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PlaySmart runs a two-layer economy: an in-game coin layer that rewards players for gameplay, and a USD money layer that converts those coins into real money. Coins are lightweight and earned frequently; USD balances accumulate over time as a scheduled conversion job runs in the background. When a player’s USD balance is high enough, they can request a PayPal withdrawal. The two layers are separate by design — coins and USD never mix in a single field, so your game logic and your payout logic stay cleanly independent.

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Earning coins

Players earn coins when they complete gameplay events. There are two triggers:
  • level_complete — fires automatically when a LevelCompleted event is ingested and coins_enabled is true for the game. This is the standard earning path for level-based games.
  • event_trigger — fires when a configurable threshold of custom events is reached (controlled by event_trigger_threshold in the game’s config). This path is disabled by default and suits endless or score-based games.
Every coin award is recorded as an entry in the coins_transactions collection. Each transaction captures:
Coin transactions are an immutable ledger. Once written, they cannot be updated or deleted. Any adjustment requires a new deduct transaction.
The player’s current coin balance is stored in the coins_balance field on their profile.

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Coin reward modes

Each game has a reward_mode that controls how the coin amount is calculated per award:
  • fixed — every award grants exactly reward_fixed_amount coins.
  • random_range — the amount is drawn randomly between reward_min_amount and reward_max_amount.
You can also tune rewards per trigger using multipliers: level_completion_multiplier (default 1.0) and event_trigger_multiplier (default 0.5).

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Converting coins to USD

A scheduled conversion job runs on an interval defined by conversion_interval_hours in the active conversion setting. When the job runs, it selects users whose next_conversion_at timestamp is in the past and whose coins_balance is above zero. There are two conversion modes, set per conversion setting:
  • standard — a fixed coin-to-USD ratio (standard_coin_to_usd_ratio) is applied. For example, a ratio of 0.00001 means 1,000 coins convert to $0.01.
  • elastic — the payout is derived from the user’s actual ad revenue, multiplied by ads_revenue_share. This mode ties payouts directly to the ad income a player generates.
If the calculated USD amount is below min_payout_usd, the conversion is skipped for that run and the user’s coins remain pending until the next interval. Each successful conversion is recorded in the money_conversions collection with:
Money conversions are also an immutable ledger. Once created, they cannot be modified.
When a conversion succeeds, the player’s coins_balance decreases and their money_balance_usd increases by the converted amount. The profile is also updated with last_conversion_at and next_conversion_at.

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Requesting a withdrawal

Once a player has a money_balance_usd above the configured minimum, they can request a PayPal withdrawal. Withdrawal behaviour is governed by two app-level settings:
  • minimum_withdrawal_amount — the minimum USD amount required to submit a request.
  • withdraw_cooldown_hours — how many hours must pass between two withdrawal requests from the same player.
When a withdrawal is created:
  • The amount_usd is immediately debited from the player’s money_balance_usd.
  • The withdrawal record is created with status: "pending".
  • The player provides their paypal_email to receive the payment.
An admin then reviews the request and marks it paid or failed. The currently supported payment_method values are:

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End-to-end flow

1

Player completes a level

Your game sends a LevelCompleted event to POST /ingest/events. If coins_enabled is true for the game, the event processor fires a coin award.
2

Coin transaction is recorded

A coins_transactions entry is written with type: "earn" and trigger: "level_complete". The player’s coins_balance increases.
3

Conversion job runs

On the next scheduled interval, the conversion job processes the player. Coins are converted to USD using the active conversion setting’s mode and rate. A money_conversions record is written and money_balance_usd increases.
4

Player requests a withdrawal

When the player’s money_balance_usd meets the minimum, they call POST /v1/withdrawals with their PayPal email and the amount they want to withdraw.
5

Admin processes the payout

An admin reviews the withdrawal in the dashboard and marks it paid (triggering the PayPal transfer) or failed (which refunds the balance back to the player).
A withdrawal’s amount_usd is debited from money_balance_usd at the moment the request is created — before the admin approves it. If the request is later marked failed, the balance is restored automatically.