Dog Hotel Tycoon

While it starts strong, the task costs rise quickly, often forcing kids to face tedious wait times for their earnings to replenish. Dog Hotel Tycoon features several cute design elements. Various types of dogs curl up in beds you've added and doze off, shuffle to the food area for a snack, and when you pet them by swiping on the screen, a heart emerges above them. A task lists outlines what kids need to complete to earn their next Mission card pack, which provides items like gems, used to buy the in-app cash currency. Kids need to make sure they have enough resources available for guests to enjoy themselves -- and they'll earn more money by building and making enhancements, such as adding more beds to the Nap Room and improving its level.

Initially, the cost for those actions is low, but fairly early on, the prices go up -- significantly. Because kids can't really do anything without resources, even though their earnings add up briskly, the gameplay ends at a standstill sometimes. For example, the cost of an upgrade can move from $892 at the start of the game to more than $400 trillion. Even when they have enough cash to fund actions, they can start to feel repetitive. Kids are essentially clicking to build and upgrade items over and over, while the dogs move through their routine -- eating, sleeping, and frolicking. It doesn't make for the most compelling visual, and you can click on each dog to learn more about them -- when the functionality works; at times, you may just end up seeing the room info -- the random thoughts and other information listed in their profile doesn't really do much to personalize them. There are plenty of things to purchase -- nearly every icon the screen leads to a character, currency package, or other item sold for real-world cash. But when it comes to spending much time on Dog Hotel Tycoon, after setting up the Nap Room, kids may opt to let sleeping dogs lie -- and decide to go play something else.