Zynga Has A New Promo That They Are Calling A Family Bargain (FAQ's). Don’t Be Fooled By The Sub Caption That Says “Cross Each Tier With Your Family To Win Free Skill Points”. You Are Actually Purchasing Them.
bar·gain (bärgn) n.
1. An agreement between parties fixing obligations that each promises to carry out.
2.
-
a. An agreement establishing the terms of a sale or exchange of goods or services: finally reached a bargain with the antique dealer over the lamp.
-
b. Property acquired or services rendered as a result of such an agreement.
3. Something offered or acquired at a price advantageous to the buyer.
By Definition’s 1 and 2 Above This May Be A Bargain From Zynga’s Perspective. By Definition 3 It Is Anything But A Bargain Since This Sales Event Is Anything But Advantageous To You ‘The Buyer’.
Ultimately, This Sales Event Is A Gimmick That Is Attempting To Get The Unwitting To Buy Reward Points.
gim·mick (gmk) n.
1.
-
a. A device employed to cheat, deceive, or trick, especially a mechanism for the secret and dishonest control of gambling apparatus.
-
b. An innovative or unusual mechanical contrivance; a gadget.
2.
-
a. An innovative stratagem or scheme employed especially to promote a project: an advertising gimmick.
-
b. A significant feature that is obscured, misrepresented, or not readily evident; a catch.
3. A small object whose name does not come readily to mind.
This Sales Event Is Asking You And Your Family To Purchase 100, 200, 300, and 400 Rain Ponchos.
Rain Poncho
166 93
In Return Each Member In Your Family Will Receive 1, 2, 3, or 4 Skill Points For Each Milestone Of Number Of Purchases Of The Rain Ponchos Are Met, Respectively.
Each Rain Poncho Will Come At A Premium Cost Of 35 RP Each. This Means That It Will Cost Your Family (As A Whole Or You Individually If You Decide To Purchase All The Required Rain Ponchos Yourself) 3500 RP Just To Purchase 100 Rain Ponchos And Complete Tier 1. In Order To Complete Tier 4 You Will, Therefore, Need To Spend 14,000 RP.
To Try And Put This In Perspective Of How Much ‘Real’ Cash You And/Or Your Family Will Need To Conjure Up Lets Look At The Sales Of RP’s.
The Current Sale Of RP, That I Have On My Account, Is A 40% Discount On The Purchase Of RP.
The Chart Below Shows How Much ‘Real’ Money It Will Cost, In USA Dollars, To Purchase Your Way Through Tier 1 And Tier 4.
| | | | 3500 | | | 14000 | |
# Of RP Acquired Per Single Purchase | | Cost Per Single Purchase Of RP | | # Of RP Purchases Needed | Cost To Purchase RP | | # Of RP Purchases Needed | Cost To Purchase RP |
21 | | 3.00 | | 167 | 500.00 | | 667 | 2000.00 |
42 | | 6.00 | | 84 | 500.00 | | 334 | 2000.00 |
85 | | 12.00 | | 42 | 494.18 | | 165 | 1976.47 |
170 | | 24.00 | | 21 | 494.18 | | 83 | 1976.47 |
215 | | 30.00 | | 17 | 488.37 | | 66 | 1953.49 |
440 | | 60.00 | | 8 | 477.27 | | 32 | 1909.09 |
700 | | 90.00 | | 5 | 450.00 | | 20 | 1800.00 |
1000 | | 120.00 | | 4 | 480.00 | | 14 | 1680.00 |
The Numbers Are Calculated As Follows:
# Of RP Purchases Needed Equates To 3500 (Or 14,000) RP Needed For Tier 1 (Or For All 4 Tiers) Divided By # Of RP Acquired Per Single Purchase (Numbers Shown Are Rounded Up To The Next Whole Number).
Cost To Purchase RP Equates To # Of RP Purchases Needed Multiplied By Cost Per Single Purchase Of RP.
As You Can See From The Chart Above The Best Deal Would Have 14 Members Within A Single Family To Make 14 Individual Purchases In The Amount Of $120.00 Each. Only Those 14 Members Would Get The Rain Ponchos But All Members Of The Family Would Get 10 Skill Points.
The Average Cost Per Skill Point Would Be Cost To Purchase RP Divided By Total # Of Skill Points Gained By All Family Members. A Family With The 50 Members Would Therefore Average, For All 4 Tiers, 1680/(50*10) = $3.36 ‘Real’ Money. The Average Number Of RP Would Be 14000/(50*10)= 28.
There Are Much Better Bargains, For You The Buyer, If You Are Only After The Skill Points. One Example If The Sale Of Skill Points In The Marketplace. You Get +4 Skill Points For 14 RP Or An Average Of 3.5 RP Per Skill Point.
+4 Skill Points
Buy for 14 RP
If You Speed The Clock Up In Your New York Shops It Will Cost You A Maximum Of 12 RP To So.
Depending On Which Shop You Build From And Speed The Clock Up On The Average Cost Of RP Per Skill Point Is The Best That Can Be Purchased.
Read More Here Max Skill Point Chart
The Only Argument That Could Be Made To Rebuke That Claim Is Skill Point Reallocation. But, Remember, Skill Point Reallocation Is Only The Movement Of Skill Points From One Skill Category To Another. Skill Point Reallocation IS NOT Technically The Acquisition Of Skill Points Even If You Build Zoo Items That Have 20 Health And Move Them To Another Skill Category. It Is A Faster Method Of Growing Your Character But It Has A Flaw. That Flaw Is That Skill Point Reallocation Is Released Randomly For Limited Amounts Of Time.
In Conclusion, The Family Bargain IS NO BARGAIN For Anyone Other Than Zynga. It Is A Gimmick To Get You To Buy RP. Your Character Is Only Helped Minimally While Your Finances Are Depleted. If You Want A Rain Poncho By All Means Buy One Or As Many As You Wish But Dont Waste Your Time And Money Trying To Get The Skill Points Associated With This Sale As There Are Much Better Ways To Acquire More Skills Than This Sale Will Give You.