How to spot it
- Prices are shown in coins and nowhere in the currency you actually pay in.
- The bundles are 500, 1200 and 2600, and the things cost 300 and 800. Nothing divides evenly.
- A small balance is always left over, and it is always slightly less than the cheapest thing.
- There are two currencies, one earned and one bought, and the interface shows them side by side as though they were comparable.
- The conversion rate improves with bundle size, which turns a small purchase into an argument for a larger one.
Why it works on you
A conversion step is a small amount of arithmetic placed exactly where a decision happens, and arithmetic under mild pressure is the first thing to go. Coins also stop feeling like money almost immediately: the loss was at the top up, and by the time you spend them the spending feels free. The leftover balance then does the rest, because a balance you cannot use is a reason to top up again rather than a sunk loss.
What to do
- Work out what the bundle costs per coin, then what the item costs in real money. It is one division and it changes what the item looks like.
- Decide the real money figure before you open the store, not the coin figure. Those are different decisions and only one of them is yours.
- Treat the leftover balance as spent. It was, and reasoning from it is how the next purchase begins.
- For a child's account, set a payment limit at the platform rather than in the game. The game's own limits are set by the party selling the coins.
Where the law stands
In March 2025 the EU Consumer Protection Cooperation Network adopted Key Principles on in-game virtual currencies. They require prices for in-game content to be displayed in real world money, and they treat practices that obscure the real cost, or that force a purchase of currency in order to buy a specific item, as problems under existing consumer law. The principles are authoritative rather than binding: they interpret the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive rather than adding new rules. They arrived alongside a coordinated action against Star Stable Entertainment over pricing information in Star Stable Online.
This is a description of published regulation, not legal advice, and rules in this area have changed more than once. The sources below are the primary ones.