You start off with some basic units, both melee and ranged, but as you go through the tutorial you're given freebie chests to really get you started on your battle deck. These cards are selected randomly by the cards available in the level of arena you are currently in. You can upgrade to a new arena by winning trophies you gain when you beat an opponent. In the arena you can only hold a hand of five cards and each card can only be placed when you have enough elixir. Elixir is gained over time so you have to be wise as to who you set down, when, and even where. You can only place units on your side of the battlefield, until you bust down one of the smaller towers, which increases your range. You can set down your units wherever you wish within your area, but units that are ground-based will always head to the trail and stay on that as they march forward. While in the beginning your cards are basic units, you soon will be commanding flying units, magic based creatures, and even those with area-of-effect abilities. Since the cards are given randomly you never know what your opponent may have up his or her sleeve so be prepared for anything and make sure your cards are as strong as they can be.

Leveling up cards requires you to have a certain number of that same card. The bigger the chest you have the more cards lie within, but all chests have a timer attached with them and you have to wait to open them, and sadly you can only start one timer at a time. This is where the game gets a bit bogged down. You only have four slots for chests, and the base level chest takes three hours to open. The next chest up takes eight! If you battle with all of your chest slots full you won't receive a new one, and you'll only get crowns instead. When you get ten, that unlocks a daily chest, and trophies which gets you closer to a new arena and puts you up against harder opponents. You can keep battling all you want, but if you're not getting chests then you're not getting more cards to make your deck strong, but you will (if you're winning) be getting into much more advanced territory. You can open up the chest with gems, but you have a very limited number of those and gaining them without paying real money is a hard game of chance as occasionally you'll find them in gold or greater level chests. This just means, though, that you can't just sit down and play for three hours straight. It's a game built to let you play just a little at a time. Love it or hate it, that's just how it goes and it's probably good to have you stop because this game is so entertaining and addictive you'd never put it down.

Clash Royale (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

Clash Royale (Android, Android Tablet)