Hi. I’m Alex and it’s been 45 minutes since my last Tsum Tsum (applause from the group). My index finger is starting to get twitchy and I find myself searching the internet for plush Tsum Tsum’s to get my fix in-between games. But nothing really helps (starts to break down in tears)… I NEED MORE TSUM TSUMS!!!…
*Tsum Tsum coach smacks Alex in the face and tells him to remember the first step*
Sorry about that, folks. Life’s hard when you’re an addict. My latest addiction is a game and plush toy line called Disney Tsum Tsum. Let’s start with the game, which is produced by LINE. What’s LINE? I had the same question. Allegedly it’s the “leading free call and messaging app.” I thought that was Kik, but that’s another story. After downloading Disney Tsum Tsum on my iPad and opening it up, the game asked if I wanted to link my LINE account. I don’t have one and the app doesn’t allow you to create one. But it can link you back to the iTunes store so you can download LINE, create an account, and then reopen Tsum Tsum and login (Oy!). You can bypass this however, and that is the path I chose. LINE is the only social network Tsum Tsum will link through. This is really great, because my facebook can’t handle anymore game requests.
After starting the game, a cute introductory video shows these oval plushies having a party inside a closed Disney Store that looks nicer than any Disney Store I’ve ever seen (it must be in Japan… jealous feelings…). To start your road to ruin, the game gives you the Mickey Mouse Tsum Tsum. By the way, Tsum Tsum is Japanese and translates to “Stack Stack.” You select your Mickey Tsum Tsum and press play, which starts your first 60-second fix. That’s how long each game is, 60 seconds.
The cutest Japanese voice in the world screams “Ready? GO!!!!” and you’re off! 4 other characters accompany your Tsum Tsum in a chamber as multiples of each fall and land stacked in random order. Using a finger, you must connect the same Tsum Tsums together to pop them, releasing coins and earning points. If you connect 7 or more, an orb appears. Orbs are good, you want orbs. You can pop them during the game, which pops all Tsum Tsums adjacent to it, or wait until the 60 seconds are up, at which time the game will pop them and give you those coins and points as a bonus. And finally, the game picks one of the 5 Tsum Tsums in the chamber at random and pops all that remain, giving you your last hit of coins and points.
You can keep replaying until you are out of hearts. A new heart generates every 15 minutes and after your first gift of bonus hearts from the game, you can’t get more than 5 at a time without spending rubies (which you can collect as bonuses in the game or buy more with real money). Be prepared for the depression that hits when you use your final heart. I personally experience all 7 stages of grief in rapid succession while waiting for my hearts to regenerate. Oh boy… oh man… here they come… (fights back tears).
How do you get more Tsum Tsums? You have to buy a mystery box. There are two types of mystery boxes, Happiness Box and Premium Box. Happiness box costs 10,000 coins (I personally earn around 100 coins each game… that’s 500 coins every time all the hearts regenerate, which takes 75 minutes… ugh, math). Happiness boxes are filled with characters related to Mickey and Winnie the Pooh. Premium boxes cost 30,000 coins and are filled with characters from Disney and Pixar movies such as Toy Story, Lilo & Stitch, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. You can buy more coins with rubies and you can buy more rubies with real money (ugh, math). 20 rubies will set you back $1.99, or you can buy in greater increments which come with a greater percentage of rubies (ugh, math). The biggest quantity is 800 rubies for $54.99.
Why do you need more Tsum Tsums? Because they are AWESOME!!! Also you get more points in the game and each one has a specialty. I have four: Mickey, Minnie, Dale and Eeyore. Minnie, for example, can swap out Mickey if he appears as one of your random characters. Dale can do the same thing for Chip. Also, Tsum Tsums can level up at the same time. If I’m playing as Eeyore and Dale is in the chamber, Dale earns points towards leveling up along with Eeyore. I’m not quite sure what leveling up accomplishes. Maybe the Tsum Tsums get stronger? All of my Tsums came with a cap of level 5 and I have to spend 2,000 coins to break that cap on each of them.
There are daily missions and when you complete them, the window says they will regenerate at 24:00. This does NOT mean your midnight in the USA. It’s Japan’s midnight, which is 5:00 AM Eastern Time, 8:00 AM Pacific (and to blow your mind, it’s the next day… ugh, math). So far missions have included reaching a certain coin level and playing X number of games. Today’s mission was to send hearts to friends. This requires the previously mentioned LINE account, which would require you to have friends who also have a LINE account and play Tsum Tsum… It also requires you to have friends in general (ugh, life).
That’s the game. It’s fantastically fun and you will soon find that it beats human interaction and fresh air. So lock yourself inside all day and find a productive way to spend the 75 minutes between leveling up your hearts. Netflix is a good use of your time and now has Disney content. Woo hoo!!!
Now lets talk about the plush toy line of Tsum Tsums. Disney sent me one to assist in this review. They sent me one. They did this to me. Just one? It’s Thumper and he sits comfortably in the palm of my hand. He’s so squishy and cuddly and his little ears and tail are possibly the definition of “kawaii.” Also, his wittle tummy is a screen cleaner. I’ve used it countless times to wipe away the disgusting finger grease that gets all over my screen while playing Disney Tsum Tsum. Why are my fingers so greasy? (ugh, biology).
Plush Tsum Tsums can be bought at disneystore.com, domestic Disney Parks, and select Disney Stores. Some of them come in three sizes, which are small($4.95), medium($12.95) or large($24.95). Sadly, they don’t come in tall, grande, or venti. Characters offered in all three sizes are Mickey, Minnie and Winnie the Pooh. Characters offered in small and medium are Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Marie, Chip, Dale, and Stitch. Characters exclusively offered in the small size are Daisy, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, Bambi, Thumper, Ms. Bunny, Figaro and Scrump. Disney underestimated demand for most of these seemingly less popular characters as they are sold out online (including my wittle Thumper). Mind you these are not limited, they should be back in stock in the near future. You do not get a bonus in the game for having the plush, they’re solely for your spiritual and mental wellbeing. Thumper brings me to a newfound level of inner peace and binge eating.
A quick look at disneystore.co.jp reveals that the number of Tsum Tsum characters available in Japan is exponentially bigger, including beloved characters like Tinker Bell, nearly everyone from Alice in Wonderland (including the Little Oyster), and limited release characters like a polka dotted Donald and Daisy plus Huey, Duey & Louie. Disney expects Japan’s phenomenon to be big domestically, so the future probably holds many of these characters. Maybe even new ones, since the press sheet Disney sent shows a teeny tiny Olaf and Oswald.
I recently placed an order from Disney Store and this box of Tsum Tsums can’t arrive fast enough. First thing I’m going to do is see how high I can stack them. Then I intend to throw them in the air and roll in them as they fall on me like people do in movie montages when they are making a ton of money. Then I’ll probably have to wrestle a few of them out of my dogs mouth (my dogs have stolen Thumper 3 times). I might need a nap after this, maybe a box of Koala Yummies, and then it should be time to play Tsum Tsum again. Oh… help…
Would anyone like to join my self-help group, Tsum Tsum Addicts Anonymous?