Your First Coins: What We Bought First in Juicy Merge, Block Glide, Rail Rush and Gobble Hole
Every one of these four games hands you a few coins and a shop full of shiny things. We started each one from a brand-new save, played the first round, opened the shop and wrote down every price, so you can spend your first coins wisely.
By Zaib · 23 October 2026
Coins are the quiet engine of most of our games. You earn them by finishing levels, they pile up in the corner of the screen, and sooner or later a shop button starts calling your name. The question we kept asking ourselves while testing was simple: what is actually worth buying first?
To answer it honestly, we did the same thing in four games. We started from a fresh save with nothing unlocked, played the first round, opened the shop and noted every price we saw on screen. The numbers below are exactly what the shops showed us.
Block Glide: 200 coins to start, and Level 1 pays 35
Block Glide gives you 200 coins before you have touched a single block. Level 1, Candy Meadow, is a gentle introduction: one purple block sits against the right wall, and a pointing hand shows you where it wants to go. We dragged it straight down into the purple gate, and the level ended right there with a Perfect! card: three stars, 1 move, and +35 coins, which took our purse from 200 to 235.
The shop has three tabs: Blocks, Themes and Boosters. The skins on the Blocks tab are lovely (Candy Gloss costs 300, Toy Bricks and Jelly 500 each, Block Buddies 700 and Gemstone 900), but they only change how the board looks. The Boosters tab is where your first coins do the most work:
| Booster | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Undo | Take back your last move | 60 |
| Freeze | Stop the timer for 12 seconds | 90 |
| Extra | +5 moves, or +15 seconds on timed levels | 100 |
| Hammer | Smash any one block | 120 |
| Vacuum | Remove every block of one colour | 180 |
You already start with a few of each (two Hammers, two Freezes, one Vacuum, three Undos and two Extras), so there is no rush. Our tip: save your coins until the timed levels arrive, then top up Undo and Freeze. Undo is the cheapest and fixes the most common mistake, sliding a block one square too far.
Juicy Merge: 150 coins, and power-ups beat new jars
Juicy Merge starts you with 150 coins. To see how forgiving it is, we tried a slightly silly test: we pressed Play and dropped fruit almost at random, tapping different spots above the jar without planning anything. Merges kept happening by themselves, and the score climbed past 1,050 and then 2,222 before the jar was nearly full to the dotted line. That tells you something useful: even messy play earns points, but a tidy jar lasts much longer.
The shop has Jars, Fruit skins and Power-ups. Jars are pure decoration: the Orchard Crate costs 400, Candy Cloud 700, Ocean Bowl 1,000, Neon Night 1,400 and the Golden Vault 2,000. The Power-ups tab is the smart first stop:
- Shake stirs the whole jar to unjam stuck fruits: 60 for one, 240 for five.
- Pop bursts any fruit you tap: 80 for one, 320 for five.
- Upgrade grows a fruit one size: 120 for one, 480 for five.
New players already own two Shakes, two Pops and one Upgrade. Our advice is to keep one Pop in reserve at all times. A single small fruit stuck between two big ones is the classic way a run ends, and Pop removes it instantly. Buy jars later, when you have coins left over after a good Daily Challenge.
Rail Rush: you start with nothing, so buy the Coin Magnet
Rail Rush is the only one of the four that starts you at 0 coins. We wanted to know how much the switches really matter, so on our first try of Level 1 we pressed Play and then did not touch anything at all. The trains rolled out of the tunnel and followed whatever track was glowing. Result: 4 of 8 trains on time, a "So close!" card, and +20 coins anyway, with the hint *"Watch the arrows: trains follow the glowing track, never the dark one!"* Half the trains arrive by luck; the other half need you.
When you play properly, every star adds a 10-coin bonus, so a clean level pays noticeably more. The depot has three tabs: Upgrades, Engines and Tracks. The engines are fun to collect (Bullet Star 150, Diesel Dan 260, Royal Gold 450, Neon Comet 600, Candy Choo 900, Frost Plough 1,300 and Dragon Express 2,000), but the first purchase we recommend is on the Upgrades tab:
- Coin Magnet, 50 coins: +20% coins per train. It pays for itself within a few levels.
- Slow-Mo Whistle, 60 coins: more slow-motion charges per level, perfect for busy junctions.
- Steady Rails, 80 coins: trains roll 7% slower, giving you a little more thinking time.
Gobble Hole: 0 coins, but every round pays
Gobble Hole also starts at 0 coins, and its shop is all about style: hole skins and trails. The first skins, Bubblegum and Lime Pop, cost 150 each. After that come Ocean (250), Candy Cane (400), Frosty (450), Tiger (500), Lava (600), Zebra (700), Rainbow (800), Neon Rave (1,000), Royal Gold (1,200) and Galaxy (1,500).
Skins do not make your hole grow faster, so this is the one game where we say: buy what makes you smile. The coins that matter more are the ones for new maps in the map chooser: Coco Beach costs 400, Hayday Farm 800 and Orbit Station 1,300. If you love variety, save for Coco Beach first. A new place to gobble feels like a whole new game.
Our rules for spending first coins
After four fresh starts, a few rules came up again and again:
- Helpers before looks. Undo in Block Glide, Pop in Juicy Merge and the Coin Magnet in Rail Rush all make the next level easier. Skins and jars can wait.
- Spend small, often. The cheapest helpers (50 to 80 coins) are the best value. The 2,000-coin items are long-term goals, not first buys.
- Use what you start with. Block Glide and Juicy Merge both give you free boosters. Try them before buying more, so you know which one you actually use.
- Replay for stars. In Rail Rush every star adds 10 coins, so a quick, clean replay of an easy level is often the fastest way to afford the next helper.
Where to go next
Each of these games has a full guide with every level type, tip and secret we found:
- Block Glide guide, with every special block explained
- Juicy Merge guide, including the fruit ladder and the corner strategy
- Rail Rush guide, with all the engines and how stars work
- Gobble Hole guide, with the three modes and how to beat rival holes
More from Tips & News
- What's New in October 2026: Bigger Boss Town, 10 New Rail Rush Levels and More
- Two Players, One Phone: Our Games You Can Play Together
- Boss Town, Chai Tycoon or Corner Office? Our Three Idle Games Compared
- No Timers, No Losing: Five Gentle Games for Younger Children
- Up in the Air: Our Four Flying Games, From Paper Planes to Jet Fighters
- We Lost First: What Five of Our Games Taught Us on the First Try