Selected reward system models
A reward system diagram shows what a player does, what they are given and how often. It connects triggers such as a win, a roll or a level to the odds and to the resources that store the reward. These seven public diagrams from the Machinations Community cover gacha, loot drops, character leveling, star ratings and one reward program that has nothing to do with games.
We write about each one from what its author published: the name, the description and the number of components. Each one is embedded, so you can Play it here, and each one also opens on its own page.
Character Leveling
Character Leveling models a level-based game in which every level starts with defined health and resources. Its 223 components cover the loop a player lives in: a Level start source, obstacles such as passing blocks, a Perfect result that scores extra, and win or loss conditions at the end of each level. Health points rise and fall with outcomes, and separate stamina and wealth levels grow with what the player achieves. Registers read the results and change health, wealth and score, so the rewards of one run are calculated from what happened in it. The embed is live: Play it to see how a single run changes health, wealth and score.
Genshin Impact Gacha System
This diagram isolates the heart of a gacha: one Roll source and a gate that decides the reward. Each roll sends a resource through a primary gate with assigned probabilities for a 3-star weapon, a 4-star character or a 4-star weapon, and the 3-star weapon is far more likely than either 4-star result, which reproduces the rarity ladder players know. A pool counts the number of rolls, a register can adjust the odds from that count, the way many gacha systems improve the odds after a run of misses, and a drain labeled Reset counter clears the count. Because the mechanism is isolated, it is a good diagram to copy when you want to test drop rates before committing them to a design.
Loot drop system
Loot drop system models combat as a source of income. Interactive sources represent fighting enemies such as spiders, boars and bandits, and each enemy has its own loot table, built from deterministic and random gates, that drops copper, silver and gold coins and items such as swords, clubs and pistols. Formulas on the resource connections set the drop rates and quantities. Registers then convert the three coin types into a common value using defined exchange rates, pools hold the player's coins and items, and state connections respond as holdings grow. The pattern shows how to tie reward frequency to enemy type, and how a small currency ladder lets you compare very different drops.
Games: League of Legends Hextech Chest Gacha v2
This diagram models the chest-and-key reward loop of League of Legends. Winning games and microtransactions are the sources: a win can grant key fragments and, depending on performance, a chance of a Hextech chest. Converters forge fragments into keys and use a key on a chest to open it, and gates set the probability of each drop: skin shards, champion shards, emotes, ward skin shards and summoner icon shards. A trader may stand for the purchase side, so you can compare earning through play with paying. Pools accumulate fragments, keys, chests and items, which makes the model a handy reference for any two-part reward that needs both a key and a lockbox.
Open Games: League of Legends Hextech Chest Gacha v2 on its own page
Games: Candy Crush Saga - Points needed to obtain 3 stars on Level 10
This diagram turns a match-three level into a scoring model. The level gives the player 25 moves. Each move makes a match, and a gate decides whether it is a regular match or a special one that creates a bonus candy worth more points. Every match adds to the score meter until the moves bank is empty, and an end condition stops the level there. The question it answers is how many points a designer should require for three stars: Play it a few times and compare the final scores to see where a fair three-star threshold sits, since some runs score more because of luckier special matches.
Open Games: Candy Crush Saga - Points needed to obtain 3 stars on Level 10 on its own page
Fall Guys - Match + Reward System
Fall Guys - Match + Reward System follows a player across three worlds, each with a sequence of obstacles that can end in a failure (Falha) or in finishing the world (Fim Mundo). Dice-based gates make clearing an obstacle a matter of chance, so progress is probabilistic. On the reward side, a Lootbox distributes game skins by rarity, one rare skin and two regular ones, with defined probabilities, and a register called Moedas (coins) accumulates currency for achievements. The labels are in Portuguese. The model ties winning, chance and cosmetic rewards together in one flow, which is a common structure in games that pay out skins and currency after a match.
Service Providers - Rating and Rewards
Not every reward system is for a game. Service Providers - Rating and Rewards models how a program receives proposals from a partner, judges each one as a success or a failure and pays rewards based on the results. A source sends new proposals every month to a random gate, which approves each one with the Success chance and rejects the rest, and pools count the successful and failed proposals. A register turns those counts into a partner rating, where every success raises it and every failure lowers it more, and a reward multiplier scales the payout per success with that rating. This makes a feedback loop: good outcomes raise the rating, which raises later rewards. Move Success chance and Proposals per month in the diagram above and press Play to see how quickly the rating grows or falls to zero. Useful if you reward people or partners rather than players.
How to model a reward system in Machinations
Model a reward as three parts: the trigger, the odds and the payout. The trigger is a Source or a Gate fired by a player action such as a win or a roll. The odds are a Gate with probabilities, or a Register that checks a threshold. The payout is a Pool that stores what the player receives.
A counter Pool with a Drain that resets it gives you streaks and pity timers. Play the model many times and chart the payout pool to see how long a player waits for each reward before you build it.
In the docs: Gates, Randomness, Registers, Pools.
In Learn: Loot boxes and card packs, Level progression.
In the glossary: Extrinsic motivation, Intrinsic motivation, Overjustification effect.
In solutions: Gamification and incentives, Free-to-play economies.
Frequently asked questions
What is a reward system diagram?
A reward system diagram shows what a player does, what they are given and how often. It connects triggers, such as a win, a drop or a level, to the odds and to the resources that store the reward, so you can test how fast players progress and how scarce a reward feels.
How do gacha and loot drop diagrams model chance?
With gates. A gate splits an incoming resource across outcomes using probabilities, so one roll can give a common or a rare result. A pool that counts attempts can feed a register that changes the odds after a number of misses, which is the usual way of modeling a pity system.
Do rewards help or hurt motivation?
Both can happen. Extrinsic rewards such as coins and chests can drive engagement, but the overjustification effect describes cases where external rewards for an enjoyable task reduce the player's own interest in it. Modeling how often and how large the rewards are lets you check how much of the experience they make up before you build it.
Are these the real reward systems of the games they are named after?
No. Several are fan models of published games, such as the Genshin Impact gacha, the League of Legends Hextech chests and Candy Crush Saga, built by Community members from public information. They show how such a system is structured, not the studios' real odds.
Can I copy one of these diagrams and change it?
Yes. Every diagram on this page is a public Community diagram. Open its page, sign in and remix it to copy it into your own account, then change the odds or rewards without affecting the original.
More selected models
Build your own reward system
Set the odds and the payouts, then Play the model and see how long players wait for each reward.