Cross stitch pattern of Chimchar from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Head over to my Patreon to download the PDF and PNG files.

Grid Size: 104W x 138H
Design Area: 7.29″ x 9.71″ (102 x 136 stitches)
Colors:16

My Patron, Eesha Rege, is an intergalactic marriage counselor. It’s hard finding just the right care for a couple from two different species. They once arranged for a humanoid to receive a diving suit to give him better mobility on his squid partner’s ocean planet. Though he will always love squid riding, having autonomy is also important in a relationship.

I haven’t gotten Brilliand Diamond yet, but I’m hoping one of my dear and loving family members will buy it for me for Christmas. Until then I have been playing Tap Dig My Museum on my phone as a stand in for The Grand Underground, the part of the game I am most excited for since I spent so much time in it in the originals.

My Museum has the same sort of mechanics of using different tools to dig out items, but this time they are exclusively fossils and money, not revives and plates. You’re trying to dig out dinosaur bones in order to complete skeletons to display in your museum. They’re all real extinct animals too so you can learn some of their names as you play.

It’s pretty simple, but I love how non predatory it is. I know, high praise for a mobile game! I have played almost the entire game and I’ve only been forced to watch an ad all the way through three times and those were times when I just felt like it. I didn’t have to, I just wanted the bonus. And you can go the whole game without those premium bonuses and items. There’s nothing stopping you even at the end from just using the basic tools to steadily fill out your museum and I find that sort of progression more fun than just paying to win.

Just to be clear, ads will pop up every ten or so digs, but you can exit out to your home screen and pull up the app again and the ad will be gone without you having to hunt for the X.

I’ve learned that upgrading your sweepers does almost nothing and even with a bunch of bonuses active, none of your money is going to despawn even if you just have level one sweepers. Upgrading sweepers does not let you collect more money, it just gives the same money to you in a more steady stream.

You can start getting red crate mystery fossils for a skeleton at 50% completion, but the lowest I’ve ever gotten one is 61%. There’s not much point in using up all your strikes if you’re less than 50% because you’re not going to get a red crate anyways.

Upgrading your guests increases how many guests can be in your museum at once, but it also ups the maximum amount of money you’ll get from returning to the game after being away.

Different exhibits do give different amounts of money, but I don’t really know how it works. Completed skeletons also effect the afk money too somehow, but it’s not really clear.

It’s a fun time waster game that doesn’t punish you for not playing. It doesn’t force you into watching ads or paying money. Plus it has cute pixel art and dinosaurs. What’s not to love?