Why You Should Play Clash Royale

By Maria Martinez
Blog Content Contributor

Everyone at some point in their life has played Super Mario, Zelda, Sonic or Donkey Kong– except me. The only video games I played growing up were “America’s Next Top Model” on my Wii and “Disney Sing It” on my PlayStation 2 (I thought I had the most amazing voice).  I only played with girly pink things, until recently.

My boyfriend has been obsessed with this game called “Clash Royale” for quite some time now. We are in a long distance relationship, so when we see each other I want his full attention. Unfortunately, I have to share his attention with “Clash Royale” and it didn’t make me very happy. If I go to the restroom, he plays. If I go get something to eat or drink, he plays. He literally takes advantage of every opportunity he has to play. Why can’t you stop playing for a minute, Luis? Why is it so hard?

This spring break I went to visit him and he begged me the whole trip to download the app to my phone. I obviously refused; why would I waste space on my phone for that game I hated so much? On the last day of my visit, the “Clash Royale” app magically appeared on my phone. He told me to please give it just one try, and if I didn’t like it, I could delete it. Oh god, you can’t imagine how much I regret playing it.

I am obsessed. The thing that I hated the most is now my new love. When I told my boss I was going to write about this, she told me she couldn’t imagine me as a gamer. Well I didn’t either, until now.

“Clash Royale” combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense and multiplayer online battle arena. It was released in March of last year, so it is basically a new game. It is “inspired” by another popular game called “Clash of Clans”. Supercell is the developer behind both.

What this game consists of is this: two players fight against each other online to destroy each other’s towers. At the start of each game, both players are given a hand of four cards from a deck of eight cards chosen by you. There are three types of cards: the troop cards, spell cards and building cards. These cards can be used to attack and defend the towers.

To play the cards, the player must have enough “elixir” or life. The elixir automatically replenishes every 2.8 seconds. Even if that doesn’t sound like it’s a very long time, it is while you are playing. I get so frustrated when I am trying to defend my tower, but I don’t have enough elixir. Each card has a different elixir cost, which means you have to be careful what cards you decide to play. You don’t want to waste all of your elixir attacking and not have enough to defend.

The player who destroys more towers than the opponent or destroys the opponent’s “King’s Tower” (the one in the middle) wins the battle. If you do the latter, it grants you an automatic three “crown” victory. The prize here are the trophies; so, the more battles you win, the more trophies you’ll get.

Players battle through 11 arenas (the arenas are like the levels), each requiring a certain amount of trophies to open it. If you convince some friends to play with you, you may also form clans. The catch with clans is that you must be level 3 to participate in them. Clan members may engage in “friendly battles” with one another and I love them! The coolest thing about these battles is that they serve as practice for the real online battles since the outcome does not affect your trophies.

I would highly recommend you to go play it. If my story didn’t convince you enough, let the “Royales” convince you!

Featured illustration by Emily Castillo.