Is Merge Gardens Legit or a Scam Game? (Full Review 2025)

🌿 Merge Gardens Review – A Copycat “Freemium” Game or Real Earning Platform?

1. Introduction

Not long ago, I stumbled upon a game called Merge Gardens, a colorful and “relaxing” puzzle game that invites players to restore a beautiful garden by merging similar objects. The game’s ad promised fun, creativity, and even a sense of progress — but as I played through several levels, the truth began to unfold.

At first, Merge Gardens felt like a gentle, charming puzzle game — one that anyone could enjoy for free. But soon, the game’s design revealed its real nature: a money-draining freemium trap, cleverly disguised as a relaxing pastime. It’s a clone of another popular game, Merge Dragons, and uses the same “merge three” mechanic to keep players hooked — and paying.

Let’s go step by step to expose what Merge Gardens really is and why it’s nothing more than another fake-free game with hidden paywalls.

2. What Merge Gardens Is All About

Merge Gardens is a “merge-three” puzzle game — meaning you combine three identical items (like fruits, plants, or eggs) to evolve them into a higher-level item. Your goal is to restore a ruined garden to its full beauty by merging and collecting hundreds of different objects.

The game starts peacefully: you merge fruits, bushes, and butterflies, and your garden flourishes. You even get small creatures (called helpers or bees) to help you collect rewards.

However, the deeper you play, the more you realize that every little action — from unlocking a new area to hatching a creature — costs energy, gems, or special coins. And those items? They’re limited — unless you pay.

In other words, Merge Gardens isn’t a game of creativity; it’s a game of waiting or paying.

3. How It Works

Here’s how the gameplay is structured:

You start with a small piece of land filled with items that can be merged.
Combine three or more identical objects to form a higher-tier one.
Continue merging to clear more land and earn rewards.
As you progress, the map gets larger, but the items needed become rarer.
You’re soon short on energy, which is needed to perform merges.

That’s where the monetization begins: the game pops up a screen telling you to buy gems or wait hours for energy to refill.

The higher you go, the longer the waiting time — and the harder it becomes to merge anything unless you spend real money to speed things up.

This is the psychological trap most freemium games use: they make the first few levels ridiculously easy, letting players feel smart and capable, and then slowly choke progress behind paywalls.

4. CEO / Developer Information

Merge Gardens is developed and published by Futureplay Games Ltd, a mobile game company based in Helsinki, Finland. Futureplay is known for titles like Idle Farming Empire, Battlelands Royale, and Idle Tuber Empire.

Although Futureplay is a legitimate developer, it’s heavily focused on freemium and ad-based monetization — meaning almost all their games rely on microtransactions and in-game purchases for profit.

Interestingly, Merge Gardens itself is nearly identical to Merge Dragons by Gram Games, showing that it’s largely a copycat of an existing concept, only with slightly different artwork and garden themes.

So, while the developer is real, the originality and fairness of the gameplay are questionable.

5. Source of Income – How the Game Makes Money

Unlike genuine reward apps, Merge Gardens does not offer players real earnings. Instead, the game makes money from the players through several methods:

💰 In-App Purchases: Players are constantly offered gem packs, boosters, and time skips. Prices range from $0.99 to over $49.99.
📺 Forced Advertisements: After almost every merge or failed attempt, you’re shown ads. Each view generates revenue for the developer.
🧠 Freemium Delay Design: You’re made to wait hours for items or buy gems to speed things up — another psychological trick to push spending.

So while the game claims to be “free,” it’s carefully structured to drain small payments from you over time — a classic example of a pay-to-progress system.

6. Referral Program

There is no referral program or any official way to earn real money by inviting friends to play Merge Gardens. The only sharing system is when the game asks you to connect to social media for “bonus gifts” — but these gifts are just small in-game items, not real rewards.

You promote the game for free, but you gain absolutely nothing of value.

7. Withdrawal System and Payment Methods

Let’s make this clear — Merge Gardens has no withdrawal system.

There is no option to cash out, no PayPal section, no crypto wallet, no money rewards at all.
Every purchase flows one way — from your wallet to the developer’s.

The game never promises real-world money, but the way it’s advertised (especially on social media) often gives the impression that you can earn rewards for your progress. In truth, all you’re doing is paying to keep playing.

8. Red Flags (Scam Signs, User Complaints, Misleading Ads)

After going through several community forums, reviews, and gameplay experiences, here are the most alarming red flags found in Merge Gardens:

🚩 Fake “Free” Promise: The game advertises itself as free, but higher levels are almost unplayable without spending.

🚩 Endless Ads and Wait Times: You spend more time watching ads or waiting than actually playing.

🚩 Repetitive Clone Design: The gameplay is nearly identical to Merge Dragons, with almost no originality.

🚩 Psychological Monetization: The game deliberately introduces difficulty spikes and waiting loops to trigger impatience and micro-spending.

🚩 Player Complaints: Players have called it “boring,” “greedy,” and “repetitive.”

One common review on Google Play says:

“It’s fun until you realize everything needs gems. You either wait all day or pay to play. Not worth it.”

Another player commented:

“It feels like a copy of Merge Dragons but with more ads. After a week, I uninstalled.”

This shows a clear pattern — it’s not about fun; it’s about funneling you into small payments.

9. What Real Users Are Saying

Across platforms like Google Play, Facebook Gaming, and Reddit, users have been vocal about the deceptive side of Merge Gardens:

“You can’t progress without paying real money.”
“Energy runs out too quickly, and watching ads barely helps.”
“It’s a clone of Merge Dragons with worse balance.”
“Developers only care about revenue, not players.”

Despite the game having decent graphics, the overwhelming feedback points toward disappointment and exhaustion, especially from free players who can’t advance without paying.

10. Alternatives (Like LodPost.com)

If you’re tired of fake “free-to-play” games that actually charge you to progress, then it’s time to switch to LodPost.com — a genuine platform that rewards your real effort.

Unlike Merge Gardens, LodPost allows users to earn real money by writing articles, reviews, and blog posts.

✅ Sign-up bonus: $0.25
✅ Minimum withdrawal: $10
✅ Payment options: PayPal, crypto, or bank transfer
✅ No investment required
✅ Earnings based on views (CPM)

You don’t merge fruits or fake gardens; you merge your creativity and words into real income.

👉 Register now: https://lodpost.com/register

11. Final Verdict – Is Merge Gardens Real or a Scam?

Merge Gardens is not a scam in the sense of stealing your money illegally, but it is a psychological freemium trap.

It’s designed to appear friendly and free while gradually turning into a pay-to-play grind that frustrates players into spending real cash. There are no real rewards, no referral bonuses, and no cash withdrawals — just repetitive merging and endless ads.

It’s another example of how modern mobile games manipulate players’ patience for profit.

If you value your time and your money, avoid Merge Gardens. Spend your time on something that truly pays off — like LodPost, where your effort converts into real earnings, not just virtual plants.

⭐ Merge Gardens Rating:

Gameplay: ★★★☆☆ (3/5)
Originality: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5)
Fairness: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Earning Potential: ☆☆☆☆☆ (0/5)
Overall: 1.5 / 5