Zift Advisory
Dumb Ways to Die features 41 games in which players, with their clueless characters, attempt to avoid obvious catastrophe. This app is rated for teens and can be found in the App Store and the Google Play Store for free download. The Dumb Ways to Die app features in-app purchases and advertisements. This app is best for teens.
What is Dumb Ways to Die?
The Dumb Ways to Die app is the offshoot of a public service announcement campaign that went viral.
Dumb Ways to Die features 41 games in which players, with their clueless characters, attempt to avoid obvious catastrophe in an attempt to unlock and collect the entire cast.
This app is rated for teens and can be found in the App Store and the Google Play Store for free download. The Dumb Ways to Die app features in-app purchases and advertisements.
Once players have progressed through all of the games and collected all of the characters, they are awarded with the music video that started it all: Dumb Ways to Die.
Parents may have an issue with their children playing a game that features self-titled “dumb” characters, who have names such as Bungle and Doomed. The scenarios these cartoon characters find themselves in are pretty far fetched and unlikely.
The cartoon characters face scenarios from wasp and piranha attacks to psycho killers and bullet wounds in this game.
The Dumb Ways to Die app does feature advertisements in addition to in-app purchases. Common complaints include too heavy ad placement, which requires players to view a 30-second video ad each time they lose a game.
However, Dumb Ways to Die does allow users to pay a one-time charge of $1.99 to remove ads from game play.
Is Dumb Ways to Die safe for my kids?
Parents should know that Dumb Ways to Die is a gaming app based upon a public service campaign. Metro Trains in Australia’s catchy music video advertisement and public service announcement campaign went viral and won multiple awards, including a Webby.
The concept of the campaign and subsequent app is to promote rail safety and avoid other seemingly “dumb ways to die,” like electrocution from sticking a fork in a toaster.
It is important to know that many of the dumb ways to die are far-fetched, such as being eaten by piranhas, and that both the music video and gaming app feature cartoon bean-like characters in various dangerous scenarios.
Taken out of context and away from the public service origin and concept, Dumb Ways to Die is centered around violence. Many kids playing the game probably won’t connect the game to the public service announcement, so parents should be aware that every scenario or level features death and danger.
Although the game is cartoon-ish, it features fairly graphic depictions of each character’s demise.
Many parents may take issue with some of the subject matter that is included in Dumb Ways to Die. Some scenarios involve forms of illicit drugs. Two such games include a “drug dealer,” with the following scenarios: “Scratched the drug dealer’s ride, now avoid his bat,” and “Run away from the drug dealer’s ride.”
Parents should weigh the “beneficial” aspects of the overall message against the concept of the app and their own child’s maturity level.
The 41 games in the Dumb Ways to Die app challenge players to win each game, in order to collect all of the characters, which outfit your train station, and unlock the original music video that kicked off the campaign. In this sense, it’s all in good fun.
That being said, the app is rated for teens and is best for users aged 14 and older.
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