(May 18, 2016) As part of a major update to the viral #1 hit game Make it Rain: the Love of Money, the new default dollar bills now feature Harriet Tubman. With this update, the game, which has 16 million viral downloads, and growing, is releasing the virtual Tubman bills at least 4 years before the US Treasury, which announced its plans to feature Harriet Tubman on US currency in April.
“The US Treasury’s decision to feature Harriet Tubman is an important step in recognizing this revolutionary hero, and acknowledging the impact of slavery and abolition on our country's past and present,” said Nicholas Reville, Space Inch Partner. “Though Make it Rain is a silly game, it also has a serious political message and we are glad to be able to feature Harriet Tubman for our millions of players.”
The version 4.0 release of Make it Rain also adds a new Apple Watch mini version, that lets players swipe cash from their wrist.
The new Make it Rain tournaments are a competition to see which player can rack up the most debt in the shortest amount of time, resembling a Brewster’s Millions contest, though winners are more likely to spend quintillions than millions. Players swipe a credit card and compete to rack up the most debt before the tournament ends. Players purchase various luxury items such as Emerald Sunglasses, Self Driving Champagne, a New Identity, a Radioactive Island, a Rigged Election etc. These purchases increase their credit limit, help them grow debt faster, and move up the ranks.
And players never have to pay off the debt-- that's the motto for Make it Rain tournaments: why pay off debt when you can rack up more! Whoever has the most debt, wins.
Tournaments work in 200 person brackets so there's lot of competition and a very good chance of winning. All tournament players get a prize.
Finally Make it Rain’s Apple watch extension is a super cute addition to the fun. Players can swipe away wherever they are.
(May 8, 2014) A side project of a tiny mobile game company has rocketed up the App Store charts. But the theme is money, income inequality, and political corruption. Launched April 2 by indie studio Space Inch, “Make It Rain: The Love of Money” grew slowly and, one week ago, sat outside the top 200 free games on the iPhone charts. Without any promotion or advertising, the game went viral and has been number 1 on the charts since Monday.
Make It Rain isn’t just a game. It’s a satire about wealth obsession and what it takes to become obscenely rich. Players manipulate business, political, and financial institutions to generate incredible fortunes. It’s striking a nerve in political discussions of wealth inequality and political corruption in the US.
“Make It Rain is a lot of fun to play on a superficial level,” said Space Inch CEO Josh Segall. “But what makes it particularly fun for players is the concept: you only get insanely rich in the game if you get into insider trading, subprime mortgages, and bribing political officials.”
And users do get insanely rich, virtually of course. Some users who started early have made it to $18 pentillion. Make It Rain is to wealth addiction what Flappy Bird was to frustration.
Here’s how Make It Rain works: users swipe a stack of dollar bills to earn money. They can use earnings to make various “business,” “financial,” and “political” investments that allow them to earn faster. Lower level players might run for class president or hire a PR firm as a political investment, but advanced users make voting machines and bribe federal judges.
These Make It Rain moguls are under constant threat of FBI investigation. Users are “indicted” often and forced to spin the FBI investigation wheel. “If convicted, you might lose half your fortune,” says Segall. “You hope for a mistrial. Or you can always get out of it by using ‘bribe cards.’” The app makes money by showing ads and by selling virtual items. The most popular item is “1 pack of 5 bribe cards,” for 99 cents.
"If we get to where one of the top selling virtual items on iPhones is a bribe to the Justice Department, that will be unique," said Segall, a practicing criminal lawyer in Alabama who ran for Congress in 2008.
So far, Make It Rain has experienced its wild viralness only in the United States. "We don't know why it's only popular with Americans,” said Ari Kardasis, a Space Inch founder and one of the lead developers. "Maybe it's because we only have US currency, or maybe it's because Americans have a love-love relationship with money."
"We're adding Euros soon, so I guess we'll find out," said Andy Ross, the company’s other lead developer and founder.
Make It Rain was a side-project for the Space Inch team which made it as a feeder app for its primary project, Disco Bees, a hexagonal match-3 puzzle game.
“We haven’t done a thing for the last two weeks to promote Make It Rain,” said Segall. “We saw some viral indicators from the start but the growth is just accelerating really quickly now. We’ve hit some kind of a tipping point and it’s 100% word of mouth.”
Founded in 2010, Space Inch is three college friends, Andy Ross, Ari Kardasis, and Josh Segall, who became a tiny indie game studio taking on the big boys. The three friends and a fourth FTE team member produced Space Inch’s second game, Disco Bees, in just four months. The studio’s first game, Say the Same Thing, was one of Apple’s Best Games of 2013 and runner up for “Game of the Year” in several countries.
