We dive into Coin Sort, a surprising hybrid-casual puzzler that blends merge + sorting mechanics with clever ad monetization.

Flow-state puzzler: players merge and sort coins, driving a satisfying loop.

Unique twist: players call in new coins themselves, creating agency.

Difficulty ramps as more coins = higher-value merges = more chaos.

Shallow progression today (daily rewards, calendar, boosters).

Likely to expand into menu + cosmetic/meta systems if scale continues.

Early launch style: prove core loop, meta comes later.

Revenue ~$120K/day; ~65% IAP, ~35% ads.

Banner ads: ever-present, likely a decoy to push “Remove Ads” IAP.

Interstitials: after level 3, ~9.7 per DAU. Pop-up after 3rd = strong “remove ads” conversion.

Rewarded ads: clever mechanic where frozen stacks of coins drop mid-level for 5s → high-pressure CTA. Also includes 2x post-level and daily reward.

Explosive scaling since June 2025, 360K DAU → $40K/day ads + $80K/day IAP.

Strong Tier 1 focus: US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan.

Scaling with playables, though creative variety still thin (3–4 pages).

Coin Sort is IAP-heavy (~65% IAP vs HexaSort’s 88% ads).

Takeaway: Coin Sort proves that hybrid puzzlers don’t need to be ad-first — if you build clever ad funnels that push players into IAPs, you can scale fast in Tier 1 markets.

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠

Podcast:

Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Vibe Check

03:47 Game Discussion: Coin Sort

06:47 Gameplay Mechanics and User Experience

09:57 Monetization Strategies and Ad Revenue

18:48 Game Launch and Initial Reception

21:47 Creative Strategies and User Engagement

24:47 Scaling Challenges and Market Dynamics

27:55 Comparative Analysis of Game Performance

30:47 Future Trends and Market Predictions

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Matej Lancaric

User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant

⁠https://lancaric.me

Felix Braberg

Ad monetization consultant

⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com

Jakub Remiar

Game design consultant

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me