The hidden cost of streaks — and how we protect yours
A streak counter is powerful. It makes people play daily. It also makes people play daily when they should not — on a flight with wifi trouble, on a hard week, on the day of a funeral. When you build a streak feature, you take on a responsibility for what happens when the streak breaks.
The default in most puzzle apps
Most streak-based puzzle apps let the streak silently die if you miss a day. Some let you "buy" a streak repair, which is emotionally awful and financially strange. Some show a big red "streak lost" screen when you next sign in, which is worse.
What we do on Green Dot
Every paid Green Dot account gets one "grace day" per calendar month. If you miss a day, the grace day is spent automatically, silently — no notification, no red screen. Your streak survives. Next month, the grace refills. It is not a purchasable item; it is not a reward for playing more; it is a fact of your subscription, like the number of seats or the friend limit.
Free accounts also get a grace day, but only one — spent when the streak first hits 30 days. That gets almost everyone through the "one hard week" that breaks so many nascent streaks.
What we do not do
We never send push notifications, because we do not have push notifications — this is a browser game with no app to install. We never email a "your streak is at risk" reminder — that pressure is the wrong shape. We never sell streak repairs. If your streak dies, it dies; start a fresh one tomorrow, your history stays visible in your cabinet.