The Lucky Wheel in Café Remix

Like many mobile(-oriented) games today, Pokémon Café Remix has some gacha elements about it. One of them is the delivery feature, which I've covered on a couple of occasions. Yet there is another feature, and it's called the Lucky Wheel. It's not a constantly present feature; it's a feature that only appears during special occasions or events, and as can be discerned, it relies on luck to hand out prizes, some of which are very special... though it also does depend on some player efforts due to the way that the feature works.

During those special occasions or events, players can collect Lucky Wheel-specific items that can then be exchanged for a spin of the wheel - hence, the gacha portion. A single spin can be made at a time with the wheel shown, or ten spins can be made at once, skipping the actual wheel spin except if an exceptionally lucky chance occurs. Most of the time, the wheel will land on the spots for the sixth, fifth, and fourth prizes, while the third prize is rather infrequent, and the second and first prizes are only remotely or circumstantially possible. No specific odds are given, although the sizes of the prize sections should already be a good indication (or not).

If the prizes are less than a certain threshold, a gauge fills up, and when it is full, the wheel is put into a "Lucky!" state and has a greater potential (with a bottom limit) to result in a higher prize, although for special occasions this seemingly may not be that much greater. In any case, the Lucky Wheel items are only limited to several hundred regardless of occasion or event and ways to obtain them, and therefore the spins are limited as well; once the items are gone, so are the chances of obtaining more (and greater) prizes.

Golden Acorns are undoubtedly a common and thus basic prize, but getting them as a lesser prize is somewhat meager. The first prize of the Lucky Wheel during special occasions, however, is one million of them - but this is (and has to be) obscured behind odds that are practically astronomical, given the nature of Café Remix as a free-to-start game and even with the backing of players who can spend on the more premium enhancements. Yet any amount that can be gained may still be worth it.

As for special events, recently there has been a batch of "hospitality" events that use the Lucky Wheel framework, only this time it can also reward items like Tarts and Milestone Cookies, as well as Pokémon friendship boosts to hire them and/or increase their outfit grade - one of which is a Shiny Pokémon. In fact, it seems the goal of the events is to fill up the "Lucky!" gauge, and when full and the wheel is spun, the first prize, which happens to be the Shiny Pokémon, is awarded - even though this is still likely to occur with a regular spin, as the odds aren't as astronomical as the 1M Golden Acorns. It may only be gacha in illusion.

Still, it is no illusion that gacha is present in Café Remix, and the Lucky Wheel is a secondary manifestation of that. Even as it occurs in limited circumstances with some strange odds at times, it is regardless a form of gacha. The prizes from the feature may also be special in their own way rather than generally, but that's the norm of operations with the way that gacha is. At least, the events and occasions might benefit from the added special quality that the Lucky Wheel provides along with the prizes it begets.

One year ago: The 2022 Silph Arena Continentals Meta

Two years ago: Capturing Toward the (Pokémon) Future

Three years ago: More Music from Pokémon Go

Four years ago: The Music of TCGO

Five years ago: Cosplay: Tachiagare

Six years ago: My Book of Days