journey average game time

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Journey: How Long it Is and How Many Chapters There Are

Journey is a game of whimsicality and beauty, but its also very much one where you get out of it what you’re willing to put in. The actual length can widely vary depending on a lot of factors. The game itself has eight chapters, each of which take very different amounts of time to complete.

In a standard playthrough with an average amount of exploration, Journey can be completed in about two hours or so. But although it can seem like a short game, players will often find themselves engulfed in the world and fueled by a desire to explore their surroundings. If you end up being one of these players, then a single run through the game can easily end up taking anywhere from three to five hours.

There are also many collectibles to discover which can certainly eat up a lot more time for those aiming to grab everything in order to acquire every trophy or unlock the special White Robe costume. Chapter Select does provide a fantastic way to easily run around and collect everything, but be warned as beating the full serenity-inducing game once just may not be enough and you may end up wanting embark on the journey again. The scarf upgrades you can obtain can also make the game much quicker as well as your character tends to move faster while in the air.

If your just looking to run through the game as quickly as possible, Journey can be beaten in as short as an hour. Though barreling through the story without stopping to enjoy some of the majesty and charm would be an incredible shame. Like we said, you’ll get out of Journey what you’re willing to put into it and as such it may take you about an hour or you may be dazzled into taking the journey over and over and over again.

Why Journey is one of the greatest games ever made

Redefining movement

Here's what you need to know about Thatgamecompany's Journey: It's short. It's got kind of an exploration-heavy puzzle-platformer vibe, with splashes of adventure game. What else? It's pretty, it sounds good. Oh, and it understands human emotion on such a basic, fundamental level that it knows how players will react to any given situation, and respond accordingly. Every developer, irrespective of their discipline, can learn from it, and every person is better off for having played. It signifies a watershed moment for the game industry; it is our Citizen Kane . All of this is to say, Journey's easily one of the greatest games ever made.

Editor's note: Journey is best experienced with little to no prior knowledge of it. If you haven't yet played this game, may we suggest bidding adieu to GamesRadar, booting up your PS3, and we'll see you again in a couple of hours? Great.

One of Journey's greatest achievements is the way in which it redefines movement, that basic and original tenet of games. In many ways, Journey is a game about movement--a palpable traversal of environments to elicit emotion--and this is evident from the get-go. Journey's opening sequence drops the player at the foot of a sand dune. A hill must be climbed, and as you ascend, a toil sets in for each step taken.

When you reach the summit, two things happen. First, you see an intimidating expanse situated between you and a majestic mountain, the climbing of which puts your current accomplishment to shame. The second thing you notice is that your movement is unencumbered, a feeling made all the more delightful as you speedily zip down the other side of the hill. So just to review, there's feelings of hardship, accomplishment, satisfaction, awe, foreboding, delight, and curiosity, all from just walking up one side of a hill and sliding down the other.

Journey's also an aesthetic masterpiece, from a purely technical perspective. However, calling out the quality of its textures or music is to miss the genius--the way sight and sound couple with movement to further heighten and convey emotion.

There is the above example, yes, but take for instance a sequence early in the game, where you find yourself sliding down a hill at an increasingly alarming rate, unable to slow or stop. Around you fly ethereal beings, eagerly urging you along in your descent. You hit a tunnel, and the camera flips to a side-scrolling angle. The color palette transitions to darker, lusty reds, and your mountain goal appears, closer, illuminated like a beacon by the sun. You feel swept away, excited, joyous, and also a bit fearful over the loss of control. You think of the first time you fell in love.

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Journey Media

JOURNEY | 10 Year Anniversary Trailer

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Journey Launch Trailer I Coming July 21 I PS4 Exclusive

Critic Reviews for Journey

Three years later, Journey remains one of the most powerful games in recent memory.

Read full review

Metro GameCentral

Less is most definitely more in this beautifully understated co-op adventure, that dares you to make sense of its enigmatic voyage.

Game Informer

An artistic tour de force of limited interactive complexity

Journey has only improved with time, earning its status as one of the best games ever created.

Game Revolution

At the end of the campaign, you'll most likely be surprised to find that the one person who hung out with you was really three, or four, or more. What's more surprising was that seeing all the people I'd come into contact with hits me emotionally. I don't know them, but I 'know' them.

Hobby Consolas

‎If you are one of those who did not play it on PS3, you have before you a unique adventure of its kind, of those that without words says it all. And if you have it, thanks to the Cross-Buy you can enjoy it on PS4 without costs and with visual improvements. The remasters like that, YES.‎

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Firing up Journey on PS4 is a delight. It's so gorgeous and fluid in 1080p and 60 frames-per-second. Even though that's really the only thing different about it, it's a wonderful experience.

‎A beautiful journey, unparalleled in the history of the video game.‎

OpenCritic Coverage

Journey is now available for steam, comes with a free game.

Journey has been released on Steam, and comes with a free game when purchased Read more

Sony Has Announced the Stay At Home Initiative

Sony has announced the Stay At Home Initiative, through which they will give out free games Read more

Journey is Making Its Way to Steam

It has been announced that Journey will be making its way over to Steam later this year Read more

Explore the ancient, mysterious world of Journey as you soar above ruins and glide across sands to discover its secrets.

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• straight in front of the starting area
• forward and slightly to the right of the 1st
• go right, over the Mirage Flower, and continue directly away from the mountain. Quite a distance away is a small set of ruined columns and the creature is in front of those. There is a hidden symbol on top of one of the columns here also.
• coming back over the mirage flower, go past the hidden glyph and take a left at the three stones in a row going up a dune. You will come to a tower with a ruined building. The creature is next to the ruined building
• with the previous creature area behind you, turn right and head over the dune (there should be a pod of the larger cloth creature (dolphins) waiting nearby. You should see another hidden glyph a short distance away. The creature is waiting to be released just beyond that glyph
• from the tower area with the 4th creature just head towards the tower. In fact, you should be able to head towards the mountain anywhere in the desert to reach this area - a large tower. As you start to climb this, you'll pass these in the smaller part of the tower. You may need to do this one to get the boost up.
• Once you have made it to the top of the tower and used the standing stone, the grate will up and a pod of dolphin cloths will be released. You can't miss this one and continue.

Note: The achievement notification will not appear until you end the level; if you did not find all the creatures, you will not receive the notification. If you have, the achievement will appear on the screen as normal.

Tip: If you CAN NOT find any partners to play with, try to change your steam download region. You can play on different servers/regions and hopefully, you'll meet more partners. Go to the path below and select a new steam download region (e.x UK or the US): Steam > Settings > Downloads > Download Region Once you set the new download region you have to close the game and also restart your steam launcher. Note: After completing this achievement, don't forget to set your download region back to default one, because you may have problems downloading/updating the games in the future.

Note: Finding either one will award you the achievement.

• The first Mysterious Creature can be found in the lowest area in the middle column.
• The second Mysterious Creature can be found in the hidden side room, with the Ancient Glyph and the Glowing Symbol, and looking behind the cloth.

Note: The key to obtaining this achievement is reaction time. Learn to make sharper, quicker turn when a gate is close yet very much to the side of your current path. You can also fly into the air to slow yourself down, giving relative time to plan your next moves.

• League of Legends

How Long Is an Average Game in League of Legends?

When players delve into the world of League of Legends (LoL), one of the common questions that arise is about the average game duration. To answer the query, the League of Legends average game time typically falls between 25 to 35 minutes , though this can fluctuate based on various factors, including the mode of play and the strategies employed by the teams.

This article aims to delve deeper into the intricacies of game times in LoL. From understanding the average match duration in the current season to exploring different modes like Summoner's Rift and ARAM, we will dissect how long players typically spend in a single match.

We'll also touch upon tips and strategies on how to conclude matches faster and highlight some record-setting game durations. For those curious about how LoL compares to other MOBAs, we will provide insights on the average duration of a MOBA match. Join us as we embark on this illuminating journey through the minutes and hours of League of Legends gameplay.

Average Game Duration in Current Season

In Season 13, the LoL average game time continues to hover around the 25 to 35-minute mark . This duration has remained fairly consistent over various seasons, reflecting the game's balance and strategic depth. The exact length of a match, however, can vary due to the composition of champions, team strategies, and individual player skills.

As players adapt to the latest meta, champion buffs, and nerfs, the lol game time may experience subtle shifts. But as of now, those diving into a match in Season 13 can expect it to last between these aforementioned time frames, making it easier for summoners to plan their game sessions and anticipate the thrilling climax of each bout.

Average Match Time for Summoner's Rift

Summoner's Rift is where players frequently gauge the lol average game time. On this iconic battleground, matches usually span between 28 to 35 minutes. The intricacies of Summoner's Rift—with its three lanes, jungle areas, and various objectives—lend themselves to strategic play and decision-making, factors that greatly influence lol game time.

The ebb and flow of player engagements, team fights over Dragon or Baron Nashor, and the continual push and pull for turret control can either hasten the game's conclusion or extend it. Thus, when players wonder "how long is one match in lol?" while referring specifically to Summoner's Rift, they should anticipate a good half-hour of intense, strategic gameplay.

Average Match Time for ARAM

ARAM , or All Random All Mid, is another beloved mode in League of Legends, offering a faster-paced and often more chaotic gameplay experience compared to Summoner's Rift. Typically, an ARAM match has a shorter lol game time, averaging around 15 to 25 minutes . This is due to its single-lane structure and continuous team clashes.

There's less strategizing over multiple objectives, and it pushes teams to engage more frequently, resulting in quicker resolutions. For those wondering "how long is one match in lol" when it comes to ARAM, it's almost half the time of a conventional Summoner's Rift game, making it ideal for players seeking a swift and exhilarating battle.

How Can You Finish the Game Faster?

Speeding up your match in League of Legends is not just about individual skills but also about adopting team-centric strategies. Finishing games swiftly can be advantageous, especially when you have an early lead. Here are some concise tips to hasten the end of your matches.

• Effective Communication: Continual communication with teammates ensures everyone is on the same page. Discussing strategies and upcoming objectives can streamline efforts.
• Secure Objectives Early: Dragons, Rift Heralds, and turrets provide significant advantages. By taking these objectives early, you can apply more pressure on the enemy.
• Warding and De-warding: Vision control helps in catching out isolated opponents and denying enemy vision, paving the way for strategic ambushes and more.
• Push Lanes Together: A coordinated push, especially after winning a team fight, can lead to taking down multiple turrets or even an inhibitor.
• Focus on Team Composition: During champion selection, choose champions that synergize well and have a strong early-game presence.
• Avoid Unnecessary Engagements: Engaging in fights without a clear advantage or objective in sight can lead to wasted time or, worse, giving the enemy a way back into the game.
• Utilize Power Spikes: Recognize when your champions are at their strongest, be it through levels or items, and capitalize on those moments.

By integrating these strategies, you can effectively reduce the lol game time, leading to faster victories and more efficient climbing in ranked matches.

What Is the Shortest League of Legends Game?

While the league of legends average game time generally hovers around the 25 to 35-minute mark, there have been instances of exceptionally short games, especially in competitive play. The shortest recorded League of Legends game in professional history lasted just under 13 minutes .

This rare occurrence was the result of a combination of aggressive early-game strategies, a snowballing gold lead, and the opposing team's decision to surrender early, recognizing their diminished chances of turning the game around. While such quick games are outliers, especially in professional settings, they underscore the importance of early game momentum and the potential of aggressive strategies to drastically cut down lol game time.

What Is the Longest League of Legends Game?

There are outlier games that stretch the boundaries of the usual lol game time. The longest recorded League of Legends game, especially in professional play, exceeded 90 minutes.

Such an extended match duration is a testament to the evenly matched skills of the teams, incredible defensive strategies, and both sides' determination to secure the win. These marathon matches become intense battles of endurance, strategy, and mental resilience.

Every decision and movement becomes crucial, as one mistake could mean the end of such a prolonged contest. So, when one inquires about "how long is one match in league of legends," they should remember these rare instances that demonstrate the game's vast potential for suspense and unpredictability.

What Is the Average Duration of a MOBA Match?

Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas, or MOBAs, are a genre of which League of Legends is a prominent representative. The average duration of a MOBA match can vary significantly depending on the game.

For League of Legends, as previously discussed, the average game time usually lands between 25 to 35 minutes. However, in other popular MOBAs like Dota 2 or Heroes of the Storm, match lengths can differ, ranging from 20 minutes to an hour or more. Several factors contribute to these variations: game mechanics, objectives, map size, and pacing.

When players question, "how long is one match in lol" versus other MOBAs, it's essential to understand that each game offers a unique experience and rhythm, which in turn impacts its match duration.

What Is Peeling in League of Legends?

What is lethality in league of legends, how to use xp boost in league of legends.

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Lego Builder’s Journey – How Long Does It Take to Beat?

Lego Builder’s Journey is really a thing of beauty . It’s a calming and emotional journey through a Lego world — a far cry from other Lego titles such as Lego Marvel’s Avengers . But how much time will Lego Builder’s Journey ask of you?

Some websites are reporting that the average completion time is about an hour and a half , but I didn’t find that to be an accurate estimate. According to Steam, my playtime was 3.3 hours at completion. I earned all 13 Steam achievements, though it does look like they’re all tied to progression events — I don’t think it’s possible to miss any of them in a playthrough.

Now, keep in mind that I got up to use the bathroom occasionally, and there were a few puzzles that took me longer than they probably should have. Plus, there were a few instances in which I just experimented with various blocks to see what I could build for a decent chunk of time.

But that’s the joy of the game. There’s no reason to rush through. Take your time and let the calming visuals and soothing synthesizer music carry you away to a childhood wonderland.

While it’s certainly feasible to rush through the game in 90 minutes, people who really want to get lost in the experience can easily spend two and a half hours or more in it.

Does that make it worth the $19.99 asking price on Steam ? That depends on the player, I suppose.

Josh Wirtanen

Josh is a musician, writer, and lover of nerdy things. He co-founded Half-Glass Gaming as a podcast, and then it blossomed into something else.

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Demystifying Competitive Match Lengths in Overwatch 2

As a dedicated Overwatch player and self-proclaimed competitive mode addict, I‘ve played hundreds of matches across multiple seasons and know first-hand how match lengths can vary.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll break down all the key factors that influence the duration of competitive games. I‘ll also share tips that can help you potentially improve your own match times. Let‘s dive in!

What is Competitive Mode in Overwatch 2?

For those newer to Overwatch, competitive mode is a more serious way to play where you earn a skill rating (SR) and get placed into ranked tiers based on your skill level.

Competitive seasons typically last around 2 months. At the end of each season, ranks get reset and you‘ll need to complete new placement matches.

The competitive ranks range from Bronze at the lowest up to Grandmaster at the highest. Each broad tier (Gold, Platinum, etc) is then divided into five sub-ranks numbered 1 to 5.

Your goal each season is to earn the highest skill rating possible and climb the ranks. It provides a long-term progression system beyond just leveling up your player level.

Average Competitive Match Lengths

Now let‘s get into the topic at hand – how long do these competitive matches last on average?

During my Overwatch career, I‘ve spent hundreds of hours analyzing my own match data as well as studying forum discussions and gameplay statistic sites.

Below I‘ve summarized the average competitive match length ranges based on my research across recent seasons:

Role queue tends to see longer matches on average since team comps are restricted to 2-2-2. The open queue format enables faster steamrolls at times when teams go heavy on damage heroes for example.

In addition, average match time varies based on skill tier:

Lower skill tiers generally have shorter match lengths, while highly skilled teams are closely matched resulting in longer back-and-forth games.

For a look at how average times have changed over seasons, check out this graph:

As you can see, role queue brought longer average times but they have stabilized recently. The open queue format has maintained a quicker pace.

What Factors Influence Match Lengths?

Based on my experience across hundreds of competitive matches, here are some of the key factors that influence match length:

Team Composition & Coordination – Well balanced teams enable longer contests. Uncoordinated teams get demolished quicker. Grouping up is key.

Player Skill Differences – Evenly matched skills lead to more back & forth. Mismatches end swiftly. Carrying is harder.

Hero Choices & Meta – Powerful meta heroes enable faster teamfights. Underpowered heroes prolong games.

Map Design – Some maps have staggered spawn distances enabling steamrolls. Others are more balanced.

Focus & Adaptability – Distraction vs focus on the objective. Adapting to counter opponents is key.

Toxicity & Tilting – Tilted and toxic teams deteriorate faster. Positive and focused teams hang on longer.

Smurfs & Leavers – Smurfs quickly stomp games. Leavers lead to hopeless defeats.

Patches & Balance Changes – Meta shifts alter optimal heroes and thus match lengths. Remember dive meta days?

Based on these and other factors, teams seeking faster competitive games should focus on strong team synergy, coordination and constructive communication.

Adapting hero lineups to counter your opponents is also hugely impactful. Building a proper anti-dive or bunker comp for example can turn a losing game around.

Tips for Improving Your Competitive Match Times

Here are some tips I‘ve learned over the years for improving your own match lengths and avoiding those 30+ minute slogs:

• Queue with friends – coordination is mandatory for winning faster
• Stick to 2-2-2 team comps – for role queue this is optimal
• Focus on objectives – don‘t get distracted chasing kills or staggered
• Enable your DPS – tanks & supports win games by empowering DPS
• Be positive & avoid tilting – attitude matters more than you think
• Switch heroes to counter opponents – adapt don‘t get countered and die over and over
• Ultimate combos win teamfights – coordinate your ultimate usage
• Don‘t trickle – group up – staggered deaths prolong games
• Take high ground – this provides a huge advantage if used properly

Many of these come down to focus, coordination, positivity and being adaptable during the match.

You can‘t always control having leavers or poorly matched teammates. But you CAN control your own focus and flexibility in working together.

Key Takeaways on Match Length

After analyzing countless competitive matches over multiple seasons, here are some key takeaways to remember:

Match length varies based on many factors – team comp, skill, meta, map, focus, etc.

Role queue enables longer average match times than open queue.

High skill tiers tend to play longer, closer games than low skill tiers.

Coordination and objective focus are crucial to winning matches quickly.

Adapting team comps and hero choices is important to countering your opponents.

Positive and focused teams will prevail over toxic and disjointed ones.

While you can‘t control everything, keeping these principles in mind will help lead to more positive and quicker competitive matches.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading this deep dive into competitive Overwatch match lengths. I hope you‘ve gained some useful tips for speeding up your own matches.

As a passionate competitive Overwatch player myself, I‘m always striving to enable our team‘s success as efficiently as possible.

But it‘s important to remember – shorter match times don‘t always equal more fun. Some of my most memorable and hard-fought contests have exceeded 30+ minutes!

At the end of the day, competitive mode is about the journey of improving your skills and ranking up over time. Focus on your own progression, be a team player, and the match times will take care of themselves.

Let me know if this guide helped provide useful insights! I‘m always happy to discuss more Overwatch competitive tips. Game on!

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June’s Journey: The Quintessential Hidden Object Game

By Niek Tuerlings • November 16, 2023

To congratulate Wooga on June's Journey's impressive  $1B lifetime revenue  milestone, we make this deconstruction public for the first time. It is from Naavik's archives, and was first published in October 2022.

Recently, the number “5” has been involved in some important milestones for Wooga, the creators of June’s Journey. The world’s most successful hidden object game on mobile is celebrating its 5-year anniversary this month while having grossed $500M in revenue. The game is by far the company’s biggest hit, and it has successfully surpassed all of its direct competitors. It’s time for a long overdue look at this beautifully crafted murder mystery.

First, let’s take a look at June’s Journey’s performance and the hidden object subgenre as a whole. T he game’s revenue has been consistently growing, even though downloads remain relatively flat, while maintaining a healthy all-time RPD increase. The updated RPD is $7.73 (on iOS), which does not even count the game’s significant amount of ad revenue.

Let’s start with a little history: Wooga was founded in 2009, and its first hits — Brain Buddies, Bubble Island, Monster World, and Diamond Dash — were all Facebook-first hits. From 2013 onwards, the company pivoted to being mobile-first and released what would be its two biggest hit titles for a long time: Pearl’s Peril and Jelly Splash. These two games, together with Diamond Dash, have been Wooga’s main sources of revenue up until June’s Journey’s launch in 2017.

As early as the launch of Pearl’s Peril — June’s Journey’s spiritual predecessor — Wooga unknowingly discovered what is now its main strength: creating high-fidelity and story-driven hidden object games. Without Pearl’s Peril unleashing the combination of episodic hidden object content on one hand, and island decoration on the other, June’s Journey would have never seen the light of day.

The hidden object genre has always been niche, and it has proven to be Wooga’s key market segment to this day. Especially after the company announced its vision to become the market leader in creating story-driven casual games in 2018, no other subgenre has been more suitable to fit its ambitions. The visual storytelling in this genre is unequaled due to the ability to paint beautiful scenes even within the core game. Whereas other puzzle games struggle to combine the stories in their meta games with highly abstract challenges at their cores, hidden object titles have the potential to become something much more immersive and meaningful.

However, creating these games has not proven to be an easy path to success at all. Monetizing players without a loss condition is a tricky endeavor; companies like Playrix even pivoted away from hidden object, changing the core of one of its most prominent games , Gardenscapes, to level-based puzzles at the last moment. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Playrix took another stab at the genre by combining its answer-to-everything mansion decoration meta with a hidden object core. This resulted in Manor Matters, which achieved profitability but has been suffering from a heavy decline a bit more than a year after its launch. Even genre-expert Big Fish has not been able to translate its expertise from browser-based hidden object games into mobile success.

The magnitude of June’s Journey can easily be described as monstrous, which is why so many competitors have failed or refrained from trying to replicate it. While Manor Matters and June’s Journey have some overlapping features (like their core gameplay and alliterated titles), the two games are incredibly different. The (worst-kept) secret that makes this genre so difficult to penetrate — and what has been key to the success of June’s Journey (and the demise of Manor Matters) — is narrative. Whereas games with the decoration loop usually have paper-thin stories tacked on with practically zero character development (with rare exceptions like Lily’s Garden and Love & Pies), June’s Journey is truly story- driven , releasing a weekly chapter of fresh narrative since 2018 without fail.

Now, it’s not a secret that a big part of the mobile audience does not seem to be interested in narrative arcs, but the other part of the audience that is looking for narratives is incredibly loyal when they find a story they identify with. This is especially true for the audience that Wooga has found with June’s Journey, which predominantly consists of older women.

On a more personal note, as an advocate for engaging narratives in any medium, I don’t think that the strong appeal of the game’s setting to its audience demographic (New York in the roaring ‘20s) is the single unique factor to its success. Only stories deep enough to bring forth interesting stand-alone fiction outside of the game are able to drive it forward and make players invested in what’s next. We haven’t seen many great casual game examples of super engaging narratives yet, but games like June’s Journey show it is doable.

However, even games with smooth core gameplays, great audience fits, alluring storylines, and fun, decorative metagames don’t naturally retain players for years on end. In June’s Journey’s case, the game’s steadily increasing RPD has been correlated with its growing arsenal of strong live-ops features. In fact, June’s Journey is a perfect example of how a high-potential hit game can steadily grow to be #1 in its genre through engaging live-ops and community management.

This article will shed light on this thesis by:

• Comparing the June’s Journey core gameplay to the competition it surpassed
• Analyzing its core, loop, and content pipeline
• Listing its base features
• Breaking down its live-operations
• Covering examples of its best-in-class community management
• Pondering what the future holds for Wooga

Let’s jump in…

Unique, Stressless Flow

Traditionally, hidden object games like MYTONA’s Seekers Notes and G5’s Secret Society built their gameplay around loops that focus on level performance. Rounds in these games have decreasing time limits and increasing numbers of objects to find. These games have only about 30 scenes in total, but the same objects can change places with every round by being assigned one of several pre-placed locations within the scene. Combined with many different gameplay variations, like spotlight mode, word jumble, mirror mode, or pair matching, the scenes in these games stay challenging and replayable. The player is not able to master them by remembering the locations of all objects within.

The gameplay in June’s Journey does not follow this decade-old hidden object structure, but instead actually allows for mastery through scene-specific progression. Objects have only one fixed position, and scenes never change game mode. The goal is the same every single time: find all listed objects. To perform well, players should find about 10 objects in steady cadence, which is visualized by the combo bar at the top. If they lose their combo, players lose points, which ultimately leads to more replays until the scene is mastered. For achiever player types, these points also allow for some light competition in the form of a high score in each scene’s leaderboard.

Except for the soft nudge towards timed performance that the combo bar provides, there is no time limit for a round of gameplay and therefore no loss condition either. The only challenge the player faces is new objects appearing after a few rounds, but they have all the time in the world to find them. In case of struggle, a free hint can be used every 30 seconds. This provides a unique, peaceful gameplay you can’t really find anywhere else in the hidden object genre.

The Episodic Pipeline

Because the scenes in June’s Journey are completed when mastered, continuous production of new ones has become a requirement. This sounds like a big commitment in terms of content production, which it is, but it’s also one of the game’s unique strengths. Its new episodic content consists of one weekly released chapter. The addition of these chapters requires no client updates, as no new gameplay nor features are introduced. The fact that a company’s development team would be required to deliver a handful of hand-painted, high-fidelity scenes every week is one of the reasons why many developers have not dared to create a game like June’s Journey.

Initially, the game was supposed to stop after 100 chapters, but following its success, Wooga decided to keep the story going and announced a second volume. Fast-forward a few years, and Volume 6, Chapter 30 came out recently. Volumes 1-5 contain 100, 50, 25, 35, and 35 chapters, respectively. When you add in Volume 6, this totals 275 chapters at the time of writing. That means the game currently has over 1,375 unique hidden object scenes and 275 hand-crafted puzzle scenes to boot. The game’s episodic content is linked together using 6,050 dialogues between members of its varied cast (all of Volume 1’s dialogues can be viewed here ). The power of the free-to-play model really shines through in June’s Journey, as any new player starting today can enjoy years' worth of quality narrative content free of charge.

The effect of this episodic content cadence can be seen in the game’s retention numbers, with a curve that becomes extremely flat after day 30: 16.5% of players are still playing at this point. On day 60, the number is still 15%, and by the time day 180 rolls by, practically all these people are still playing, as the retention rate has only dropped by 0.75% over those 120 days! As a comparison, long-term retention rates of G5’s Hidden City are around 5% lower for any of these points.

The Island Loop

Contrary to its aforementioned competitors, June’s Journey (and Pearl’s Peril before that) has a unique game loop with metagames focusing more on steady progression and customization than on performance. The loop can be visualized as follows:

The player spends their energy bar (which can be extended for diamonds) to play scenes. Finishing scenes awards Coins and Star progression (finite). Coins are then used to decorate the island. Every new decoration or building awards Flowers, which in turn unlock new scenes to play.

Target Audience

The non-punishing core, the episodic content, the narrative setting, and the decoration on the island all result in a flow-inducing gameplay that’s suitable for a unique target audience. June’s Journey has a predominantly female and older playerbase. Whereas puzzle games like Candy Crush Saga are played more by millennials than by older generations, June’s Journey’s direct competitor, Hidden City: Mystery of Shadows, has a more equal, almost 50/50 division. Surprisingly, Bingo Blitz players are even slightly younger than Hidden City’s audience, but within June’s Journey, by far most players are Generation X or even the older Boomer generation.

More specifically, almost half of June’s Journey’s players are over 60 years old, and 85% of the playerbase is female. Therefore, it’s only logical that along with the game being available on iOS and Android (tablets), it’s also playable on Facebook (through WebGL) and Amazon . Given that older generations around the world generally have a lower English proficiency, the game is localized in 20 languages, including Norwegian, Polish, Danish, Dutch, Latin-American Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Bahasa, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

The game’s user acquisition has historically been driven mostly through Facebook, but since Apple’s notorious decision to deprecate the IDFA, and even a bit before that, the efficacy of this method has started to stagnate. To counteract this, Wooga has been experimenting with other means of advertising since 2020, including prime-time TV commercials targeting the US audience the game mainly serves. Safe to say, the perfect solution to reverse this trend has not yet been found.

Feature Breakdown

The game has received many new feature updates over the years. In the following paragraphs we will concisely break them down and see how they benefit the game.

These stationary buildings on the island provide the player with a daily supply of progression in the form of Flowers. As landmarks are the only source of free Flowers, coming back to the game just for the simple task of tapping a button to upgrade them is a no-brainer.

Every day, players can earn one batch of free Flowers by filling two bars, but only the first one is free, and the other can be filled by watching an advertisement. Therefore, the trade-off of maintaining a good speed of progression by watching one advertisement is another no-brainer. On top of this, player progression stays balanced through a steady flow of instant Flowers. As the landmarks provide a very significant sum each day, it creates a rubber banding effect between engaged players and occasional ones.

The first landmark — the Lighthouse — contains 20 levels, each taking about 2 weeks to complete before the building is visually upgraded . The game contains four landmarks, each taking months of daily logins to complete. Renovating all of them takes about two years. After the player completes all landmarks, a special, fifth landmark is unlocked, allowing for infinite progression by releasing animated flocks of birds onto the island instead of new buildings that need renovating.

Help Wanted - Challenge Tasks

This feature provides the biggest amount of rewarded video placements in the game. A permanently available newspaper asks the player to complete tasks in exchange for Energy or Coin rewards. Additionally, after completing enough tasks, the player wins a reward box containing more valuable prizes.

The smart rewarded video placements come in after the player completes a task and gets rewarded (which is a great moment to ask them to commit to something, by the way). They can choose to wait (3, 8, or 16 hours, depending on the size of the task) or watch one video to skip the entire timer. Especially for bigger tasks, it’s much more efficient to watch the ad and start working on the next task right away, as most of the tasks can be accomplished by progressing through the game normally.

To boost engagement temporarily, the feature also has short bonus times where, for a couple of hours, the player earns more points for completing a task and the chase prize is doubled.

Photo Album

Narrative is a big part of June’s Journey, and every character has a backstory. When the game launched, none of the more modern methods of world and character building (e.g., its own dedicated podcast ) were in place. The first feature that focused on this aspect, whilst providing the developers with reward space for the game’s Star Boxes, was the Photo Album. When players find enough character cards in reward boxes, they can complete a puzzle to finish a photo, which awards them with one bar of energy and a bit of backstory about one of the game’s characters.

A Unique, Multi-layered Social System

Something that doesn’t immediately come to mind when building a hidden object game, especially one like June’s Journey with such a mature audience, is its social drivers. When asked, a big part of the playerbase most likely would not have answered positively to the question of whether they’d be interested in collaborative multiplayer functionality. And yet, years later, the game has proven that its audience is ready to engage not only in low-threshold interactions like gifting but in full-blown team management, competitions, and elaborate social synergy, such as meeting up at specific times during the day.

Visiting and Gifting Bushes

The first social feature that was added to June’s Journey is the bush gifting system. Instead of the boring old gifting of lives (energy in this case) or coins, here, the player has to actively engage with other player islands by visiting them first . By taking the boat, players can visit and view other people’s islands and plant a bush every day. This incentivizes them to interact with and ‘decorate’ other islands, which in turn could inspire the visiting player with decoration ideas.

Gifting plants costs some coins, but when the receiving player removes them, they can generate several gifts, including rare hard currency (gems). This system incentivizes players to keep reciprocating to the same players, creating an unspoken bond between them that can last for months or even years.

To allow people to visit each other’s islands or see their scores in the leaderboards, the game bundles players together in anonymous groups by masking their names and avatars (in case they play via Facebook). Then, players can choose to invite the ones they have a reciprocal relationship with to the next level of the game’s social system: Detective Clubs. These clubs are the heart of June’s Journey’s social system. The system enables players to engage with a whole array of social features that we’ll explore more in depth.

The Detective Lounge

When joining a club, players can start chatting with other club members and share virtual drinks with each other once a day. This unique energy-gifting system requires players to come online at approximately the same time, as drinks posted in the Lounge are only there for 30 minutes and can be used once by every player.

To optimally gift drinks, players should do it when as many club members as possible are online. This enables all club members to enjoy everyone’s drinks, which results in at least one bar of extra energy when done right. For this purpose, each club can configure its own, specific ‘meeting time’ parameter, indicating when to come online each day. Additionally, every time a player consumes a drink, the gifter receives tips, which can be traded for profile avatars, different drink skins, or an increase in energy the drinks provide.

Club Competitions

With all this extra energy, the drink gifting could be dangerous for the game’s energy economy. Players are able to accelerate the speed of the episodic progression, but where there’s a source, there’s a sink! Enter the Club Competitions.

About twice a week, players have a little more than a day to play non-classic hidden object rounds for a maximum of 45 minutes. During this time, players try to rack up as many points as possible by playing increasingly challenging, time-limited rounds of Spot the Difference or Time Rush. These special game modes do have a timer that provides a soft loss condition, and they were clearly inspired by the aforementioned competitors that use timers within their core gameplay.

These timed trials provide the players in a club with “coopetition” to try and best other clubs in the temporary club leaderboard specifically created for the competition. All members of the highest ranked clubs earn valuable rewards like hard currency and the cherished compasses.

Detective Leagues

Finally, the social loop comes full circle by awarding players who take part in the club competitions with League Points. Additionally, players also rack up League Points through the single-player Help Wanted challenges. In stretches of several weeks, player clubs try to climb the League ladders by promoting through increasingly competitive divisions.

Whoever thought that 60-year old women wouldn’t be looking for online competition at scale should think again. The June’s Journey community is full of highly competitive groups of players managed by ladies who sometimes are just as fanatic as the average World of Warcraft guild leader. It’s a remarkably successful attempt to make online, competitive gaming accessible for a demographic that has rarely been exposed to this elsewhere.

The components above are all part of the game’s permanent feature set. But this does not include any of its live-operated events that come and go periodically. After years of additions, June’s Journey truly caters to every player type as more and more meaningful elements were added. Up next is an overview of the game’s live-ops over the years and the impact they seem to have had.

Seasonal Sets

One of the interesting things to note when looking at June’s Journey is the lack of a traditional season pass. The reason for this is that the only live-ops feature that was implemented since launch has been fulfilling this need already. As the game’s meta is built around the grid-based beautification of its island, a monthly set of seasonal decorations is rotated in the game’s store of isometric items.

Every month, players are challenged to purchase enough decorations from the set before the event ends. Seasonal decorations cost coins just like non-seasonal, permanent ones but additionally grant seasonal tokens upon completion. After engaging enough, players receive that month’s special Grand Prize decoration. Seasonal sets of decorations with themes like Easter, Japan, snow, and Halloween recur yearly with fresh new objects and a new chase prize to collect every time.

The fact that the game is that old and players keep owning assets regardless of their age means that veteran players have unique legacy decorations that haven’t been available for purchase for ages. For this reason, the game provides highly esteemed vintage decorations, some selling for in-app purchases or outlandish Coin prizes.

Until August of last year, June’s Journey didn’t have a huge amount of reward space. Where other more competitive or skill-based games are able to reward players with boosts, the relaxed pace of June’s Journey didn’t allow for a lot of desirable, time-limited items. But during that fateful month, a new feature with the purpose of solving this issue once and for all was released.

During one cycle, for a long period of time (more than two months) players are occasionally awarded card packs. These packs contain Memoirs (objects with five different rarities), and players place these objects into special scenes they belong to until they are completed . This is the game’s gacha mechanic, which has always been a great way to facilitate additional reward space. It’s especially useful when players need to be given high-value rewards, since packages with higher drop rates for rare Memoirs can be given away. As is customary with more elaborate gacha systems, the player is able to find duplicates and transform them into the last missing pieces to complete their collections.

However, one thing that similar systems ultimately require is a desirable chase prize, and Wooga has found a good way to provide it without taking space on the decoratable area of the island. By completing every collection of Memoirs, players can unlock permanent phenomena on their islands. Examples of prizes include dolphins, humpback whales, and a sailing boat in the waters around the island. Other past rewards included a coastal wedding ceremony and a sandy, umbrella-filled cove with visiting beachgoers.

Celebration Event

Orchid Island contains a festive gazebo that’s utilized for countdowns towards celebratory moments like Christmas or Easter. For the most recent example, with the approach of the game’s 5th anniversary, the building again gave access to an anniversary-themed daily giveaway feature with a unique, celebratory decoration as reward on anniversary day. To guarantee daily engagement, players are required to finish a number of scenes before being able to claim the daily prize.

Detectives Needed

Occasionally, a straightforward, time-limited event is triggered, providing extra chase rewards in exchange for more-than-average engagement with the core game during the 48 hours it’s active. After reaching specific milestones within, players can choose their reward .

Sweep the Board

While the Detectives Needed event was implemented relatively early on, there hasn’t been much variation in terms of engagement-boosting events — not until July 2021 at least, when the Sweep the Board event was released. Throughout this event, the player traverses a board-game-like space which requires them to play 4 scenes with 10 rounds each. The scene progression acts like a checkpoint every time a new scene is reached. When the player completes a round, rewards are added to their stash. The trick is that these rewards are only awarded to the player once they reach the checkpoint introducing the next scene of the event. If the player fails a round before that, the game pushes their tendency for loss aversion by showing them their stash upon asking them if they are sure they don’t want to pay hard currency to keep them and add extra time. If not, players are reset back to the last checkpoint.

This time-limited event is unlike the rest of the game’s features, as it is the only one that actively pushes players to the max by requiring a very high amount of skill and commitment to be completed successfully. As opposed to some of the other features that were described above, this one wasn’t received very well , most likely due to its aggressive nature. Consequently, it doesn’t seem to have had a positive result on the game’s revenue.

Fairground Fortune

The latest tool in the game’s live operations toolbox has the purpose of giving the player additional, temporary tasks to strategize around. Through the aesthetic of a bingo wheel, players get granted six prizes if they perform a combination of three assigned tasks enough times. If they succeed, they win a small decoration as the chase reward.

The feature was rolled out at the start of 2022 and clearly shows Wooga’s focus on extending the session length and overall engagement of its existing playerbase with additional spend as the desired side effect.

As any adult live game, June’s Journey contains a good amount of sales and monetization strategies, like frequently selling bundles of currency, usually combined with an exclusive isometric decoration. The newest addition to the game’s remunerative array is the vault, which is the classic example of a piggy bank.

One last example of a feature that’s exclusive for premium players is the loyalty card (also recently implemented), tempting players into consecutive purchases in exchange for surprise rewards. Also, note the added bonuses in the store screenshot below, all adding to the feeling of timely opportunity when choosing to convert today.

Community Management

Having such a senior and dedicated audience for your game opens lots of doors. Of course, there is the monetary aspect; lots of these players have adequate balances on their bank accounts, but the more important door is the one to their hearts. Compared to the entire gamer audience, these older women are relatively underserved. Providing them with a sense of community can turn them into probably the most loyal, dedicated advocates of your game. This has to be anchored mostly through the numerous social features discussed above. But the last step to really glue everything together is great community management. In this aspect, Wooga has been an example for the entire games industry with a continuous cadence of how-to videos , additional fiction , behind-the-scenes content , and community contests .

The most elaborate community contest was without a doubt the Hidden Talents competition that the company did for the game’s 2nd anniversary event. It all started when Wooga released a video requesting players to submit a video of them sporting one of their (hidden) talents. From the submitted material , five winners were selected and flown to Berlin for an all-expense paid trip to meet the team and each other while being shown around many of the city’s attractions. The result was a series of incredibly wholesome, heart-warming videos for the community, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the five lucky winners from around the world.

For June’s Journey’s latest anniversary, The Challenger (the game’s mailing list ) has been promoting a contest in which players are asked to solve a mystery — entirely outside the game — regarding one of the characters’ heirlooms being stolen. As a reward, a random selection of 5 players who solved the mystery correctly will be sent a 14-carat gold bracelet.

As Facebook is the most prominent platform for the target audience, Wooga community managers post daily on the game’s official Facebook page and help manage the countless other fan pages on the platform, all driving lots of engagement or in some cases even strong, intercontinental friendships . Posts in these communities are often a delight to read as this audience is one of the most vocal demographics of people in the world (so vocal that the company can directly post community videos of a Decoration Masterclass by hyper-engaged players).

Lastly, as has been advertised in the countless non-June’s-Journey videos on Wooga’s YouTube channel , the company has been decisive and forward about sustainability and climate change by operating its business on a climate-neutral basis. Additionally, the company has linked in-game tree planting in June’s Journey and Pearl’s Peril to planting trees in real life . June's Journey players succeeded to reach the targeted number of planted trees within a mere 90 minutes.

Damocles, anyone?

As it goes in any industry, companies ending up on a downward trend run the risk of being eliminated. For example, when its sister company, Seriously, got shut down by their mutual parent company, Playtika, Wooga saw how things could go if it ended up in a similar scenario.

One thing that is worrisome about Wooga’s future is that it has failed to release another successful game since June’s Journey’s launch in 2017. Currently, the game is one of Playtika’s most sustainable and lucrative assets, but even the biggest hit games have limited lifespans. However, being the biggest game in its genre, June’s Journey definitely has quite a couple of years to go, as Candy Crush Saga proves by being exactly twice as old . A caveat here is that Wooga, and Playtika even more so, should be stringent to not get greedy and keep respecting the audience by refraining from adding increasingly predatory systems into the game’s feature set.

Regardless of the recent failure of Switchcraft , Wooga will keep trying to diversify its portfolio while still dominating the hidden object market by releasing new, successful games in the genre. Wooga’s new hidden object game, Ghost Detective , soft-launched in B-countries at the start of 2022 and in selected A-countries like the Netherlands, Ireland, and Canada last summer.

Granted, it’s still too early to tell as its RPD currently floats around $0.30, but the game is not a guaranteed success by far. Its mysterious, light horror theme is a less likely audience fit to the company’s most loyal players. Additionally, times have changed, and user acquisition has become less straightforward compared to when June’s Journey launched.

Regardless of Ghost Detective’s future, the most reliable way to save Wooga is to stay on course and follow the direction the company outlined in 2018: creating deep, narrative-driven experiences. For this reason, Wooga should acknowledge that its last successful mobile puzzle game was released almost a decade ago and that this segment probably isn’t the most scalable direction for its narrative- driven strategy. Along with releasing new hit hidden object games, diversifying into other genres that allow for a natural narrative integration is key. Detective games like Duskwood or The Girl in the Window come to mind. Another fresh direction could be the Room Escape subgenre (with games like Prison Escape Puzzle ) or the June’s Journey puzzle scenes to take inspiration from. Lastly, it’s a bit of a stretch, but there might even be options to innovate and try bringing a meaningful narrative to casual role-playing games like Empires & Puzzles or Archero! It’s all possible as long as new, story-driven hidden object successes keep coming.

A big thanks to Niek Tuerlings for writing this essay. If Naavik can be of help as you build or fund games, please reach out .

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Brightly Colored Rock

Amanda Winters makes her New York Times debut.

By Sam Corbin

Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky Clues

MONDAY PUZZLE — The origin of the phrase at the heart of Amanda Winters’s crossword theme rests in myth and is often attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (also called Thoth ), the Egyptian-Greek god whose Emerald Tablet is considered the founding text of alchemy . And although the puzzle describes this phrase as a “philosophical principle,” the interpretation varies widely. The maxim has been used by astrologers to describe the influence of planets on our lives; by culture writers to excuse flakiness during the holidays; and by Madonna to credit guardian angels for her survival after a dangerous fall.

This puzzle is Ms. Winters’s debut in The New York Times, and it seems apt to describe her beginning as auspicious. Have a crack at the grid and see how its philosophy squares with you. And if you struggle with any clues, you can blame the absence of guardian angels or planetary interference. Mercury is in retrograde , after all.

Today’s Theme

By filling in the grid, we see a cluster of letters repeated throughout the shaded areas: A-S-S-O. We don’t have an immediate indication of how the letters are meant to be read — and for a while I was convinced that the constructor was trying to name-drop a certain British online clothing company . Ms. Winters’s revealer provides us with much-needed guidance.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW — the “philosophical principle in which Earth mirrors heaven” — is split between 39- and 41-Across. And just like that, the pattern emerges: AS appears in the top row of each shaded square, SO below that row. Should we struggle with any clues that cross these squares, we now know at least part of the answers: “Where sailors go” (15A) must be AS_ _, and the “Noise that accompanies a shock wave” (18A) is SO_ _ _ _ _ _ _. (ASEA and SONIC BOOM are the answers there.)

The alignment of these pairs of letters is no cosmic coincidence. Christina Iverson , a puzzle editor at The Times, said that the stacking of theme entries was “hard to pull off,” requiring from both the constructor and the editors “a lot of time tinkering to get the best fill around it all.”

Tricky Clues

27A. A “Puppy’s bark” could be a little “Arf!” Here it’s a littler YIP.

35A. Just when I think I’ve finally achieved textile literacy, a “Sleek fabric” called SATEEN comes along. SATEEN is made from cotton, which — counter to what those double E’s might suggest — does not make the fabric shiny (or sheeny). Silk-derived satin has more sheen.

44A. In somewhat loftier language, to “Wipe away” is to EFFACE. We tend to see the term most often in “self-effacing,” as in humor or behavior someone uses to appear modest.

3D. The “Yellow fruits that, despite their name, look more like apples” are ASIAN PEARS. They taste more like apples, too, retaining more snap and juiciness than buttery European pears like Bartlett and Bosc.

32D. What are the “Components of a green house?” The space between the last two words of this clue suggests not plant life but SOLAR PANELS, which tend to be found on top of eco-friendly (or “green”) homes.

56D. An unassuming debut sometimes makes for a tricky clue. The “Taiwanese tech company” ASUS never appeared in a Times Crossword until now — and may have stymied solvers who expected other frequently appearing four-letter tech giants like Acer.

Constructor Notes

Hello, fellow crossword lovers! I’m a data scientist currently based in Atlanta and originally from Portland, Ore. I’ve loved puzzles, wordplay and trivia for as long as I can remember. I’ve been an avid Times Crossword solver for years, and I finally took the leap into constructing last spring. This is my New York Times debut, which is an absolute dream come true. I had heard the phrase AS ABOVE, SO BELOW used in a philosophical context before starting to construct crosswords. A few months after I began, I came across the phrase again and saw it through a cruciverbalist lens, thinking, What if AS ABOVE, SO BELOW were taken literally? And voilà, the idea for this puzzle was born. There was a lot of trial and error involved in designing the grid and placing the theme squares, since I wanted to include as many as possible while ensuring that all of the entries that exceeded seven letters passed through a theme square. At the time, this challenge was quite frustrating, but in retrospect it made constructing this puzzle much more fun! Huge shout-out to my husband, Jordan, who has been my biggest cheerleader throughout my nascent crossword constructing journey; to my dad, who is always willing to be my sounding board for new theme ideas; and to the folks on Crosscord who provided invaluable feedback on this puzzle’s earlier drafts.

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Sam Corbin writes about language, wordplay and the daily crossword for The Times. More about Sam Corbin

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The editor of Connections , our new game about finding common threads between words, talks about how she makes this daily puzzle feel fun .

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Women's NCAA championship TV ratings crush the men's competition

Vanessa Romo

An average of about 18.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the South Carolina Gamecocks triumph over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship on Sunday. Morry Gash/AP hide caption

An average of about 18.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the South Carolina Gamecocks triumph over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship on Sunday.

The University of South Carolina wasn't the only winner of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. The television networks carrying the game were, too – with a record-setting number of viewers tuning in to watch the championship on Sunday.

The final game, between South Carolina's Gamecocks and the University of Iowa's Hawkeyes, averaged about 18.7 million viewers and peaked at a whopping 24 million combined on ESPN and ABC, making it the first time in history that a women's final has drawn a larger TV audience than the men's, according to ESPN.

In contrast, the victory of the men's Division 1 UConn Huskies over Purdue averaged 14.82 million on TBS and TNT.

Ticket prices for the women's Final Four games rival the men's

But it's not the only sports glass ceiling that was crushed; Sunday's game was also the most-watched basketball game, either men's or women's and college or professional, since 2019.

Sunday's title game was the third consecutive record-setting night for television viewership of the women's college tournament. The Elite Eight matchup between Iowa and LSU — a rematch of the 2023 NCAA championship, drew a then-record 12.3 million viewers , ESPN said, with a peak audience of 16.1 million. The subsequent semifinals between Iowa and the University of Connecticut broke that record, attracting 14.2 million TV viewers, ESPN said .

ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro called the championship faceoff "a fitting finale" to the March Madness tournament.

"These exceptional athletes, coaches and teams captured our attention in unprecedented ways and it's incumbent on all of us to keep the incredible momentum going," Pitaro said in a statement.

These 4 stars are poised for a deep run in March Madness. Here's who to watch

A new generation of superstar athletes has fueled a new passion for women's basketball, particularly Iowa's Caitlin Clark, who became the most prolific scorer in NCAA history this season.

Other huge draws this season include LSU's Angel Reese, the NCAA's record-holder for double-doubles in a season; UConn's Paige Bueckers, who will be back on the team next year for her senior season instead of entering the 2024 WNBA draft; and the freshman phenom from USC, JuJu Watkins.

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Mergatory Is Truly a Game Changer in 'Survivor's New Era?

When the castaways drop their buffs, they're stuck in Merge Limbo. It's now a changing game of strategy for the individuals.

The Big Picture

• The New Era of Survivor has changed the merge stage by introducing "Mergatory" where players must earn their buffs and merge feast.
• The traditional merge boot has shifted in Survivor due to new mechanics like Shot in the Dark, altering gameplay strategies significantly.
• While earning rewards adds depth, some question the need for Mergatory and changes to the classic individual gameplay of Survivor .

In the New Era of Survivor , the merge stage of the game has changed. Despite all the remaining castaways dropping their buffs, they are temporarily stuck in "Mergatory," as the fandom and players have lovingly called it. In this Survivor limbo, players must earn their buffs, the merge feast, and safety in the first Tribal Council as a new tribe. As proven once again on Survivor 46 , with limited targets available to vote for, the game of numbers and shifting alliances can change the entire trajectory for the rest of the game. While it does alter how the game is played, it is a welcome way to shake up the obvious merge boot from the game prior to the New Era. It's one of the exciting changes in the New Era. But is it the best mechanic for the game as it currently stands?

Since the show first began, Survivor has been essentially a game played in two phases. First is the tribal stage, where players are divided into a certain number of tribes ranging anywhere from two to four. In this portion of the game, they must work as a team to win and keep themselves safe from being voted out. At a certain point in the game, the players will merge into one tribe where they will now be tasked to play and survive as individuals. For castaways playing prior to the forty-first season, once the tribes have merged, the remaining players would earn a merge feast along with their buffs, alongside their ability to play for themselves. The only real unexpected element would be when exactly the jury would start, as it was not a guarantee to make the jury should you make the merge. But once host Jeff Probst threw everything against the wall in the New Era, the merge has changed. There is a new phase, "Merge-atory." This purgatory element is a psychological mechanic where Jeff essentially is forcing his players to earn their merge buff, something that he is quite fond of in the New Era.

A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.

The First Merge Vote on 'Survivor' Has Changed

For many Survivor hopefuls, winning the game is the end goal, but making the merge is usually the second bucket list item behind not being voted out first. Making the merge is a huge goalpost moment in the game as it has allowed the players to alter their game. Perhaps in the tribe portion of the game, a player is in the minority. They can use the merge to their advantage, finding new allies to help boost their standing. Perhaps in the tribe portion of the game, a tribe enters with all of their original players. They can use the merge to their advantage, pulling in a player or two to help fluff their number majority and dominate to the end of the game. Traditionally, being a strong player in the tribal portion of the game tends to keep them safe, but when the tribes merge, if a physically dominating player doesn't have individual immunity, their head is usually on the chopping block, leading to a strong player being voted out first at merge. It was a way to ensure that person didn't go on an Immunity Challenge winning streak. With a new stage occurring before the official merge, the typical merge boot has shifted. Smart and strategic players, beware!

In the New Era of Survivor , Jeff has teased his contestants that until everyone has a buff, they are not a fully united merged tribe. There is a challenge dropped in their path to success. In order to reach the next stage, the tribes will be split into two where they will compete in a combined Reward and Immunity challenge. The winning team will earn their merge buff and merge feast. While they will be able to cast a vote for someone on the losing team, the players on the winning team cannot be voted for. It has been tradition that with an uneven number of players, typically one player will sit out and either get to choose their champion in terms of betting which team will win, or they will be whisked away to an Exile Island type situation where they are teased with a game-changing opportunity. Remember the hourglass during Survivor 41 and Survivor 42 ? In those two situations, the exiled player, ultimate Survivor 41 winner Erika Casupanan and Rocksroy Bailey from Survivor 42 had the opportunity to smash the hour glass and change who has safety in the upcoming Tribal Council. Luckily for the viewers, they both opted to change fate and caused just enough chaos to keep things interesting.

Players Adjust As the Tribes Start To Merge

For the first two seasons where this was implemented, it was a welcome and fascinating new element. It truly kept the castaways on their toes, forcing them to adjust their strategy as the potential targets may have shifted based on if they've won safety or not. Depending on who is available and vulnerable to vote for, the three starting tribes must decide whether it's more important to keep their original tribal number advantage or find new allies to help shift the targets and future trajectory. Without an element to alter if the safe castaways may lose their safety, the votes have been becoming more cut and dry. While the strategy has completely changed compared to how this portion of Survivor used to be played, the New Era players have figured out how to hack this vote. And it's all thanks to the controversial Shot in the Dark.

While it only worked to one player's advantage, Survivor 45 and Survivor 46 watched both targets use the Shot in the Dark advantage in order to save their place. For Kaleb Gebrewold , his advantage play negated all the votes for him, saving him, and causing a re-vote and the shocking blindside of J. Maya . This season, Moriah Gaynor became the unfortunate target for all the players. Her Shot in the Dark was unsuccessful, and she was voted out nearly unanimously. With no new twist integrated into Mergatory, players know that it's best to play their Shot in the Dark as it is their last ditch effort to save themselves. The goal in this vote is to target a strategic player rather than a physical player, something that has drastically changed the game.

What Is "Playing Too Hard" in 'Survivor'?

The merge portion of Survivor is one of the most exciting elements of the entire game. While Survivor is a game that deserves to evolve and change, it should consistently shift its elements in order to make the game unexpected and exciting. The Mergatory aspect of Survivor forces players to adapt to the new mechanics they are given. While it's not always the outcome fans want, some of the New Era's Mergatory episodes have proven to be some of the most thrilling and exciting to watch go down. The merge portion of the game is supposed to be played individually, but in recent seasons, adding double Tribal Councils and multiple Immunity holders following the merge is a step too far.

Survivor is a game of ever-changing strategy and adjusting to the elements , but intertwining group challenges and partial tribal votes in the merge stage of the game distracts and strays away from the classic element of the game. It's certainly possible to understand why Jeff and the Survivor team would want to keep players on their toes, but it's not the classic way the game has played. Even with a shortened season, shocking the players with inconsistent twists and turns can stray away from how the classic game should be played. Sometimes "more is more" is a good thing. In this situation, not so much. Perhaps it's time to edit the twists a tad.

Why All Players Deserve the Merge Feast

Jeff Probst has been very adamant that everything in the New Era of Survivor must be earned . It's a way to help prove the difficulty of the game, especially in the shortened time frame of game play. It's been an understandable and controversial sticking point for fans, but his logic holds some weight. While it's still a tricky situation whether the players should have to earn their flint or not, another element that should be provided for all players, once all castaways have officially made the merge following the Mergatory vote, is the merge feast. Using Jeff's logic of players needing to earn everything, the vulnerable players who were not voted out at Tribal Council did earn their buffs and their safety. Hence, shouldn't they earn their merge feast as well?

As it currently stands, the winners of the Mergatory challenge automatically get their merge feast. And they will be the only ones to have the chance to eat like kings and queens. But following the Tribal Council, the vulnerable players earn their buffs as a merge tribe, and they do not get a chance to eat. Why? Well, there's no explanation. Despite this being the new trend in the New Era, it's been a grand tradition on Survivor to see all the merged players chow down on a merge feast. Back in the day, they even had the opportunity to find immunity idols and advantages hidden in the food and cutlery. It would be a great change to see Survivor bring this back into the New Era.

Survivor fans can sometimes be traditionalists. Twists and turns are inherent in the game as it keeps Survivor fresh. Once Survivor Mergatory was implemented during Survivor 41 , new strategies have emerged and how to handle the individual stage of Survivor has evolved. Keeping a portion of the New Era twist is welcome, but in order to make it have its full impact, other little twists should not be paired with it. Regardless of how Survivor handles the merge moving forward, it's been a complete game changer.

Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8:00pm on CBS in the U.S. All seasons of Survivor can be streamed on Paramount+.

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Nuggets 2024 Playoff Schedule: Every playoff game (updated)

Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the Denver Nuggets are on a quest to repeat as NBA champions this season. Here is everything to know to follow their journey through the 2024 playoffs.

By Lior Lampert | Apr 17, 2024, 5:26 PM EDT

Two-time NBA MVP and presumed favorite to win his third award in four seasons, Nikola Jokic, and the Denver Nuggets are on a quest to defend their crown as reigning champions after finishing with a 57-25 record and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Denver has a chance to join rarified air by winning another championship, making them the 14th team in league history to win back-to-back titles and the first since the Golden State Warriors did it in 2017-18.

But the Nuggets have a long way to go before reaching the stage of the NBA Finals in a highly competitive West playoff picture where each series should be a dogfight and only get more intense as the stakes get raised. 

Let's assess the Nuggets' schedule for the 2024 NBA Playoffs as they prepare for what they hope will be another long postseason run that ends with them hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

Nuggets 2024 playoff schedule: Every game's date, start time, and TV channel

As of this writing, Wednesday, Apr. 17, this is how things stand for the Nuggets:

• Game 1: vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Saturday, Apr. 20, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
• Game 2: vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Monday, Apr. 22, 10:00 p.m. ET, TNT
• Game 3: at Los Angeles Lakers, Thursday, Apr. 25, 10:00 p.m. ET
• Game 4: at Los Angeles Lakers, Saturday, Apr. 27, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC
• Game 5 (if necessary): vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Monday, Apr. 29, TBD, TBD
• Game 6 (if necessary): at Los Angeles Lakers, Thursday, May 2, TBD, TBD
• Game 7 (if necessary): vs. Los Angeles Lakers, Saturday, May 4, TBD, TNT

The Nuggets will face the Los Angeles Lakers, who defeated the New Orleans Pelicans in the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday.

Game 1 will be on Saturday, Apr. 20, at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, where the Nuggets had a 33-8 regular season record (tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for most home wins in the conference).

This page will be updated with additional tip-off times and TV channels, particularly through Games 5 and 7, if necessary.

Iowa-South Carolina NCAA championship game smashes TV ratings record for women's basketball

The women’s national championship game that pitted South Carolina against Iowa Sunday smashed a TV ratings record for the most-watched women’s basketball game ever, according to ESPN , which along with ABC televised the game and cited Nielsen Fast Nationals.

The number of viewers peaked at 24 million and drew an average of 18.7 million viewers during a game in which South Carolina prevailed over Caitlin Clark and Iowa, 87-75 , at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.

ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro called it "a fitting finale" to the most-viewed ever NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

"These exceptional athletes, coaches and teams captured our attention in unprecedented ways and it’s incumbent on all of us to keep the incredible momentum going," Pitaro said. "I’m also very proud of our talented and committed employees for how they presented this historic event."

The previous record for the most-watched women’s basketball game was set two days earlier during the Final Four semifinal game between Iowa and Connecticut . That game averaged 14.2 million viewers, according to ESPN, which televised the game during a historic women’s NCAA Tournament for TV ratings.

The Iowa-UConn game broke a record set in the prior round, with the Iowa-LSU game in the Elite Eight having averaged 12.3 million viewers.

With Clark pitted against undefeated South Carolina on Sunday, the game was the most-watched sporting event since 2019, with the exception of football and the Olympics, according to ESPN. It also was the most watched basketball game of any level since 2019, according to ESPN.

Additionally, the South Carolina-Iowa game became the second most-watched non-Olympic sporting event ever on U.S. television behind the women's World Cup Final in 2015, when the United States beat Japan, 5-2.

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Chris Paul said he isn’t retiring, but is there any future with the Warriors?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Chris Paul is 11 hours from his 19th NBA season ending. He’s less than a month from turning 39. He takes a seat in the third row of Golden 1 Center after the Golden State Warriors’ morning shootaround in Sacramento. Later that night, the Sacramento Kings blow them out 118-94, an elimination that also throws into question Paul’s immediate future.

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But this much is clear: Paul is not retiring. He will play a 20th NBA season somewhere.

“I’ll talk to my wife and my kids, my family, my support system, see what it looks like,” Paul told The Athletic . “But this isn’t (the end of my career). I know it for sure.”

Paul remains under contract for the Warriors next season, but there’s a necessary caveat. All $30 million of his deal is non-guaranteed. Part of the Warriors’ reasoning behind the Jordan Poole for Paul trade last offseason was the financial flexibility it would provide this summer. The Warriors can use it as a trade vehicle or wipe all $30 million off the books before it guarantees on June 28.

Those options and decisions will be explored in the coming weeks. But Joe Lacob and the Warriors’ ownership group have already indicated a desire to avoid the second apron and even duck the luxury tax entirely, resetting the repeater clock. Salary slashing is needed for that goal. Tuesday’s elimination — capping a turbulent 46-win season that finished with the 10th seed and zero playoff home dates — would only seem to accelerate that desire for a financial pullback.

So Paul’s future with the Warriors is as uncertain (and perhaps more unlikely) than any other player who left the locker room late Tuesday night.

“I haven’t thought about it,” Paul said. “I’m too in it. I was in the gym at 8 a.m. this morning, lifting and getting ready for this game. When it’s time for that, Mike (Dunleavy) and Steve (Kerr), we’ll have a conversation and see what it looks like. But I loved it. It’s honestly — this is my fifth year living without my family — I probably saw them more than any other year.”

That’s because of the proximity to Los Angeles, but also because of Kerr’s open culture. Families are welcomed into the interior of the Warriors’ building and around the team more than is typical in the NBA.

“That’s probably what I appreciated the most out of everything is just the communication of letting me know when days are going to be off,” Paul said. “Then your family can fly on the team plane like, I ain’t seen that. I’m grateful to Steve for that.”

When Paul went searching for a temporary place to stay in San Francisco after the trade, his wife helped him find a high-rise. Soon after moving into it, he discovered another notable tenet lived a floor below. He had moved into Draymond Green ’s building.

“Luckily it’s nice enough that you can’t hear the person below,” Paul said.

Paul’s inner circle showed varying forms of shock and apprehension after he joined the Warriors, his heated conference rival the previous decade. There’d been so many competitive dust-ups and heated playoff nights between the sides. But Paul embraced it quickly, believing in the shared traits between the sides.

“I didn’t expect it to be bad,” Paul said. “When the trade happened, I was excited, I was energized. It’s been really cool to see all the basketball knowledge, the way different guys approach every day. When people ask about my experience here, I tell them I sort of got a chance to peek behind the curtain.”

The Warriors faced the Utah Jazz at home on a Sunday toward the end of the season. They faced the Lakers on Tuesday in Los Angeles. After the Utah game, Paul, Green and Klay Thompson — who all have homes in L.A. — chartered a plane down a day before the team. Trevor Ariza happened to be in town. Paul told Ariza to hop on their plane.

Ariza was a part of those Houston Rockets teams that the Warriors eliminated in the Western Conference finals twice. He knows how heated the rivalry became between Paul and the Warriors, how much Paul stewed over the losses, and how the Warriors taunted after the wins.

“He was sitting in the plane like, ‘Man, I would have never thought. …'” Paul said. “‘I would’ve never thought we’d all be on here together.'”

Paul and Green didn’t envision it, but they embraced it once it arrived on their doorstep. Literally. Green took the elevator a floor up and went over to Paul’s house on several occasions throughout the season, watching other NBA games, college, NFL — talking basketball schematics, life, family, kids, future.

“I’m thankful and honored, happy as hell I got the opportunity to play with him this year,” Green said. “It’s not something in a million years we ever imagined. Other than winning, it couldn’t have gone better. Built a relationship that’ll go beyond whether he’s here next year or not and whether I’m here next year or not. I haven’t come across many, if any, guys like him.”

Paul also built a relationship with Thompson. Paul accepted a reserve role in the third game of the season, coming off the bench for the first time in his 19-year career, a move that Kerr said sent a message to the rest of the roster about sacrifice. Thompson accepted a bench role in February for the first time in more than a decade. The two then connected a second-unit duo. Kerr tied their minutes together.

Paul told Thompson several times throughout the season that he’d get on his boat for a ride across the San Francisco Bay. They had to cancel once because of bad weather. This past week, before the last game of the regular season, Paul and Moses Moody rode across the water with Thompson to the game.

“Really cool,” Paul said. “It’s always going to be a little choppy when you get to the deep water, but…”

Then Paul went bigger picture.

“I got so many (former teammates) in my career that, like, I have no relationship with,” Paul said. “Don’t really care to or anything like that. Or people who don’t like me or whatever. That don’t keep me up at night. But I’m grateful that I got a chance to be here with these guys. Me and Steph were already connected. Me and Dray definitely, you know, got a real connection now. And somebody I’m grateful that I really got a chance to know is Klay.”

Paul understands the business better than just about any other current player. He knows his contract setup, the Warriors’ tax crunch and will be in on the conversations that dictate his 2024-25 NBA home. Some paths could theoretically bring him back on a cheaper deal. He says he loved his time with the Warriors on a personal level.

But there’s the basketball side that also complicates the equation. Paul isn’t necessarily ready to just accept a lower-usage backup point guard role for the final seasons of his career. He remains of the belief that he can still run a team on a high-minute basis. Paul averaged 26.4 minutes per game this season. He’d been at 32 the last couple of seasons and averaged 34.6 for his career, never dipping below 31. All his counting stats were career-lows.

“I try to do the most with the opportunity that was given,” Paul said. “For me, it’s always been about winning, whatever that looks like. But I know I got a lot more to give to the game. The situation is what it is. But I’ve loved every bit about (this season). I’ve loved every bit of it. Getting a chance to compete with these guys.”

As the Warriors shifted around the rotation repeatedly this season, Paul fit perfectly as Stephen Curry ’s backup point guard. They performed better as a team without Curry than they had in several seasons. But Kerr struggled to find usable lineups with both Curry and Paul on the floor because of the size disadvantage, especially with Thompson also out there.

“It’s a difficult situation for him that he handled beautifully,” Kerr said. “He’s always been the starting point guard for his team. But you look at our team and we’re pretty small. Even though he’s one of our best players, if we want to throw our best players out there — and he’s one of them — you start adding up Chris, Steph, Klay, it’s not the ideal roster for him.

“But he was fantastic for us because he became our backup point guard. As I’ve said many times, our non-Steph minutes were the best they’ve ever been because of Chris’ leadership.”

Not the ideal roster for him . That’s the subsection of that Kerr quote that probably hits the hardest. Paul, on a reasonable deal, still makes plenty of sense for the Warriors as a backup point guard to stabilize them with Curry out. But he still desires more and his on-court impact and production and market could justify that, making a reunion unlikely.

“You saw tonight, (the Kings’) size and physicality overwhelmed us,” Kerr said. “When you look at the combinations that we have out there, it usually kind of separates Steph and Chris and Klay. So there’s not as many minutes as Chris would like.

“But the way he handled it this season was incredible. He’s so professional. Such a great mentor for the younger guys. One of the great pros I’ve ever been around. I love coaching Chris and I really hope we bring him back.”

(Top photo: Sean M. Haffey / NBAE via Getty Images)

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Anthony Slater is a senior writer covering the Golden State Warriors for The Athletic. He's covered the NBA for a decade. Previously, he reported on the Oklahoma City Thunder for The Oklahoman. Follow Anthony on Twitter @ anthonyVslater