What is a gacha game?

A gacha game gives you randomized rewards in exchange for in-game currency. You spend that currency on a pull, and the game picks a character or item from a set pool instead of selling you the exact one you want.

The name comes from Japanese capsule-toy machines, and our mobile gacha guide ranks 10 games built on the mechanic.

How gacha works in practice

You earn or buy a premium currency, then spend it on a banner, which is a pool of characters that rotates every few weeks. Duplicates are part of the loop, and in some games you'll merge them into a stronger version of the same character.

Progression comes from the roster you build rather than from one purchase. That's why team building turns up in nearly every gacha store listing.

Many gacha games also add a pity counter, which guarantees a top-rarity pull once you've spent a set number of tries. Check a store page for in-app purchases before you start, since Google Play flags this mechanic as random-item purchases.

Gacha games from our guides

• Genshin Impact is our top gacha pick and installs free with in-app purchases, though its Google Play average sits at 3.3 from 5.2 million ratings.
• Honkai Star Rail reviews better at 3.7 from 525,590 ratings, and it trades open-world wandering for tactics.
• DRAGON BALL Z DOKKAN BATTLE scores 4.6 from roughly 1.3 million ratings, with ads and random-item purchases both on the listing.
• Roll Anime to Fight! brings the loop to Roblox, where you pull anime fighters, merge duplicates, then send the team against enemy waves.

What PEGI and ESRB call it

Both rating boards label the mechanic directly. PEGI and ESRB use the descriptor "In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)" on games that sell randomized rewards.

If you're checking a listing before you install, that descriptor is the fastest signal, and many games publish drop rates for each rarity tier. The fair criticism is that you can't predict the cost, because a pull returns a random item instead of the one you chose.