I do not care about lost credits, but what piss me off that the cards are automatically added to the collection - (it was very hard ask if i want that card add to collection or throw it into the trash). Really thanks for destroy my collection.

PS. i played last time, this time i saved my money

Over 1000 credits + bonus credits worth of spins and finally one special card...not the one I wanted. No Ginebra. This game is BS. Wish I had read this thread before playing.

Let's all face it: exclusive cards, and promos about them, managed to make upset both collectors of all cards and selective pickers, more and more. Not exactly a success... Such an approach can surely be remunerative at the start, but it's getting a huge and still increasing amount of very negative feedbacks that can not be ignored... We all saw what happened this time. I think Team should totally reconsider (and end asap) these exclusive releases, that could, in the end, make them lose customers. In my opinion exclusivity, for lots of reasons, has been a total failure.

I don't see any remembering when Totem was literally giving money away when the buy 1000 credits get 250 or whatever the extra amount was and that lasted longer then a weekend.

That is neither literally nor figuratively giving money away. As you further point out, a company's first priority is to make a profit, and that's exactly what Totem did with that promotion. Giving money away? You have to be joking. It was an interesting promotion for sure. Much more interesting than those "special event" cards that appear in the store as a bait yet can't be bought. But it was in no imaginable way giving money away.

A company first priority is to make a profit. The money is not at the 3 diamond level. We already getting a heck of a discount and more than likely we already either have all the cards or have picked all the cards we mostly want. If this was my company I would be going after the lower users and getting them hooked in as well.

And there's nothing to be said against the present game per se. It is indeed interesting for new customers, there's absolutely no doubt about it. The problem is that: a- those "special event" cards are put in as a bait to get big collectors to jump in; and b- both rate and probability are apparently making it very, very costly for those who take the bait.

Yes, they shouldn't take the bait, but they do and they end out with the feeling of getting ripped off. This has nothing to do with "lower users" who actually benefit a lot from this. This has to do with upsetting big customers and not caring a fig about it.

As with most HOBBIES in life you never going to get back what you put in it so you either pay the cost and keep enjoying or finally say enough is enough and get out of it. That's really your only 2 options.

This is not a hobby. This is a product. We're not idle players, we're customers. Where's the enjoyment when you feel like you're being played like a fiddle for money?

And there's a third option (as there is ALWAYS whenever anyone says that there are only 2 options). You can also voice your concerns in the hope that the company actually cares for its customers. That is actually the way the vast majority of service firms have been going for decades now. "Take it or leave it" cannot be considered a fine business model anymore.

Over 1000 credits + bonus credits worth of spins and finally one special card...not the one I wanted. No Ginebra. This game is BS. Wish I had read this thread before playing.

Wow! This is bad. I've spent 300 + bonus and have yet to get a special card win but if I had and did not get the only card labeled as special on the store.... Bait and switch is a term that fits well here. You slip beyond unethical into the criminal.

@joecool110

I lost nearly 900+ bonus credits on the last one and did not get a single card out of it. Will never play this kind of game again. No matter what they throw at us for a prize. I have been with Totem since the original version of the software. Still extremely dissappointed at exclusivity. I could say more but other members have already voiced my opinoin of this sham.

@HonourSamurai

I agree with your last statement totally.

My goodness at this point i can't do anything but applaud Totem it's Monday mourning and i'm still reading horror stories about how much people loss with no gain.

I want the Ginebra card as much or even more than some people, but the odds of getting a lot of cards that i already left on the table is greater than getting the one card i want.

So i'll keep my money and credits and wait for the next game or promo and "hope" it works better for my selective card buying.

I'm no lawyer either but regarding the legality of these kind of games here, the BIG difference is that once you have freely paid your money to buy credits, you can only spend them here and they CANNOT be exchanged for cash.
A casino on the other hand will exchange any winnings (chips) for cash.

I'm guessing that a qualified lawyer would say that once a person has spent their cash on credits, then it doesn't matter, legally, how they are used within the confines of the only place they CAN be used.

The money has already been 'spent' freely so cannot be reclaimed in court. Nobody is ***** to play the games. Every member has the choice to use their credits how they wish.

Actually it is not that easy. They are operating in a grey area. At the moment there is similar discussion going on in regards to buying lootboxes in videogames. The belgian and dutch authorities already decided that they are illegal gambling and are going after companies selling lootboxes in videogame for real money or special game currency bought with real money. I am no lawyer either, but I am pretty sure therefore some of the games (scratch game included) on IS would be considered illegal gambling in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Like one other user said, Totem is playing with fire. If a gambling authority really tries to pursue their games and take them to court, there is a real possibility this could blow up right into Totems face eventhough their lawyer said they are fine.

If it's really impossible to make them buyable, the exclusive cards could at least be no more offered in gambling promos, with totally uncertain win rates - which make so many users upset.
A promo like the "Free packs" one of some weeks ago could be far better in my opinion; my idea is: who completes all the promo gets an exclusive card for free.
That would made happy both company and customers: company would still manage to to get a big amount of earnings on cards people wouldn't have bought otherwise; customers would able to get an exclusive card knowing in advance the credit amount to be spent in order to get it, and so there wouldn't be any complaint.

Exclusive cards for that event that you can't buy the standard way ?

No money from me, I don't want to support those methods.

You're going in dangerous direction that can ***** you a lot of long-time members, guys, seriously...

I hope that at least those cards will be available normally once this unpleasant event is over.

Wow, Monday evening and not even a form post from Totem?

Am I the only one that thinks Amibo or pokemon when it comes to I stripper? Of course there are going to be timed exclusives. Collectors are crazy when it comes to those types of things and of course its the marketing team to come up with new and better ways to get things out there like the games...


let's face it having ten girls on the screen and trying to scratch cards around em for me was kinda of hilarious and i basicly never took my finger off the right mouse button it was like microsoft paint trying to scratch those damn things lol.. I don't get to do a lot of things normal people do so these games make life a little more worth while...BUT THATS JUST ME

This is like everyones favourite rock band making an album and saying you can get it by entering a competition by buying scratch cards. You might get money, you might get an album by a Thrash Metal/Country and Western/Rap/Pop Band from the same label or you might get the album you want but the chances are very slim. Or you might get nothing. The one thing you can be certain of is that they will never let you buy it.
The internet would go ballistic! It would be on the news

Just let me buy the Ginebra Bellucci cards for pitys sake.

This is like everyones favourite rock band making an album and saying you can get it by entering a competition by buying scratch cards. You might get money, you might get an album by a Thrash Metal/Country and Western/Rap/Pop Band from the same label or you might get the album you want but the chances are very slim. Or you might get nothing. The one thing you can be certain of is that they will never let you buy it.
The internet would go ballistic! It would be on the news

Just let me buy the Ginebra Bellucci cards for pitys sake.

LOL! Good (and funny) point, @haruchai!

@HansSachs

One major problem with your idea.
What about members who already own so many cards that they would be unable to complete the promo and get the exclusive card?

This is like everyones favourite rock band making an album and saying you can get it by entering a competition by buying scratch cards. You might get money, you might get an album by a Thrash Metal/Country and Western/Rap/Pop Band from the same label or you might get the album you want but the chances are very slim. Or you might get nothing. The one thing you can be certain of is that they will never let you buy it.
The internet would go ballistic! It would be on the news

Just let me buy the Ginebra Bellucci cards for pitys sake.

Just to be clear: this is an ironic analogy, right? Hard to know sometimes.

Wow, Monday evening and not even a form post from Totem?

No wonder it was the same for the last time. I don't think the opinions of someone are interested. 😕

@peterbanker, sorry I didn't think at that. Maybe a "preorder" promo could be a better solution, then...
(Obviously, the best solution would be stopping exclusive releases, and making the existing ones buyable. I own one exclusive card, but wouldn't have ANY problem if I saw it available for everyone...)

This is like everyones favourite rock band making an album and saying you can get it by entering a competition by buying scratch cards. You might get money, you might get an album by a Thrash Metal/Country and Western/Rap/Pop Band from the same label or you might get the album you want but the chances are very slim. Or you might get nothing. The one thing you can be certain of is that they will never let you buy it.
The internet would go ballistic! It would be on the news

Just let me buy the Ginebra Bellucci cards for pitys sake.
Just to be clear: this is an ironic analogy, right? Hard to know sometimes.

👍

Whatever you do Totem, please do not end this promotion until after tomorrow - Tuesday. I have two people from the Massachusetts Gaming Comission who will be checking out your Scratch Game tomorrow. They thought they had only Scratch Card concession in the State! At minimum, there will likely be some kind of hearing, and maybe I will get a chance to listen to the Totem lawyers up close and personal! Only bad news is I will probably have to spend a few credits to show the Commission the scheme, but a small price!

@haruchai Phew, thanks, you have me worried for a minute there 👍

No guarantee but i did in the end get the special event card basically for free. from 20 scratches only 5 without 3 S icons and 1 time 50 credits and 1 time 100 credits were in there also with many 10 credits wins and a few cards. In the end my credit counter is the same as before i bought the scratch tickets. Either they increased the odds or i am just lucky.. can't say which one.

So I tried the game and it gave a crazy winning series for me. Thanks !

@Starryk

Either they increased the odds or I am just lucky.. can't say which one.

Neither - I was one of those that played this game quite soon after its appearance. I played about 10 times (not sure if it was 9, 10 or 11 times) so I spent about 100 credits - but I won 130 credits, and got the new special event card. If I had not had a full collection I would also have won another card as well. From what I have seen reported here the odds of winning do not seem far off 50-50 (though I doubt its quite that good) which is consistant with some having quite long losing streaks and others being lucky enough to get what they want quite quickly.

Either they increased the odds or i am just lucky.. can't say which one.

if they did that I would be pissed. REALLY BAD. I was down 800 credits when I finally got the card

I won 230 credits but spent 230 credits and ALMOST won the special card twice.

A lot of negative posts..........guess I'll add my 2 cents.........

Full disclosure......I have not participated in this "Game" and don't intend to as I value my credits a whole lot.
I have lost total confidence in @Totem. As an owner of the first 2 Advent Calendars, in the first post in each thread, the "exclusive" card was never to be offered outside of the calendar. Since @Totem has gone back on it's word to Calendar owners, who's to believe they "will make "the exclusive cards available" in other promotions" in the future....not me.....can not take their word for it. Alyssia Kent's exclusive card, received from getting 10 stars from the "Black Friday" event last Thanksgiving weekend, had No restrictions put on it, so that card Can be offered in other promotions. Which I don't have any problem with. So I will not "gamble" my credits to have a "chance" at Ginebra's card or get cards that I Do Not Want. I am not a collector, I am a selector, with about 85-90% of cards in my collection. The other 10-15% I am not interested in getting, another reason I will not play this "Game"

Having "Exclusive Cards" in the Girls Store makes No Sense. To me, exclusive cards are Exactly like the cards removed from the store........they DO NOT belong there. In a future version of the software, hopefully @Totem will realize it's mistake and Remove the "Special Event" cards from the store as this has caused anger from a lot of members.

No response from @Totem, don't expect one, they are getting the desired results, lots of members gambling away their credits trying to get a "Exclusive" card. And don't be surprised if this happens in the future.

@Totem is concentrating on it's new members as they are bringing a higher profit level than it's long time members, which I understand. By coincidence, this weekend marked my 10th anniversity with VirtuaGirl/iStripper 😎 But if this trend continues, which sadly I do believe, I would have to think long & hard about my future with iStripper...........as other longtime members should. We have been with you a long time @Totem....don't ignore us 😕

To those of you that got Ginebra's card, congratulations on getting the card, hope it was worth it. Looks like I won't be joining you as @Totem doesn't want me to have the card 😭 But i'll do without it.

I'll stop here, as adding any more will cause me to get more upset than I already am 😠👎👎

Again, just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.................

More disappointing than the promotion itself is the lack of tangible response from Totem. Sure, a couple of comments - but really, they should turn this thing around. It's creating a LOT of bad *****.

Me personally, I've purchased a bunch of tokens, and the credits have been deducted ... but I did not receive the tickets. An even worse experience overall.

Still SMH over this one.

---

Edit:

Luckily, I restarted the app and the tickets I thought I'd lost were available - so there was that.

I *finally* unlocked the Special Event Card, but it took around 2000 credits gambled. In fairness, I got most of them back with credit wins, but it definitely didn't feel "enjoyable" for a collector like me - more like "annoying".

Something that felt wrong to me too is that I never one a "1 card" promotion ... because I have them all ... so I'm guessing the algorithm isn't entirely random, which is maddening.

I really think Totem should put an end to the "gambling" aspects of iStripper. Just let people buy what they want, for crissakes. Collectors like myself with THOUSANDS of dollars invested don't care for these gimmicks.

I'm all for "lucky promotions" where you get a bonus if you purchase in bulk (like the Feb promotion), and even for "surprise" bonuses. But straight up gambling with credits is frustrating.

C'mon Totem - you're much better than that. You've been doing this for 20 years, so surely by now you've figured out what customers want?