UNC Wilmington students who love marine life and have a smart phone can now download Abyssrium for free and create their very own coral reef complete with coral, fish and occasionally even penguins.

Abyssrium was created by IDLE idea factory. The same group that developed Quest, a schedule-managing app that has been selected as an app store editor’s choice, created Abyssrium to aid in relaxation and fun.

“Abyssrium is for those who like their gaming Zen,” states the apps description.

The game is free and each user starts with a small reef that they can then level up by purchasing coral or fish, which help to expand the reef. Downloading the game is free and progress is easy to make without ever making any in-app purchases.

The reef itself will continue to grow and expand even if the user is away from the app creating more “vitality” for the user. Vitality in the game is much like money in the real world. You use vitality to purchase new fish or coral to expand your reef.

Abyssrium is very user-friendly gaming. When a new user first begins there is a tutorial option that will walk you through each aspect of the game or you can choose to skip the tutorial and learn for yourself.

Advertised as a game that helps you reach your Zen, Abyssrium utilizes a soft pastel color palette and melodic music to set the tone for game play. Tapping on the screen gains you vitality while the more coral and fish you purchase elevate how much vitality you get for each tap.

Extra features such as skills can be found as well. Some of these skills include things such as a volcanic eruption which causes your reef to be “auto tapped” 10 times per second and gains users vitality without them having to physically tap the screen. The game will continue to accrue vitality for the user even when the app is closed out.

The game also rewards users for simple things such as tapping the screen 100 times or tapping the upper left-hand corner 1,000 times. Rewards for things like this are typically rare fish or unique coral.

Users can unlock numerous types of coral. Fresh seaweed, red sea fans and pearly anemone are just three of the many different kinds of life that can inhabit your reef.

Although the reef is small at first, reaching level 500 upgrades and expands the reef and unlocks even more fish. In the beginning users are able to purchase percula clownfish, blue clownfish and red clownfish. After leveling up just a few times users are able to purchase fish such as fire gobys, blue tangs and Brazilian seahorses.

“I really love this app because it is distracting and relaxing,” said UNCW junior Evan Schiappa. “There is a holiday special going on for another two weeks that I am kind of excited about because now I can get penguins for my reef.”

The Christmas event mentioned by Schiappa will continue for the next 15 days. Users can click on candy canes that float throughout the reef and stock up to make purchases with the candy canes under the events section of the app.