to the home screen I had to keep opening it back up again to play. I went into the settings on the game and left a message on the support. The next day I got an answer that they would fix the issue, but I would have to go to Facebook for them to do so. I don’t use my Facebook anymore because I am not technically savvy. I responded back to them that and now I cannot keep the game to stay,,,, it starts and then it’s gone back to home screen.
I’m so heartbroken because I enjoyed the game and decorating the garden and the story so much. I finally got to the celebration of the trial and now I cannot play it anymore. It was so comforting during this COVID time. I finally deleted the game hoping that if I redownloded it that I wouldn’t loose my spot.
I was wrong and now I don’t have the energy to start all over again. I’m so disappointed. I truly loved this game over any other games

As most others have said, this game has been fun and it is somewhat addicting. There’s enough of an interesting story line to keep me coming back and wanting to see what happens and get to the end. But I have some issues with it that prevents it from being a 5-star game. 1. You will lose a life if you open a scene to play but before any moves are made, you get out of it for any reason (customer service did give me a life back but this shouldn’t happen); 2. I appreciate a game getting more challenging but I am on 1560 level and winning is almost impossible without paying for extra lives consistently so I use my 4 lives and wait until they regenerate and go at it again - over and over; 3. There are only 4 lives instead of 5 or more like other Match 3 games; 4. The only way to get extra lives (and it’s not lives but time you are winning) is by winning a Rocket Ruckus or Flower Match (probably not what they are really called but y’all know what they are) and that’s not happening any more - see #2.; 5. The cost of purchasing some of the flowers or building/remodeling things is ridiculous- you only get the score of 1 when you win a challenge and then have to use 3 to put flowers around half of an area? Or 2 to talk to someone that doesn’t help in the game goals? Frustrating.
Because of above reasons, this is no longer my go-to favorite game. I’ll continue playing but refuse to pay out money to win.

Edit: I have received nothing from support and nothing from Apple so I must caution everyone to not spend money on this game unless you use a gift card!

Original: I have loved this game from the beginning and I have searched for another game that is as much fun for months and I haven’t found anything as much fun and as challenging. But, and this is a huge but, I have spent money on it from the beginning and I was consistently double charged on the $4.99 packages. I thought it was a fluke and I was able to get a nice customer service lady at Apple on the phone to reverse the charges. Then it happened a few more times and I was able to get the charges dropped through the regular Apple route on my device. I receive a text from my bank every time I get a charge on my credit card. A couple of days ago Lily’s Garden charged me for a package I didn’t order and I received nothing. Apple refused to credit me back for it. I talked to the 30 people on my team, most of whom never spend money on the game and it had happened to 2 others. That’s 10% of us on the team, more if you consider that most of them don’t spend money. One of them said she now only uses Apple gift cards to buy packages in the game. Honestly I will continue playing this wildly fun game but I hate being stolen from. I took my credit card off of Apple and on the rare occasion when I want to spend money on Apple I will use a gift card. Buyer beware!!!

I started playing this game and needed an extra life. I logged into Facebook and in a little bit got an email from Facebook that someone tried to log into my account. I didn’t equate it to the game. I changed my Facebook password and the next day logged into Lily’s Garden with Facebook. I then got an email saying that someone had hacked my Facebook account. They deleted my phone number and email on my account. It took four months of contacting Facebook almost every day to get my account back. I enjoy the game but will never use my Facebook account for a game again. The game is fun but there are too few lives considering the level of difficulty of some of the puzzles. The whole point of the puzzles seem to be to transform into rockets and swirling jars in order to win. I would prefer it better if they put it on a point system and let you continue playing until all matches are done. You get more points if you use less moves. Or, give you an option of what type of play level you prefer. Sometimes I just want to mindlessly make matches, not to form boosters. Another issue I have is that the game is very glitchy. I play on my iPad Air. The game will freeze and then log out every few minutes. One of the updates was supposed to correct this issue but it didn’t seem to. Overall though I have enjoyed the game!

After you complete every level. No matter the difficulty you get 50 coins, then you get 1 coin for each move you have left. Typically the pay out per level is between 50 and 75 coins... just to continue playing a difficult level which just give you 5 more moves is 900. Coins are hard to earn and too easy to spend. I also don’t understand why after you finish the level it throws all your extra moves onto the game board as power ups and they activate sometimes clearing game pieces... what is the point of playing that out when it doesn’t actually do anything for you. Either way you only get 1 coin per move left, the extra moves playing out in the board does nothing. 15,000 coins just to change Lily’s outfit to a Halloween one for a few days 😱(you only earn 50 to 75 per game...)

Anyways I still gave this 4 stars because I enjoy the story line and the game play is fun.

I only recommend from a player POV that if you are going to have different levels of difficulty, increase the reward and if you are going to bother throwing the remaining moves onto the board and it plays out well, then award it as such. Right now it’s a pure waste of time when I know I beat the level and have 5 moves left and that will give me 55, why make it seem like I just got a bonus lol

I’ve never enjoyed a phone game as much as this one. With every update it gets better and better and it’s always taking in constructive criticism. There are a few things I would like to change though. A: there should be some sort of button with the shovel and rake to shuffle the tiles, because I hate having to waste my moves clicking pairs of two when I know that it’s not going to be helpful, it drives me 🥜🥜 B: I think it’s annoying to need to win three levels to do an activity like building the vegetable garden beds when there are three beds which means you have to play through nine levels just to get the vegetable gardens built, but I totally recognize that I’m also very impatient so maybe I’m over reacting, but I just read some other reviews that said they’re on levels in the 1,000s and I’m only on level 275... But I like that it’s getting progressively difficult like a game should, and I love that there are three different styles to choose from for everything! I can keep changing my mind whenever I want, and mix it up however I want. It’s SO satisfying! I’ve been playing every night for two weeks now and it’s hard to make myself stop and go to bed. Overall I’m very pleased with it. Highly recommend! ✨

This is a very addictive game, frustrating at times as they all are but this game differs from others I have started and stopped playing, it doesn’t get you to a point where you need to pay to move forward, it gives you hours of extra lives, boosters and rewards etc, other games will let you get to a certain point and you will get stuck. This game has helped greatly through the last year, I am up to board 2890 now, does it get easier? No, but it allows you to look at the board and strategize play. I have never paid for anything and have moved forward well. Yes the Arrows /Rockets will always go vertical when you need it to go Horizontal with 1 move left. The story lines are fine too, not too sappy not too annoying . I was ready to give this game a 3 rating but the other day I was playing on a board around 2730 and the story was to remove some trees, the Regina character says its “Chainsaw Time” and takes down several trees, afterwards she says “If I have anymore fun today I don't think I can take it!” Which is a line Franklin says in the original 1973 Texas Chainsaw Massacre, someone is smart enough to drop that line into a video game gets all the stars in my book!!! Bravo!!!

Since I’ve recently had a bit more free time I’ve gotten this game and since then it has been one of my favorites. It’s really calming, everything is adorable, the story is funny and charming, and the 3 varieties of every changeable items really appeal to many different tastes.

One thing that I would ADORE to have is an ability to choose when to start or stop my unlimited lives and still have all of the time for unlimited lives I was given. Like a pause button. I also don’t like that the storyline cuts into unlimited lives time, I can only make them talk so fast! The only time that I put a solid chunk of progress into the game is during unlimited lives time and I tend to not enjoy the story as much during this and rush through it, only because I want to use my unlimited lives time only on levels. There are other benefits to being able to pause unlimited lives time! For example, I might be in class taking a test and am then wasting my unlimited time. When I am able to be on my phone again, all of my unlimited time is gone and I can’t play again for another hour waiting for all the lives to refill. Very boring.

But other than that wonderful game!! Keep up the good work!

I absolutely love this game. The graphics, the color, the story line are all great! The game gets harder as you progress which is good. Having said that, I do have a few suggestions which would solve the issues that cause me to give it 4 stars instead of 5.
1. I wish we had access to all 5 tools during the game instead of 2 - the others are only available before you start playing the levels.
2. I wish we could chose the direction of the rockets. So many rockets get wasted because of this issue.
3. I don’t mind you trying to sell in game purchases- I personally don’t buy them because their usage still has the above mentioned issues. However, as surprising as what I’m about to say is, I would much rather watch adds to have access to more tools, moves or lives! Currently I have been stuck on level 456. I have been here for at least 2-3 weeks! I find myself going for playing other games and not wanting to play this one which is sad because as I have mentioned earlier, I love the story! But what’s the point of playing it if I don’t have enough tools or moves to pass the level? I would love to go back to playing the game again if these issues were fixed! Until they are, Lily will have to wait for me to come back 😥.

I like the games in general. Like us rate each game/level. See which ones we don’t enjoy. Have a way to move on if stuck (without paying). For example, try the level 10 times & can move forward. Or make one of our ‘tools’ something that allows us to skip the level. Or we can skip the level for 2 rockets & 1 bomb. Don’t leave us stuck -so that we seriously think about finding another game. Make shovels and rakes more abundant, they are WAY too few. Make more levels 1 or 2 stars. The 3 stars gets old. I would like to move forward in the story and it gets frustrating-3 more stars for this? I enjoy the renovation we do outside. I also think inside renovations totally work in this game. You even have a decorator on the team! We’ve done multiple homes and buildings - why not let us renovate the INSIDE of them as well? Idea-on the main page (where there is the to-do list) have us be able to pick a second kind of puzzle we can opt to do to get more tools, more skip level options….. Or have options we choose to work on renovating inside, outside or the next place they work on. There could be options for building, decorating, gardening, helping the animals, helping the forest…..

There is a lot to admire about the work that went into this game. The story is engaging, the visuals are well done, the game system has a lot of potential. I’d like to see an option to change design choices after they are made, in case you want a changed look for the gardens... that’d be nice.

Cons for me though, are significant and definitely hurt the enjoyment and desire to stay playing. The heart system seems largely counterproductive to encouraging people to play and work at the puzzles until they succeed. The difficulty of the games ramps up far too quickly, leaving people in the position of being forced to buy packages of boosts too often to be viable, or quit in frustration. And to tell the truth, the single star reward is not much of an impetus as you level and doubly so with “hard” puzzles. The rewards should go -up- as the levels climb. Additionally, getting only one star for something that is intended to be extra challenging in the case of Hard puzzles feels pointless and a little extra annoying.

On the whole, the game has a ton of fun aspects and potential, and is extremely well made. I just feel it gets in its own way too much and becomes a chore more quickly than I like. Your mileage may vary, as always.. this is just my experience.

I really enjoy playing Lily’s Garden. The game is almost perfect. The graphics, sound effects, gameplay, and story are all beautifully executed. If you enjoy gardening, plants, nature, or well done visuals in general, you will appreciate all the details in the graphics and look forward to solving the puzzles to unlock more architecture and landscape scenery. I would love to have the beautiful renderings of flowers and trees as my wall paper. The little critters that appear as you play are very cute. Unlike some other games where there are moments of frustration because special explosives you strategized to create during game play all explode at once reducing the amount of points/ damage you can do, the bombs and rockets explode individually in this game for maximum benefit. There is really not much to complain. If I were nit pick, I wish the points gathered right after you finish a level were more visible and stayed on the screen a second or two later instead of only appearing for a split second. I have to go to the player list for whatever bonus league competition is going on to figure how many points I added, and that’s only possible if I remembered how many points I had at the completion of the previous level and I do the math.

I signed off last Christmas due to the game being so addictive that I stayed up several nights until sun up. I had also played out most of it and waited for the developers to catch up. I loved the story, the mystery and the twists. The characters are well written (not like other games that left me bored and back to playing solitaire for stimulation) and the games are challenging.
I am so glad to be back! THE BEST GAME EVER and great customer support. They reply within 24 hours with solutions, and real human interaction.
As a retired teacher, I had fun finding spelling or grammar errors just to contact them. They are currently working to get me back to where I was when I left but if I have to rebuild, I could choose new landscaping. I wouldn’t be upset. I am that happy to be back!
My suggestions would be to allow the user to scroll back over the garden being renovated to choose the new look and make sure it works with items chosen in the past. I had a couple styles of gables in the mansion that were mismatched. I also agree that going inside (especially the mansion) and redecorating would be fun (if they haven’t done it yet).
Keep up the great work! This teacher is giving this game an A+!

This game is very much like Matchington (which used to be my favorite) and can be pretty addictive. I really like the story line so far (I’m a little over level 2000) because it seems geared more toward adults and unlike other games, I actually read what’s going on and I look forward to what’s coming up next. They give you a lot of free lives, sometimes up to 3-hours at a time. What I don’t like is that you have to use the time when you get it. Granted there are times when I do play for hours at a time, but I do like that to be my choice and not feel like I’m forced to use it or lose it, especially if I purchase & pay for the extra time. There are times when I have completely cleared the board, only to look over & see I need to clear more, but there’s absolutely nothing left for me to clear & nothing more comes up - not sure what that’s about. I also find myself getting frustrated with games that make it so difficult to get through a level that it can take days. I usually end up getting bored & frustrated & end up quitting. I’ve gotten close on this game with that as well, but I keep going. It’s for this reason and the use it or lose it time that I can’t give it 5-stars. Other than that - I highly recommend.

I really enjoy this game and it is addictive, BUT, over the past 10-14 days I have experienced the game unexpectedly closing. During one period that I was able to open and it be stable, I contacted Customer Support and explained the problem. Their response came back within five hours, which was great! They said I should update to Version 1.65.1 as I was one of many to report stability problems, and they gave me a lot of coins. The Next day V 1.65.1 came out and I updated. For the most part game play got better (fewer kick outs). Then came Version 1.66 and I’m back to square one! Sometimes, I’m able to play a level but when the screen refreshes, bye-bye desktop time. I’ve tried to contact CS via the game nine times with each attempt to fail so maybe this way they’ll see it! Not my choice but no alternative.
I play on an iPad Mini 2 and keep the iOS and games updated.

Update-CS is on the spot. They contacted me and they are working hard on correcting the game performance. Today came hot-fix Ver. 1.66.2! Still kicked me out, but only once. Game loads faster and seems more stable.
Probably the best CS staff of any game I’ve played. They listen and work to correct issues.

I have made it all the way to level 1611! I appreciate this game so much. If you ever do want to purchase some coins for more lives it’s very reasonable on top of all the free hours with unlimited hours and other rewards the games gives quite frequently. Most of the time I don’t need to spend money but if I do run out of lives and want to play a little longer, I am happy to give back. Some games I’ve loved have been such a. rip off when it comes to what you get for your money Vs playtime but this game is so generous and fair that I am happy to pay to play every now and then. I love the mix between decorating + gardening + the puzzles. It’s just the perfect combo. The only things I would enjoy is maybe the option to use your coins towards stars as well as lives just because sometimes I really want to decorate but don’t feel like doing a puzzle. Although maybe the way helps to slow the pace of player as I’m not even sure how many levels are currently available! The one other thing I really enjoy are the special packages with added decorations for holidays like the Halloween package. I would like some other decor options at times separate from the holidays I guess because sometimes I’m not crazy about the design options. Most of the time I find something I really like though. Great game!!

This game is AMAZING!!! I started this roughly a month and a half ago and I’m at level 704 (Day 20). Some levels are hard, but I find the challenge of finally beating it (after a day or two) rewarding. I literally rejoice when I do and my husband gets a kick out it. He actually plays HomeScapes, but that seemed boring and design choices were less desirable. This game however has a lot of vibrant colors and when completed looks awesome. You’ll love being able to create, design and switch things out as you go along. If I had to give any criticism, it would be that there are some glitches, but the support team is great at correcting and restoring any time lost during the glitch. Secondly, the wait time for lives. Twenty minutes seems a little long to have to wait for one life. I’d like to see it down to 5-10 minutes like some of the other games I play. All in all if you enjoy a challenge and designing, this game is for you. Oh yeah, and the storyline is kinda funny too once you actually read it instead of hitting skip like I used to lol.

I love this story and the gameplay so much. Unlike other unnamed match-3 games, when you get a super power up, all of the boosts go off individually, so you can hit things over and over again with each one, rather than having one big explosion. Also, the upgrades available for purchase are low cost and you get more than what you pay for, like unlimited lives for $1. I’m happy to shell out a buck when I just want to curl up on the couch and unwind. The story is gripping and you really come to love the characters and Lily’s journey of love, loss, and friendship. Most importantly, it makes sense (unlike billionaire butlers).

They also have excellent customer service! I contacted them because of a glitch in one of the levels and not only did they fix the glitch, they gave me coins and boosts as an apology. No other game does that in my experience! I really appreciate that they care about their players.

My one and only complaint is that the rockets never point the way you want them to. Other games have the rockets rotate with each turn, but in this game they tend to get in the way and waste your moves. Hopefully this is resolved in the future, but even if it isn’t, almost perfect is plenty good enough to keep me around.

This game is very much like every other Match 3 game I’ve played, right down to the strange ads seen elsewhere that have nothing to do with the game. There’s one in which Lily gets excited about a positive pregnancy test, she shares the news with her boyfriend, he speeds away in his car, she sits on the porch crying, and then she picks up her head, smiles, and wipes off the second line on the test that makes it look like a positive result.

Tonight, I saw a new one in which Lily has to sit on top of her washing machine in order to keep the lid down. She turns the machine on while up there and after a few seconds of rocking movement, she gets a look of relaxation and pleasure on her face. The scene cuts to Lily and some friends arriving at a laundromat where they light candles, pour wine, and sit on top of washing machines in motion.

Sure, it’s just a game and it’s just a bit of fun. But I know that part of the reason people get into games like these is the storyline, trying to get further ahead in order to see how the story ends. I have no interest in the story of a woman who fakes a pregnancy in order to trick her boyfriend into leaving her or takes wine and candles to a laundromat so she can sit on the washing machines. And I have no interest in playing a game promoted by people who believe those story lines are the kind that will tempt me.

I have quite a few games of this type and usually enjoy them very much. There are several problems with this game. Those of us who play this type of game all know that the levels at some point will become too difficult to beat without use of special tools or paying for extra turns. (1) However, this game got to that point in the low hundreds. I'm making it work for now. (2) The ONLY way to ask for lives from other players is through Facebook which I refuse to use. (3) The rockets are unpredictable. You cannot know whether a rocket will be vertical or horizontal before creating it. This causes the player to waste precious moves. (4) This game offers a super expensive "membership" which costs way too much (real money) for the average player. (5) Most of us will give a dollar or two dollars now and then for a game they love but this game is asking for far too much... and far too early in the game. If you would like to know of another similar game that allows for months of playing and offers a minimal need to spend real money, I recommend Lost Island. The stars are for the beauty of the garden which really is lovely.

I really love this game! The characters have really grown on me and it satisfies this constant craving I always have for home design and puzzle games. And I just feel all the hard work the team puts into the art and the story, this game is really special. But gosh the levels are sooooo harrrrrdd. I really wish there was an easier way to play, or that every little action didnt require so many stars. I understand the strategy is meant to make money, but I wish the options to spend money weren’t for such a core part of the gameplay- like animal crossing pocket camp for example, leaf tickets are hardly necessary, and when I buy them its for further fun. But I’d never pay money for a pay to win game like this out of spite, sorry. Plus I know that even if I paid money to help get out of a level I’m stuck on I know I’m just gunna have to do it again later. I know it would be hard to change the entire structure of the game but I really think the game would benefit from leaving a pay to win structure by keeping more long term players and without making paying for stuff feel like such a commitment.

I love this game. I’ll be sad to get to the end. I just wanted to write a note to the people who might be scared off when reading reviews about levels being unwinnable. I’m on level 450 or so and have never been stuck more than a day or two and even that was fun trying to beat it. I haven’t spent a penny. I have 30k coins and 150 combined power ups plus whatever takes and shovels they gave me. Never used a single one. This isn’t humble bragging. This is just to say there are techniques for each level and they have all been very fair in my opinion. I will have to pay the developer something eventually just for making such a great game, but there certainly hasn’t been any reason to pay. The tournaments give you free time and there are plenty of other ways they hand you free time. I had 4 hours free yesterday and couldn’t even play that long. Anyway, awesome game and thanks to the devs for making a proper pay-to-play where it’s easier if you pay but not impossible to play if you don’t.

I’ll start by saying that I actually like this game, to a point. The story is engaging and the characters are likable. That said, that’s really the only reason I haven’t deleted it yet, which I’ll probably do soon. I get that they need to make money, and given the impressively positive rating, I doubt my review will make any difference at all, but it’s just gotten so repetitive. I’ve gotten pretty good at the mini games, but here’s the thing. You need stars to do everything, as we all know. But to earn just one star sometimes takes forever because not every mini game can be won. It becomes so time-consuming and repetitive, and even with my stock of power-ups to help me along, I’ve just gotten bored and tired of being yanked out of the story every two seconds to play yet another g****mn mini game. It’s even more frustrating to get stuck on one game because I’ve repeatedly lost by one move. Like, come ON, dude. I could have read a novel about Lily and her garden in a fraction of the time it’s taken me to get through just two weeks of her storyline. I’m bored, man. I’m starting to lose interest in the story altogether. I’ll probably never find out what happens because I’m kind of sick of it.

So far I love the storyline and I like that it doesn’t have a lot of parts like other games where you use 2-3 stars just to do something pointless like reading a journal. You get to remodel A LOT. Which is why I play it. I know they probably make these levels hard for a reason so you spend longer playing the games and you’re more tempted to spend money on them but DANG .... I almost want to delete it because I feel like it’s more frustrating than it is a stress relief. Like, I play these games as my own little relaxing method away from my “mom reality” but the levels are so insanely difficult and unrealistic that it’s just frustrating, I use all of my “lives” and then have to wait to try again later. I had to download another game just to play in the meantime. And when I say unrealistic I mean I don’t even see how they think it’s possible without it just being a “win by chance” scenario. Unless you’re some kind of strategic genius and......... I’m definitely not. Otherwise it’s a fun game, love the thought that’s put in to it and I love the good design options!

I have loved this game from the start and have stayed loyal to it thus far. However, you do not make it easy for me to continue to remain loyal. 1. The game always had a tendency to bounce out frequently. It now bounces off every 2 to 5 levels which is extremely annoying 2. There really should be extra stars awarded for Hard levels. 3. Paying to play by having to purchase boosts and purchase coins every few rounds are very expensive as your prices per purchase are not competitive with other games. Too costly!! 4. You stop play time to create updates and contact way to often and for too long. Some players may lose interest. I would like to continue enjoying this sweet game but there needs to be improvements made. Oh, additionally, each time the game bounces off it makes me replay the same game I just paid for the boosts I needed and that also uses up a star I had to ‘work for’ to earn. Since writing this review and forgetting to hit ‘send’, and waiting five to six days to add the new levels it now bounces out after each and every level is completed. Are you trying to lose a customer on purpose?

Like all pay to win games u will struggle a bit to progress. I love the gardening aspect but find it maddening to need 3 stars to put down a bench when it takes you three puzzles to get those stars. Now if you are out of bombs rockets etc it’s even worse. Then you run out of lives too and have to interrupt your gameplay to WAIT TO PLAY while your lives refill over time. AND THEN you have extra hard matches like every three frigging matches!!!! This game is designed to frustrate you enough to purchase extra bombs, but honestly those putchases are NOT worth it. I spent $ 10 to see how far it got me and the answer is NOWHERE, because I literally got stuck on a hard lvl immediately!!! Then they have these challenge mode two day rankings and it’s barely even worth doing them!!! U get a couple of bombs pots and rockets if u get vip ranking when they should be rewarding STARS!!! You should feel like you are getting somewhere instead of WORKING. The gardens and story are the best part of this and each part should only take 1 star instead of three for some tiny thing. Grrrrr not sure if I will play for much longer.

The storyline is adorable as are the characters. Graphics is amazing. I’m in love with Lily’s personality. But there are a few downfalls. If you don’t want to spend money prepare to be on a level at least one to two days each. There is a login reward but it’s minimal and there isn’t a guild system or some way to get more lives without either waiting or paying outright. The boosters are pricey too. I left homescapes for this reason even through it wasn’t nearly as infuriating as Lily’s garden is. In homescapes I remember always having boosters even if I didn’t pay and if you lost one level you didn’t lose all the benefits (unlike the ice cream scoops in Lily’s garden which all go away after one level loss). I realize it’s a freemium game and they all want your money but I’d rather pay for the game outright and enjoy it more as a relaxing and fun game versus one where I can only get one star every few days. The only reason I haven’t left yet is my (now waning) interest in the story which is much more interesting then some of the others I have encountered. However if this persists I will be unfortunately uninstalling. Sorry devs.

Like many other of the reviews I saw the add and looked fun and interesting plus felt bad that LILY was dropped like a hot potato by her boyfriend so decided to play it. BUT... after playing it for a few rounds found out that only way to get friends to help with gifts was to request and add friends to your Facebook list. No offense but I do not want to have to add a group of unknown persons just to get a few gifts for an online game and I am sure I’m not the only one that feels that way. Other games let you do that but are just that “for game purposes ONLY”. Having said all that I feel the hard levels should give you more than 1 star especially if some of them take more that 3 days to solve it. I know is to force you to pay actual money but if you are in fixed income then you’re stuck. I deleted this game already once but decided to see if things had changed so I tried again. But things have not changed. It is a wonderful addicting game with a cute storyline, but I think if the developers don’t make a few changes I’m never going to see if Luke and Lily get together and live happily ever after.