Enough years have passed that I can publicly admit to playing Magic: The Gathering as a teenager. Briefly: it’s a strategy card collection game. It’s funny looking back at it now to see why the business model works. It’s a scratch-ticket lottery for children.

Without going into details, there are many different types of cards and some are more rare than others. Cards also work together in sets/combos. Cards can be purchased individually from trading shops, or purchased in random sealed sets of ten or so.

Because some specific cards are desired, because they’re rare or they complete a set/combo, and because the cheapest way to get new cards is to buy the random packages, the game is a random reward schedule–just like lottery tickets and World of Warcraft. Players don’t know when they’re going to get the card they want, so their only response is to buy as many random packs as they can, hoping for the best.

There is also a strategic gameplay component to the game, but it’s only there to drive sales. Put simply, because anyone can spend money to upgrade their deck, everyone has to. Players are locked in an arms race. And by releasing new, more powerful cards, the pressure to buy more is increased.

Zynga’s a brilliantly evil company but Wizards of the Coast was doing the same thing decades earlier–on nothing but pieces of paper.