Turbo Rummy: Enhancing Player Experience with Whitegoods

Overview

Rummy Circle is a skill-based online gaming app offering various rummy games, including cash games and tournaments with over 30 million players globally.

As the Product Designer, I played a crucial role in revolutionizing the Turbo Rummy experience by integrating an innovative rewards system. By adding whitegoods like cars and gadgets alongside traditional cash prizes, we transformed player engagement and significantly boosted revenue. Since the feature's launch in July 2024, Turbo Rummy has quickly become one of the top three game formats, contributing 9.5% of revenue spike. This redesign not only enhanced player satisfaction but also positioned Turbo Rummy as a standout format, surpassing the previously dominant Deals Rummy. I worked directly with Product Managers, developers and Data analysts.

Objective

The goal of Turbo Rummy is to offer players a more thrilling and enhanced version of traditional Deals Rummy. By introducing the element of whitegoods, we aimed to

Brainstorming & Ideation

Our ideation process began with a deep dive into understanding user motivations, especially within the Indian gaming community. We noticed that players in the Rummy Circle audience are highly responsive to festive offers and tangible rewards. Inspired by real-life examples, we observed how brands use gift rewards like electronics, cars, and home appliances during Indian festivals to excite and engage customers.

Keyinsights

Competitive Analysis

To ensure the effective display of whitegoods in the Turbo Rummy app, I gathered a variety of references from other platforms that successfully use tangible rewards to attract users. This included studying how different industries showcase high-value prizes such as cars, electronics, and home appliances.

I also created a moodboard to compile visual examples of how whitegoods are presented to various audiences. This moodboard served as an inspiration to design visually compelling banners and prize displays, ensuring they resonate with our players and create a sense of excitement.

This led to the idea of integrating whitegoods as prizes in Turbo Rummy, alongside cash rewards. Our goal was to offer players a more enticing reason to engage with the game, particularly during high-stakes tournaments. By linking festival-style rewards with game mechanics, we aimed to create a stronger emotional connection with players, driving both engagement and retention.

Insights

Challenges

We faced several design challenges:

• The existing Rummy Circle interface was cash-centric, so the addition of physical rewards needed to be intuitive without overwhelming users.

• The spin feature was introduced to give players the chance to win whitegoods or additional cash prizes without disrupting the gameplay flow.

Where will the new feature sit?

Turbo Rummy, being a part of the cash games category, needed strategic placement to attract attention to its new features. To achieve this, we implemented a nudge in the cash games section on the home page. This nudge served as a subtle yet effective visual cue, signaling to players that something exciting and new—specifically the Turbo Rummy whitegoods feature—had been introduced.

In our analysis, we found that users spend minimal time in the game lobbies and quickly navigate to the game table, where they spend the majority of their time. With this in mind, we had to ensure that the design and showcasing of whitegoods was visually striking and immediately attention-grabbing. Our goal was to captivate users within the brief window they interact with the lobby, making sure the prize offerings are compelling from the moment they open the app and choose their game.

The nudge was designed to be attention-grabbing but non-intrusive, using elements such as color, animation, or a "New" tag. It directed players to explore Turbo Rummy and discover the latest prize options, including whitegoods, without disrupting their browsing experience in the cash games section.

By strategically placing this nudge, we ensured that existing players in the cash games ecosystem would notice the update and be encouraged to try the enhanced Turbo Rummy format, thus driving higher engagement and revenue.

Final Design

Nudge on the Home Page

Since Turbo Rummy is part of the cash games category, we placed a nudge in the cash games section of the home page. This nudge notified players about the new Turbo Rummy update and encouraged them to explore the enhanced prize options, driving traffic to the game.

We added it as an animation on the cash game card to grab user attention.

The details page

To complement the introduction of whitegoods, we redesigned the entry fee slider. In the new design, as players set a higher entry fee, the value of the whitegoods prizes also increased. This feature provided a direct link between the player's investment and potential rewards, further motivating players to engage with the game at higher stakes.

The final design clearly displayed both whitegoods and cash prizes, with a focus on simplicity and clarity. The slider interaction was seamlessly integrated into the game interface, giving players control over their entry fee and prize potential.

Results & Impact

Revenue Growth: Turbo has a revenue contribution of 8.88% of the total revenue. 

Entry Fee Impact: The redesigned slider, which increased whitegoods prize value with higher entry fees, led to an average increase of 12% in entry fees, indicating that players were more willing to engage in higher-stake games to win physical prizes.

Player Engagement: The redesigned entry fee slider and whitegoods prizes boosted player excitement and engagement, leading to longer play sessions.

Enhanced User Experience: The connection between entry fees and prizes created a more strategic and rewarding experience for players.