Why do Gardenscapes players keep spending coins, boosters, and time after repeated losses? See how the Sunk Cost Effect can influence the decision to keep going.
You have lost the same difficult level over and over. You have used boosters, spent coins, and maybe been playing for half an hour. You reach the last few moves again and think: “I can’t stop now. I’ve already put too much into this.”
That thought has a name: the Sunk Cost Effect. It is our tendency to keep going because we have already invested time, effort, or money, even though what we have already spent is gone and cannot be recovered.
Gardenscapes creates plenty of situations where a player has to decide whether to invest even more resources after already spending quite a bit. That decision becomes especially difficult when a level is showing early signs that it may not be worth pushing, but previous attempts, boosters, and coins make walking away feel harder. None of this proves that Playrix designed the game specifically around the Sunk Cost Effect. It does, however, give us some very clear examples of how this cognitive bias can influence a player’s decisions.
What Is the Sunk Cost Effect? A Simple Example
Imagine you bought an expensive ticket to a show. When the day arrives, you are exhausted and really do not feel like going. The ticket is nonrefundable.
Since you cannot get the money back, the price you paid should not determine what you do now. Still, many people think: “I paid for it, so I have to go.”
That is sunk-cost thinking: letting an investment you made in the past influence a decision you are making now.
How It Appears Inside a Gardenscapes Level
Let’s say you start a Super Hard level with boosters. You lose. You try again and use more boosters. On the next attempt, you reach the end with only a few objectives left, and the game offers you extra moves in exchange for coins.
At that point, there are two very different ways to think about the decision.
Rational evaluation: “If I buy these extra moves, do I have a good enough chance of finishing the level?”
Sunk-cost thinking: “I’ve already used all these boosters and coins. I can’t stop now.”
The first approach looks at the board as it is right now. The second focuses mainly on what has already been spent.
Buying Extra Moves Is Not Always a Sunk Cost Decision
If only one easy objective remains and you can clearly see that a few extra moves will probably give you the win, continuing may be a completely reasonable decision.
The problem begins when the main reason for continuing is no longer the current state of the level but the thought: “I’ve already invested too much to walk away now.”
That distinction matters because persistence is not automatically a mistake. A strong player may continue because they have read the board correctly and believe the next investment is worth it. The Sunk Cost Effect is about the reason behind the decision.
Coins Are Not the Only Thing You Invest in Gardenscapes
You are not investing only coins when you play. A player may already have put several different things into a level or event:
- Time through repeated attempts at the same level.
- Boosters and tools that have already been used.
- Coins spent on previous continues.
- Effort and concentration spent trying to make progress.
- Real money if a purchase has already been made.
The more we have already put into something, the harder it can become psychologically to say, “I’m stopping here.”
Events Can Make the Effect Even Stronger
The Sunk Cost Effect does not appear only in regular levels.
Imagine you have been playing an event for several days. You have made a lot of progress and are relatively close to a major reward. The event is ending soon, and you realize that reaching the finish will require much more time or many more resources.
Your first thought may be:
“I’ve come this far. I have to finish it.”
But the better question is:
“Is what I still have to spend actually worth the reward that remains?”
That is also the question that matters when deciding whether pushing an event is still worth the cost. The decision should be based on what you need to spend from this point forward, not simply on how much time, energy, or currency you have already invested.
That shift in thinking is really what the Sunk Cost Effect is about.
Sunk Cost and Loss Aversion Are Not the Same Thing
The Sunk Cost Effect is often confused with Loss Aversion.
With sunk-cost thinking, the thought is:
“I’ve already put a lot into this, so I have to keep going.”
With loss aversion, the thought is closer to:
“I don’t want to lose what I’ve already earned or built.”
In a game, the two can easily appear at the same time. For example, a player may already have spent boosters while also worrying about losing a winning streak or missing an important reward.
What Does the Research Say?
The Sunk Cost Effect has been studied for decades in psychology, economics, and decision-making research.
Studies have shown that previous investments of money, time, or effort can influence whether people decide to continue. At the same time, more recent research suggests that the effect does not work exactly the same way in every situation and that not every form of persistence should automatically be considered irrational.
In a study published in Science, researchers examined sunk-cost-related behavior in humans and animals and found that time already invested could influence whether an activity was continued.
A meta-analysis of previous research has also supported the existence of the sunk-cost effect while showing that its strength can vary depending on the type of decision and the circumstances surrounding it.
Can We Say That Playrix Uses It Deliberately?
No. We do not have evidence of that.
There is no public documentation showing that Playrix designed specific Gardenscapes mechanics with the intention of exploiting the Sunk Cost Effect.
What we can observe is that Gardenscapes contains many sequences of decisions in which a player has already invested time or resources before being asked whether to continue.
That alone is enough to create situations where sunk-cost thinking may influence player behavior. There is no need to assume intent on the part of the company.
The Simplest Test You Can Use
There is an easy way to check whether what you have already spent is influencing your decision too much.
Before spending more coins, boosters, or time, imagine for a moment that you do not know what you spent earlier.
Look only at what is in front of you now.
If you were seeing this situation for the first time, would you still make the same choice?
If the answer is yes, you probably have a genuine reason to continue.
If the only thought keeping you there is “I’ve already put too much into this,” sunk-cost thinking has probably started influencing the decision. The same pattern can become especially important when a player is considering spending real money for the first time, because previous time, boosters, and progress can make one more investment feel easier to justify.
The Real Lesson for a Gardenscapes Player
The Sunk Cost Effect does not mean you should stop every time a level becomes difficult, and it does not mean you should never buy extra moves.
It means learning to separate two things: what is already gone and what is worth doing from this point forward.
A player may have lost coins, boosters, and time, and the next attempt may still be worth taking. But that same player may also be continuing simply because it is difficult to accept that the previous investment did not pay off.
So the next time you are staring at the extra-moves button, or considering spending even more resources on an event, do not start by looking backward.
Look at what is in front of you and decide whether what you are about to spend now is actually worth it.
Sources and Scientific Research
- Sweis BM et al. Sensitivity to “sunk costs” in mice, rats, and humans. Science, 2018. Science.
- Roth S, Robbert T, Straus L. On the sunk-cost effect in economic decision-making: a meta-analytic review. Business Research. Springer.
- Herrmann PN, Kundisch D, Rahman MS. Beating Irrationality: Does Delegating to IT Alleviate the Sunk Cost Effect? arXiv.
- Haller A, Schwabe L. Sunk costs in the human brain. NeuroImage. PubMed.
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