Are you a fan of Storage Wars on A&E? If you’re a fan of Storage Wars like me, then you know the draw of buying cheap and abandoned storage units at the chance for striking it rich. While very few storage units ever make more than a few thousand dollars, the allure of finding a uncirculated Constitution, or valuable artwork and the like make for some entertaining television. Storage Wars has been a huge success on TV and is now in its tenth season. If you want to take part in the auctions and making/losing money, you don’t have to actually go to an auction and bid against Dave, Brandy, Darrell and Ivy with real money. You can download Bid Wars on Android and iOS free and take part in the action with no real consequences.
It’s just like the TV show
After downloading Bid Wars, it’s pretty clear that it was based on Storage Wars. That’s not a bad thing because the show is a solid 30 minutes of entertainment. The game takes you to a location (level) where you are presented with a series of storage bins. Some items are exposed where you have five seconds to guess the value, while there are unopened boxes with no way of knowing what’s in them. If you pay the most for the auction of that storage bin, you can reveal the items inside of the boxes and total the value of the unit to compare it to the price you paid. If those items add up to less than what you paid, you lose money. Some storage units have rare items that can sell for a large sum of money, just like the show.
If you win the level by either defeating the boss in that area, or meeting a profit goal, you can move on to the next level. Each level can be played with Energy which is earned by waiting or paying for in-app speed ups. I hate this type of game model, as it takes away from the fluidity of the game. I understand the need for developers to make money, but they should be more creative than just paying for speed-ups. Along those same lines, I absolutely hate pop-up video ads in between levels. Bid Wars is full of those ads and it’s almost annoying enough for me to want to delete the game.
The game is built upon a solid concept that is fun to play. You can open up your own shop where people bid on items. It’s up to you if you want to sell that item at a loss or wait to make a profit. The longer something sits on the shelf is less time you have to sell other valuable items.
Other in-app purchases include cheats that will allow you to summate the value of a storage unit before it goes up for auction. If you use this in-app purchase it will guarantee you won’t overpay for a unit. Another in-app purchase is to see through the boxes, while the last in-app cheat is to prevent a bidder from buying the unit you’re interested in. These in-app purchases are lame. You can basically win the game by spending real money which is a loss in my book.
Should you download Bid Wars?
Yes you should. You should also avoid paying for any in-app purchases that take the fun out of the game.
If you can wait for your energy to refill, and bid intelligently the game can be fun despite its ads in between levels. The gameplay is entertaining and can be played for a couple to half an hour at a time. It’s free to download for iOS and Android and is worth taking a look at, especially if you love the TV show Storage Wars.