An interior decorating game makes waves

There is no end to the amount of virtual games you can now download on your computer or smartphone. The latest trend is a fun, interactive game for the aspiring interior decorator, called Design Home by CrowdStar Inc (available on Android and IOS).

Besides being able to decorate a room with furnishings of your choice, this game is somewhat more complicated. Your final design is judged by the community where you are ranked in order to win virtual prizes to purchase even more furniture for your virtual room. Jenny McGrath from Digital Trends explains how it works: You scroll through a list of challenges, with names like “Preppy Calgary Home,” “Lavish Palace Living,” and “Own Private Island.”

Inside you get to decorate just one room and you need to fulfil certain requirements such as the addition of “two turquoise items” or “three pieces of furniture from Design Within Reach.” Entering a challenge costs a certain number of keys, so you can only enter so many before you need to vote on other players’ submissions. When you vote, two versions of the same room appear on screen, and you click on your favourite. Whichever player gets the most votes gets prizes, which could be a piece of furniture or “diamonds,” which you can use to buy more furniture or exchange for “cash” to buy other furniture.

And of course, if you fall in love with an accent chair in the game, there’s a link for you to buy it in real life. Just prepare yourself for a reality check when the 1,500-diamond chair actually costs over $1,800. With over 10 million downloads on the Andoid Playstore alone, Design Home is becoming a popular choice for gamers and wannabe interior decorators alike. Read more here: