"Archie: Riverdale Rescue": Christmas!

I began writing about the "Archie: Riverdale Rescue" iOS gaming app back in October 2013. Since then, the game has expanded to PC users. It's an oddly addictive game where you are tasked with the improvement and beautification of Riverdale USA using a variety of recognizable characters, such as Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica. A big part of the game also involves building emotional bonds between the various characters, leading to romantic couples, BFFs, and overall friends. I thought it would be fun to discuss aspects of the game that I find exciting, disappointing, and/or note-worthy.

I'm actually a couple weeks late with this update. "Riverdale Rescue" issued a new Christmas-themed upgrade earlier this month. This upgrade introduces a new game called "Cookie Craziness," but it also introduces several new outfits and quests for players.

The Christmas 2014 upgrade is a lot like Easter 2014's upgrade. During the Easter upgrade, Dilton accidentally released a bunch of mutant rabbits onto the streets of Riverdale and the players were tasked with gathering up the bunnies. They earned different points depending on the type of rabbit that they gathered and eventually won prizes once they achieved certain point thresholds (click here for more information).

Cookie Craziness introduces a plot involving Betty and Dilton. I mean, they really need to lock that trouble-maker up! Anyway, Betty is trying to start-up a Gingerbread Cookie bakery and recruits Dilton to create a super oven that will assist with her new business. His invention screws up and now Riverdale is overrun by Gingerbread Men and Women. Once again, you earn different points depending on the type of Gingerbread Person that you capture. You capture the Gingerbread Men and Women by tapping on them with your finger (if you're on a smartphone or a tablet) or with your mouse (if your on your computer).

It's interesting to note that the Gingerbread Woman captures the smallest amount of points. In understand that one type needs to garner the least amount of points, but Gingerbread Men seem to be the default gingerbread foods, so it seems odd that the Gingerbread Woman earns less than the Gingerbread Man. But I digress...

Here's the deal. You will need to purchase the Gingerbread House in order to play Cookie Craziness. The Gingerbread House costs $500 game dollars. You can earn those over time by playing the game.

Outside of a few quests, there isn't a lot that actually happens within the Gingerbread House. You can give individual characters tours of the Gingerbread House, but it doesn't even level-up. But you get to keep the Gingerbread House once the Christmas 2014 games officially end.

As noted before, you earn Christmas- and candy-themed prizes as you earn points. That varies from candy-themed fences to candy-themed outfits for characters like Archie and Betty.

I discovered a trick that helps players capture many more Gingerbread Men and Women without even trying: Runty. Runty was introduced to "Riverdale Rescue" during the Easter upgrade. Back then, he could be used to collect multiple bunnies. The same holds true for the Gingerbread Men and Woman. You just need to assign someone to take him for walks. Once each walk ends, you discover that Runty collected a dozens of Gingerbread People worth hundreds of points!