# Sim city buildit: Am I going to be able to keep playing for free at the higher levels?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-buildit-am-i-going-to-be-able-to-keep-playing-for-free-at-the-higher-levels/721649>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [June 4, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-buildit-am-i-going-to-be-able-to-keep-playing-for-free-at-the-higher-levels/721649 "2015-06-04T18:25:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-buildit-am-i-going-to-be-able-to-keep-playing-for-free-at-the-higher-levels/721649/1 "2015-06-04T18:25:30Z")

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I got a free download of Simcity Buildit from Starbucks a few weeks ago. I’ve been playing it regularly and I’m now up to level 10. Does the game reach a point where you’re simply unable to keep up without having to buy the Sim coins or cash? Right now, although it gets frustrating, I can still play and keep a decent 75-83 percent approval rating. I’ve read online that it becomes impossible to play at later levels , buildings always catching on fire and endless demands for expensive services that you’d be required to spend real money to buy the Sim money.

Opinions?

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**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-buildit-am-i-going-to-be-able-to-keep-playing-for-free-at-the-higher-levels/721649/2 "2015-06-04T19:53:48Z")

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Without having played it myself, I would assume the answer is “no.” It’s a freemium game published by EA, so I would not assume that its monetisation strategy would be any less abusive than the one in their Dungeon Keeper remake.

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**Author:** ![BuzzSaw101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@BuzzSaw101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuzzSaw101)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sim-city-buildit-am-i-going-to-be-able-to-keep-playing-for-free-at-the-higher-levels/721649/3 "2015-06-05T04:33:32Z")

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I have been playing it for months and I haven’t spent a dime. I’m around Level 30 with a 96 percent approval rating. I think the key is slow growth.  
When I first started the game, I built as many residential buildings that I could, but I couldn’t afford to build fire/police stations and hospitals. So my buildings kept burning down and people got pissed and left. When I restarted it, I went real slow. Build a couple of houses, then the other stuff. Now I have a good tax base and don’t really have a want of game money. So baby steps.

My biggest frustration is getting the stuff to expand the map. But if you are patient, you can get them.