Crystal Engine

A crystal engine is a repeating process of generating your own crystals rather than paying money to purchase crystals.

A crystal engine is technically known as a "value generation system" in other contexts (irl...) because the value (crystals) that you gain from this system gives you access to everything purchasable in the game (except for things like experience and personal skill which can't be purchased)

A crystal engine is the key to your wealth in Cookie Run. But don't let 'wealth' get in the way of having FUN!

One time sources for Crystals
more details on Crystals <--
 * 1) 1-20 crystals for each level-up with higher levels rewarding more crystals and each checkpoint of 10 levels rewarding more crystals.
 * 2) 100 crystals for inviting 50 friends at the Invite Event (main screen above your pet)
 * 3) X crystals (anywhere between 5 - 100) from weekly/monthly events
 * 4) 100-300 crystals from large promotional events such as Game Updates usually every 3-4 months.

Crystal Generation
All players start with a 1 crystal engine.

Logging in daily rewards you all crystals generated for that day, so with no treasures, you start with 1 crystal per log-in per day.

However, since mid-Season 5 (City of Wizards), it depends on the daily bonus whether you can get crystals or not, which range from 2-15 crystals.

'''Crystal generating treasures from game reward. (free 2 play)'''

(2C 30%) Prophet Cookie's Majestic Beard obtained from Prophet Cookie at level 8

(1C 60%) Snow Globe's Crystal Crown obtained from Snow Globe Pet at level 8

(1C 60%) King Choco Drop's Jelly Crown obtained from King Choco Drop legendary pet at level 8

(2C 50%) Lv.50 Golden Club Trophy obtained by reaching level 50

(3C 50%) Lv.60 Legends Club Trophy obtained by reaching level 60

(5C 50%) Lv.70 Heroes Club Trophy obtained by reaching level 70

(1C 40-70%) Cookie Run: 0-100M Points Certificate Treasures obtained from playing before Season 4 New World update.

(1C 50%) Strangely Familiar Blue Necklace obtained by completing 1st mission on FL100 in Tower of Frozen Waves

(4C 20%) Commemorative 4 Layer Cake obtained by play during the week the game reached 40 million downloads worldwide.

'''Crystal generating treasures from store purchases. ("pay 2 play")'''

(1C 50%) Crystal Pearl Earring A rank treasure

(2C 50%) Rare Sapphire Brooch S rank treasure

(5C 21%) Big Crystal Ore S rank treasure

(10C 11%) Rare Crystal Clam S rank treasure

(12C 10%) Translucent Crystal Alarm Clock S Rank Treasure

(4C 27%) Giant Crystal Ring S Rank Treasure

Recent updates gave free-2-play players another option of obtaining these once pay-2-play treasures through the Mystery Boxes system which is obtained through normal game play. Mystery boxes can reward players with A rank or S rank treasure chest Coupons which could then be used to trade in for these otherwise purchase-only treasures.

Treasure Upgrade Efficiency
Players can prioritize which Treasures to keep or upgrade by calculating how many Crystals they can obtain as a daily average (or expected value). The base formula is given by

$$\text{Expected daily amount} = \text{Crystals given} \cdot \frac{\text{percentage probability given by Treasure}}{100}$$

The table below shows the expected daily average values for non-upgraded treasures as well as their fully upgraded equivalents, followed by the difference between these two values. Players should prioritize upgrading the Treasures with the highest differences, as they give the most value per Coins or Crystals spent on upgrading.

Limits of a free-2-play crystal engine
To calculate the crystal generation potential of a treasure, multiply the # of Crystal by the %age of generating those crystals.

Example: Rare Sapphire Brooch generates 2C at a rate of 50% per day. This averages to a potential of 1 crystal per day.

A new f2p player today would have access to Prophet Cookie, Snow Globe, King Choco, lv.50, and lv.60 treasures and the daily login giving him an average potential of (.6+.6+.6+1+1.5+1) '''5.3 crystals per login per day. '''(with a minimum of 1 being the daily login guarantee and a maximum of 10)

A veteran f2p player would have an additional access to the Certificate and 4 layer cake giving an additional (.55+.8) 1.35 crystals per login netting a grand total of 6.85 crystals per login per day. (.55 is avg between .4 and .7)

NOTE, this is not a realistic expectation of a free-2-play crystal engine because players have access to an enormous amount of crystals from events, one time sources, and coupons, giving plenty of opportunities to obtain more crystal generating treasures from the store. It is not uncommon to see free-2-play players having a 10+ crystal engine only months into the game.

Reason behind buying crystals
Most of us aren't going to fork over large sums of cash for a game, especially for a 'FREE-mium' game.

HOWEVER, consider the following questions:

Do I really like this game? So much that I spend hours and hours, weeks and months on this game?

Do i spend so much time and effort farming resources (coins) but still frustrated at not being able to access other features of the game like cookies, pets, treasures?

Is it worth spending a bit of money on a game that i love and play so much anyway to the point where spending a bit of money would relieve me of time and energy for other things in my life?

If you've answered 'yes' for these questions, then a 20$ or even the the 80$ purchase of crystals could be a valid option.

If you've answered 'no' for these question, then there's no reason to spend.

Editor's Note:

Remember RNG (random number generator) is always at play. There are no guarantees, and all %ages described in this article are statistical potential for outcomes.

A potential ROI (return on investment) for buying crystals is through increasing your crystal engine. A purchase of 80$ or (1092 crystals or 1248 crystals during events of 60% bonus) would enable you to purchase 10 or 11 Supreme Treasure Chest specials. When purchasing, make sure it is during the Double Rate for S Rank Chest Event (usually once a month) (some lucky individuals have managed to obtain 5+ crystal generating treasures in a round of 10+ chest special openings). Also, plan ahead and be mindful of how much inventory space you have.

Example: Lets say hypothetically you purchased 80$ and received 7 crystal generating treasures (they average to about 7 crystal per login per day). 1092/7 is 156, meaning it would take around 156 days for your 7 treasures to generate back its value (around half a year). If you plan on playing this game for longer than 156 days, your 80$ would be a sound investment. If you don't know or care about playing Cookie Run seriously enough to even read this article, don't spend money! Also, 80$ in your pocket is worth more than 80$ in potential crystals in a mobile game.

In season 1 or 2 an experiment was conducted. Having bought 8x the 80$ package ($640), this only yielded a 10-crystal per day potential. Also back then, there was no special package option.

Tips from veterans
Save all crystals and coupons gained from game rewards, crystal generating treasures, events, etc. until you have a nice stack of 551+ crystals or more (every addition of 108 crystals). This shouldn't be very difficult due to large crystal rewards from season updates and events. Then go on a shopping spree and purchase as many Supreme Treasure Chest specials (6+1) to increase the potential of your crystal engine.

Crystal checkpoints for buying multiple Supreme Treasure Chest specials:

1x 119

2x 119 + (1*108)= 227

3x 119 + (2*108) = 335

Nx 119 + ((N-1)108)

When do you stop building your engine?

Never really, but do feel free to spend crystals when needed

such as on new pets (when you have fully upgraded all your existing ones, this guarantees your next pet a different one)

on inventory spaces aka Treasure Cabinet

as well as paying that 5 crystal to help you get a better high score

or spending 99 crystals for a chance at a blessed evolved treasure!

It is not recommended to spend crystals to upgrade treasures especially from +8 to +9, but if you're running into a bad streak of luck, feel free to save time and frustration from farming coins.

Remember there's no exact formula for how to do things in Cookie Run or in life. Just follow your intuition and HAVE FUN!