This is one of the first questions a lot of new players ask when they start Umamusume: Pretty Derby. You see banners, limited characters, support cards, and premium currency everywhere, so it’s natural to wonder if the game is actually playable without spending real money. I have spent money, but that doesn’t mean you have to also. In fact, I barely spent any money at all. I did buy a few of the starter packs when the game first launched because there were a bunch of goodies for cheap, but I haven’t spent more than $40 during the year since release.
You don’t have to either, though you might not get as many trainees and support cards as you’d like. But by playing carefully and often, you can see great progress without spending any money. Plus we have other guides that will help you. When you’re first starting your account, make sure to read this guide. It’s short and will teach you how to reroll. When making an account, you’ll want to spend all your free starter carats on support cards. If you don’t get ones you like or can use, just start over. There’s no limit to how many times you can do a new account. When you have a good starter account, then you can continue.
The main way to pull trainees and support cards is with carats. You can buy carats but there’s a ton of ways to earn carats for free by just playing normally. You can get a thousand carats or more every week for free by reading this guide. Monies is also a useful currency that you’re going to need a lot of, and we have a separate guide for that. Using monies and other resources will allow you to grow your trainees and support cards internally without having to spend any real money.
The only thing free players really need to worry about is being selective with what they want to do. Players who spend hundreds of dollars on the game can drop thousands of carats on every banner and get something good. Free players might have to skip banners and put extra work in. Free players will have to save up their carats for a trainee or support banner that they really want or one that will support their growth. Plus there’s no guarantee that you’ll get them with your saved carats, but it’s still an option for free players.
Free players will also want to take advantage of major events. These events will give you free support cards and duplicates to make them stronger, as well as a bunch of extra resources. Doing careers during these events is way better than just doing a career normally. A free player spending an hour or two playing per day during a major event will have a huge chance of building a solid account in the long run.
Lastly, free players will need patience. Saving up carats for a week and then spending them on a banner won’t do much good, even if you get something nice. To actually build your account you’re going to need to join an active club, do team trials every week, and work on building a solid roster of trainees. But it’s all possible if you’re playing for free.