User blog comment:Oioiaussie/Buy playgrounds? A common misconception!/@comment-5110407-20120531221819/@comment-5039776-20120601001835

Almost, but not quite. You have forgotten sleeping time (unless you are an insomniac)! I look at it on a per 24h basis.

You should be able to get 3 x 8h cycles of the VFT (say 8am, 4pm and midnight). However, on a 2 hour cycle (like the Giant Sapphire), it's probable that you'll only get a maximum of 9 cycles (allowing only 6 hours for sleep!)

So, the daily tax from 9 VFTs is 5,400, while the daily tax from a Giant Sapphire is 4,050 - still good but not as good.

In terms of coins per pixel per day (which is how I analyse it), a VFT gives 600 while the Giant Sapphire returns 450. This means that the VFT will overtake the Gaint Sapphire's cheaper up-front cost (actually in just over 30 days - this is calculated as (90000-49000) divided by (5400-4050)). After day 30, VFTs beat it. After 60 days, the net return is 234000 vs 194000 in favour of the VFTs.

Add to this the fact that VFTs are little (1x1) and can be moved around in tight places to allow for additional stores/decorations/resources to be placed in your village, while the giant sapphire/playground etc may need to be removed to get something new in, and the smaller decoration wins - at least for me - financially.

Now, I like the look of the giant jewels and have them around my temple, but if I was purely fiancially driven, VFTs would be the sole unlimited decoration in my village (although the Giant Emerald actually beats it after 66 days).

As it turns out, I am Scooter Store mad right now and the daily return from just one of them is 100000+ per day on average. :)