Brawl Stars — Supercell removed its loot boxes, then shipped the same gamble six months later under a new name
Supercell · free, 9+, online 3v3/5v5 arena shooter. Loot boxes pulled Dec 2022, randomized Starr Drops back June 2023. App Privacy label enables tracking. Gems $1.99-$19.99. Honest floor: 9+ supervised, not preschool.
Supercell Oy (Helsinki). Free-to-play 3v3/5v5 MOBA + battle royale, released 13 Dec 2018. Apple 9+ ("Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence"), Google Play Everyone 10+, Common Sense Media age 10+ (parents 9+, kids 8+). US iOS 4.7 / 3,009,358 ratings. The Astrid arc: Supercell publicly removed loot boxes in December 2022 ("no more random rewards") and reintroduced a randomized four-tap reward — Starr Drops — in June 2023; Apple's current listing still discloses "random items." App Privacy label is tracking-enabled (Data Used to Track You: Usage Data; Linked to You: Purchases, Location, Contact Info, Contacts); Google Play "may share" Location + Personal info. No third-party ad network (IAP-funded). Gem ladder $1.99-$19.99 plus $6.99/$12.99 season passes. Honest floor: 9+, supervised, IAP disabled — not a 2-8 download.
How we got to 56
Safety < 60 — flagged for parental discretion.
The Play Score is a weighted average: Fun ×0.25, Learning ×0.3, Safety ×0.25, Value ×0.2. Anything below 60 on Safety caps the total at 70.
What parents wrote vs. what their kids did
Quotes are sourced from public App Store, Google Play, and Reddit reviews captured during research. Reviewer handles shown verbatim where the platform makes them public; we never invent quotes or named children.
""By far the best project by supercell." "The characters are all iconic and recognizable by many children is game is addicting and fun.""
thesmallchipmunk (App Store, 4 star)· App Store""It's very pay to win." "I've played it for about 3 years and have always had fun. But after star drops were added and chromatic brawlers were removed it has gone downhill.""
Not so good reviews (App Store, 4 star)· App Store""I think new skins should cost game money and not the green gems that cost real money. A player can only get [gems] so [fast].""
8-bit Brawler (App Store, 5 star)· App StoreNone of the cited reviews describe a specific child reaction.
What's good, what's not
- ✓Genuinely well-built and popular: 3,009,358 US App Store ratings at 4.7 stars, fast 3v3/5v5 matches under three minutes. App Store veterans call it the best project Supercell has made and report years of repeat play.
- ✓No third-party ad network. Brawl Stars is funded by its store, not by selling a young player's attention to an ad exchange — a clear plus over the ad-laden free shelf (Subway Surfers, My Talking Tom).
- ✓More playable free than most of its shelf. Common Sense Media notes the microtransactions "aren't pushed as heavily as in some other free-to-play games," and free-to-play reviewers report reaching high progress without spending.
- ✓Supercell did remove loot boxes in December 2022 — a real, public monetization improvement. Game lead Frank Keienburg: "No more probabilities, no more random rewards, and no more playing the guessing game when you unlock brawlers."
- ✓Parental controls are documented and matches are short. The App Store description tells parents to "disable in-app purchases in your device's settings," and three-minute matches make time-boxing realistic on a family account.
- —CONTRARIAN: Supercell publicly retired loot boxes in Dec 2022 ("no more random rewards"), then reintroduced a randomized four-tap reward — Starr Drops — in June 2023. Apple's listing still discloses "random items." The removal is what makes the reintroduction worth flagging.
- —Tracking-enabled privacy label on a young-skewing game. Apple "Data Used to Track You: Usage Data"; "Linked to You: Purchases, Location, Contact Info, Contacts." Google Play: the app "may share" Location and Personal info with third parties.
- —Real-money pressure on top of a randomized economy. Gem ladder $1.99-$19.99 plus $6.99/$12.99 season passes; a five-star reviewer does the math: "You can max out a new brawler for 20 bucks."
- —Above this site's band and online with strangers. Rated Apple 9+ / Google Everyone 10+ / Common Sense Media 10+; CSM notes younger players can see "offensive language in other players' account names" in matches.
- —Pay-to-win drift per long-tenure players: "too pay to win now... whenever a new brawler comes out," "after star drops were added... it has gone downhill," and "you have to bet EVERYTHING just for it."
What your kid is actually practising
Real-time 3v3/5v5 PvP demands sustained, selective attention — tracking allies, enemies, projectiles, and objective state in matches that run under three minutes. The App Store description frames the core loop as fast online arena battles.
A top-down MOBA arena: the practice is positioning, line-of-sight, aim, and map control. The description lists Gem Grab, Showdown, Brawl Ball and Heist — each a distinct spatial objective rather than a reflex-only score chase.
Team modes reward coordination — but the coordination is with strangers online, and Common Sense Media flags that younger players can encounter "offensive language in other players' account names." Real co-op practice, with a real supervision cost.
Brawler selection, counter-picking, and resource trade-offs (which character to upgrade, when to push an objective) carry genuine strategic load — the layer long-tenure reviewers cite when they call the game deep rather than twitchy.
A healthy way to play it
About 20 minutes per session
