Now that the 2015 season is underway, you might be looking for another app to use while watching games. Well, have no fear – Topps has released the 2015 version of their Bunt app, allowing users to collect virtual cards and compete in a fantasy-style game to earn points.
The 2015 edition of Bunt is similar to the 2014 version (which I spent an unreal amount of time using last year). You get free coins each day for opening the app, bonus coins every seventh consecutive day, and can use those coins to buy packs of cards. You can also buy coins using cold, hard American currency, which opens up some exclusive packs to you with increased odds of getting better cards. And if someone has something you want, you can propose a trade to try and expand your selection.
Now, what can you do with the cards? There are five different rarities of each base card, which can score you 1x, 1.2x, 1.5x, 1.7x, and 2x points based on game events. It’s a lot like fantasy baseball – players get points when they do something good, and lose points when they do something bad. Higher scoring cards of better players can score you more points, and will result in you (probably) finishing better in the standings. Topps also has fancy insert cards, which usually don’t score more than the base cards, but look awesome.
How do you score points? In previous years, Topps simply ran week to week points chases – play your players, compete against everyone, and pay a depressing amount of attention to the app in the process to ensure you don’t fall off too much. This year, Topps has introduced contests, which allow you to compete on a day to day (or even game window to game window) basis against just 99 other people. The contests are an interesting addition to the game – if you don’t have great cards during a contest window, you can just take the day off. If you have several great cards in the window, you can pay some coins to enter a higher stakes contest and potentially earn better rewards.
Once you join a contest, you have to set a deck (there’s no card limit, but you do have a limit on the total of your players’ boosts, and you can only have a certain amount of duplicate cards), and then put the cards in play to get points – you’re not going to get points from everyone you put in your deck unless you play them. There’s a slight delay in the scoring, so if you move quickly enough, you can activate hitters before a big play. Once the contest ends, you earn some sort of reward if you finish in the top ten. The reward can be as small as 500 coins, or as large as (currently) a premium pack that sells in the store for 20,000 coins.
Topps has been getting a lot of flack this spring for some of their changes – inserts and higher boost cards are much more difficult to get. Packs seem more expensive, but that is offset by the extra coins given out daily. Preference on better packs is given to players who buy extra coins. The contest format is a bit confusing at first, and a major change of pace from what users were used to in previous years.
But the changes help level the playing field. If you want better cards, you’re either going to have to compete in riskier contests or pay for coins. If you don’t want to spend a dime, there are free contests every day for you to compete in. If you want to take a day off from chasing points, you can without destroying your position for the week. Change isn’t always a bad thing – sometimes, it’s necessary.
You can download Bunt from the iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store.
