We don’t talk about the rubies and the pipes…. – Mario Kart Tour Review

…But we should. They’re almost the only way to acquire high-end characters, karts and gliders, and they require rubies to fire. Rubies are the rarest (and most expensive) in-game currency; there are ways to get some without spending real money, but these are either few and far between (earning them as tour gifts, as an achievement, or ironically firing them out of a pipe), but it’s hard to build a stockpile without buying them outright. And they are a huge waste of money- it costs five rubies to fire a pipe, and the chance of getting anything good (read, high-end) is extremely remote; the whole system seems rigged that way. And don’t bother checking the Daily Selects for those coveted drivers- in another review I read that the drivers featured there are limited to a selection of those who were available when the game first launched, which leaves a lot of drivers out in the cold and unavailable, especially for those of us who’ve been suckered by it before and refuse to buy into the ruby racket again. A racket- that’s what it is, really. On a side note, in my experience, even when I do, on those very rare occasions, get a high-end something or other from a pipe, it’s usually something or someone I already have, so even when I fire it for free, the pipe system is a waste of time. As for buying rubies for multiple firings, don’t bother on that account either- the odds aren’t any better.
Review by QueenoftheBigBlue on Mario Kart Tour.