Some Android Jewels statistics
It’s been a while since I first released the Jewels on the Android Market. I suppose it is a good time to look up some statistics, so here you go! 
| Number of installs total: | 1,225,864 |
| Number of active installs: | 971,566 (79% of total) |
| Times played daily: | Well over 1.2 1.3 million |
| Ratings: | Rated 17,738 times (4.5 / 5 stars average) |
So it’s been a blast, I still cannot understand why it’s been so successfull. Ok, mostly because it’s Bejeweled, but there are loads of other B-clones on the Android Market, so that doesn’t explain it entirely. I guess there just was a (big) niche for a free & polished B-game. 
Although some people have complained about the addition of ads — which are only in the main menu and not some distracting blinking colorful banners either, I need to clarify — turned out it really was the best thing to do. I’m not allowed to share any numbers, but it’s been waaay over my lowly expectations.. 
I’d like to express my gratitude and thanks to all those numerous active players, and of course to the good folk at Google AdSense for making this possible! I had never anticipated it, but turned out that ad supported apps and games are indeed a viable business model.
…and still it’s only the second most popular free game on the Market; I cannot beat that bloody Solitaire for the life of me!
Hi Mika,
Thanks for sharing the statistics. They are very helpful. If it’s not a secret, how many downloads per day do you have now, in March? Has the speed of downloads increased significantly since November or is it quite stable?
Also, have you tried other ad networks besides AdSense? Is AdSense the highest paying one? I’m asking because we are about to move to AdSense and will have to stick with them for at lease 3 months but no indications of their eCPM is available on the net.
I’m happy to share my statistics with you as well if you want.
Hi Kiryl (sorry about the late reply, forgot this comment
)
I don’t know about the number of daily downloads, but the user base has indeed been growing significantly since the launch. Right now it is 2.33 million total, 1.78 million active.
I’ve not tried anything besides AdSense, but I’ve been very happy with them.
I think the success is largely due to the clean graphics and polished UI. After my girlfriend got hooked on bejeweled, I searched the market and tried just about every jewel-swapping game out there. Yours has the best interaction and game play — the sprites aren’t too small to selected with your finger, and the piece selection and swap is smooth and responsive.
The two comments from my gf:
– Lack of “special” gems (multipliers, “bombs”, same-color removals, etc) — are there any plans for this?
– Having to wait for a full chain to complete prior to being able to swap the next pair.
Regardless, good stuff. Thanks.
Great job!!
I was going to install the latest update, and it claimed that I was giving the app permission to see my phone calls and the identity of who is calling me. Why do you need that?
The phone state permission is required for the Scoreloop integration. It doesn’t have anything to do with your calls, only the device id is accessed, which is needed as the Scoreloop profile is unique per device.
Thanks for all the stats. Love this game. I can honestly say that its the only game I play every day on my phone. Free is SO key and the game is so well polished now. I would love to one day see another huge update but I totally understand about prioritizing life’s events. Thank you for such a great game! I will continue to spread the word about this game…. word of mouth is a great advertisement. Thanks again.
Mike – Vermont (USA)
Thanks for your comment, glad to hear you enjoy the game!
Luv the game. It’s probably user dumbness but in normal mode, where I used to get high scores, now all I get is “no more moves”. Did u make us more challenging that I’m not obviously seeing? Still a great game. And Congrats dad!!!!!
Yea, all I get is consistent “no more moves” now. There is no real strategy, so its like rather you play good or bad it doesn’t matter. So what’s the reward? What’s the point of playing if ultimately you don’t honestly control your outcome.. the game does whenever it feels like “no more moves”.. maybe I need to click on ur google ads?
Yes, I’m sure clicking on the ads will help..
I must admit, even thought I am typically a very strategy oriented game type of guy. This game is so well done, polished, neat/clean, etc. That I find it very addictive. I play it quite often, only one thing really drives me crazy:
As much as I play, and I consider myself to be at least 1/2 intelligent, college educated, etc. But I do see some stratigies, and play those the best I can. As I play, my “HIGH SCORES” are not even on the same planet at some of the global or even regional High Scores.
I just cannot comprehend how these scores in the 10Million neighborhood are even possible. Granted, the further you go, the faster the score builds, that must be it. But If I get 30-40K to me that’s pretty good. Then I see these scores and wonder “Am I missing something about the game play?”
Oh well, feels good to get that off the chest. But I assume that the major jumps after you get to reasonably high levels is the key? but 10M compared to 40K What the heck am I doing wrong….
Oh well….BOTTOM-LINE: GREAT GAME, VERY POLISHED, VERY WELL WRITTEN, and MOST IMPORTANT- NICE AND CLEANLY CODED, as it dosn’t run the processor like crazy like some small poorly coded small games. I had one, actually got the phone HOT after 10 min of play, just a small free cheapo word game, but terrible coding.
This game, Well done all around.
hi
I am on a jewels game and the time meter doesnt seem to be reducing. what mode is this? id like it to end so I can enter my high score. the meter is just between 8x and the palm tree. pls email me thanks.
It’s either the normal mode, or the infinite mode. You can just abandon your game and if it asks for a high score, it’s the normal. Scores are not kept for the infinite mode.