Why do gem packs never match item prices? The leftover gems trick

November 14, 2026

Gem packs never match item prices because mismatched bundles leave you with spare gems. You buy a pack bigger than the item costs, and the leftovers feel wasted, so you go back to the shop to spend them. Europe's consumer authorities list this as a practice to avoid.

What the game is doing

Take a simple shop. A sword costs 750 gems. The shop sells gems in packs of 660 and 1,400. These numbers come from the example shop screen in the EU guidance on in-game currencies (linked below).

Now follow the player:

The player wants the sword and needs 750 gems.
The 660 pack is too small. It stops short of the price.
The 1,400 pack is too big. It flies past the price.
Nothing fits, so the player buys the 1,400 pack.
The sword costs 750. That leaves 1,400 minus 750, which is 650 gems.

Those 650 gems sit in the wallet. They are not enough for a second sword. So the shop shows another item, and the player thinks: "I have gems left. Why not?"

Why it works

People hate waste. A pile of gems you cannot use feels like money you lost. The easy fix in your head is to spend them, and the only place to spend them is the shop.

The pack choice also feels like bad luck. You think "the sizes just happen to be odd." You rarely think "someone chose these sizes." But sizes are a design choice, and a different set of sizes would leave you with nothing spare.

Think of hot dogs and buns that never come in matching packs. You always end up with one hot dog and no bun, and you buy another pack to fix it.

Without mismatched packs, the player buys the sword and is done. That is the fair version, and it is the point regulators make.

Real games that use it

We do not name any game here. This is a pattern, and we have no source that a specific game does it on purpose. What we do have is a source on the pattern itself.

EU consumer authorities. The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (national consumer authorities with the European Commission) published Key Principles on In-game Virtual Currencies on 21 March 2025. Principle 3 says practices that force consumers to buy unwanted virtual currency should be avoided. One practice it lists to avoid is offering currency "only in bundles mismatching the value of purchasable in-game digital content and services."
Leftover currency. The same document warns about exploiting cognitive biases so that consumers overspend or are left with unneeded amounts of virtual currency.
A fair note. The document is non-exhaustive guidance based on EU consumer law. It does not bind national authorities, and we do not call any pack design illegal.

How to use it in your game

You can make your shop fair and still make money. Here are three simple options.

Fit the pack to the price. If the sword costs 750, offer a pack of exactly 750. The player buys it, spends it all, and feels good.
Let players pick the amount. An amount slider lets the player choose 750 and no more. The EU document lists denying players the choice of a specific amount as a practice to avoid.
Show the leftover before checkout. Display "You will have 650 gems left" next to each pack. Players trust a shop that shows its math.

A short check you can run in your own shop:

for each item price in the shop:
    for each pack size:
        leftover = pack - price      // if pack >= price
        log(item, pack, leftover)

If every row shows a leftover, nothing fits. Add a pack, or add a slider.

Common mistakes:

Adding more pack sizes without checking that they fit your prices.
Hiding the wallet total during checkout.
Pricing every item so that the next purchase is just a few gems out of reach.

FAQ

Why do games sell gems in odd amounts?

Odd pack sizes mean the packs rarely match item prices. The player buys more than needed, and the leftover gems bring them back to the shop.

Is it legal to sell gem packs that don't match prices?

We do not give legal advice. EU consumer authorities list mismatched bundles as a practice to avoid in non-binding guidance from 2025.

How can I avoid leftover gems as a player?

Count the price of what you want before you buy. Pick the pack that leaves the smallest leftover, or spend the leftover on something you already planned to buy.