Private offers and discounts
A private offer is a window in the Big Farm shop that only opens for a limited time and is aimed straight at me as one specific player - in the game I spot it by headlines like Exclusive offer or Just for you. Most often it is tied to buying a Gold package and throws in an extra bonus on top, whether that's a decoration, tokens for the Wheel of Fortune or a reduced price. A special group is made up of the starter package, the horse offer and the story-driven payout offer from my neighbor Lester, which have rules of their own. Most seasonal holiday offers are just reskinned versions of these basic types.
Personally I prefer offers that hand me a decoration or Wheel of Fortune tokens for Gold I was going to buy anyway - otherwise I'd never get that bonus item at all. Seasonal reskins I wouldn't chase without a planned Gold purchase, the principle is always the same, only the picture and the holiday change.
The offer shows up only for a moment and vanishes if I miss it
A private offer is a window in the shop that opens for one specific player only, and only for a limited time - in the game it appears under headlines like Exclusive offer or Just for you. A time limit is always part of the offer, and the texts stress it with phrases like "the offer expires soon" or "don't miss out". If the timer runs out and I don't buy the offer, it disappears for good and the game confirms it with a message that the offer has expired.
I confirm the purchase by clicking the Checkout button, which means I agree that I'll only get the contents once the payment is approved, and at the same time I waive my right to withdraw from the purchase. Prices in the shop include VAT where it applies to the country in question, and the shop is operated by Goodgame Studios, based in Germany.
The most common form is a bonus for buying a Gold package
Most of the private offers I run into are tied to buying a Gold package and throw in something extra.
- A decoration for the first package - I buy my first Gold package and get an exclusive decoration with it that I can't get anywhere else in the game.
- A decoration for several packages - if I buy several Gold packages within the given window, I get a rare decoration on top; the offer shows me in advance how many packages it takes and which decoration is waiting.
- Wheel of Fortune tokens - buying any Gold package gets me tokens I can use during the Wheel of Fortune event, again only for a limited time.
- A one-off discounted offer - a specific item is sold at a reduced price compared to the usual one, and the offer shows both amounts side by side so the saving is easy to see.
Everything I get this way is sent to the temporary storage in my inventory, and from there I move it onto the farm.
The starter package and the horse offer work differently
The starter package is a private offer type of its own - it's meant to speed up the growth of my farm and can also be picked up as a bonus for buying any amount of Gold. Historically the game also offered payment by text message as an alternative to the Checkout button. Once I accept it, I find the contents of the package in the temporary storage in my inventory, and once the offer runs out the game simply tells me it has expired.
The horse offer is a limited-time chance to buy one specific horse, where I first pick the breeding effects the horse will have - until I finish choosing, the game keeps reminding me about it.
Lester's offer pays back part of the Gold I spend
A category of its own is the payout offer tied to the character of my neighbor Lester. In the opening dialogue he asks to make peace and for help, because locusts have wrecked his fields and he's facing having to shut his farm down. In return he offers that if I spend a set amount of Gold on my farm before the deadline, he'll give the same amount back to me afterwards. There's usually a side task with it - filling orders for Lester's customers - and once it's done, a reward and a thank you arrive in another dialogue.
Holidays only change the wrapping, the principle stays the same
The vast majority of private offers I meet in the game are just reskinned versions of the mechanics described above, dressed up for whatever holiday or event is running - Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving and dozens more. Offers can also be sorted by what they sell - decorations, production buildings, residential buildings, feed, mystery crates, jokers, tokens or tools and certificates.
The Gold packages themselves, which most offers revolve around, come in eight named tiers in the game.
| Tier | Package name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Rookie package |
| 2 | Budding farmer package |
| 3 | Promising farmer package |
| 4 | True farmer package |
| 5 | Skilled farmer package |
| 6 | Expert farmer package |
| 7 | Top-class farmer package |
| 8 | Farming superstar package |
