Clash Royale launched worldwide on March 2, 2016. And I’ve played every day since then. Yup.

Enter the Arena! From the creators of Clash of Clans comes a real-time multiplayer game starring the Royales, your favorite Clash characters and much, much more. Collect and upgrade dozens of cards featuring the Clash of Clans troops, spells and defenses you know and love, as well as the Royales: Princes, Knights, Baby Dragons and more. Knock the enemy King and Princesses from their towers to defeat your opponents and win Trophies, Crowns and glory in the Arena. Form a Clan to share cards and build your very own battle community.

I could front, but I’m not going to; Clash Royale is one of my favorite iOS games of all time. Scratch that, actually. It’s just one of my favorite games of all time. And I’ve played a few games! It’s rare that I would feel that way about a game, especially after playing it for a year, but Clash Royale is the one I keep coming back to.

So, a year on, I thought I’d talk about a few of the reasons I keep coming back to Clash Royale:

One of the things I love most about Clash Royale is it’s accessibility. The fact that Clash Royale is free is huge! Anyone who owns an Android or iOS device can play it. And although it is free-to-play, it’s about the fairest free-to-play monetization scheme that I’ve ever experienced. Spending money on the game would certainly give you a nice bump, but I — and many other players, I think — simply haven’t felt the need. It isn’t “pay-to-win” as some people assume most free-to-play games are.

That accessibility continues beyond monetization, though. The game, by virtue of being a mobile game, lives in the player’s pocket. Any time you have the chance to take your phone out, you have a chance to play Clash Royale. A match can’t go on for more than a maximum of four minutes, so you’re safe from a game going on for longer than you’d want. And, hey, if you want to play for longer, you can just play multiple matches; There is something for everyone, regardless of how much time they have.

Simple progression in Clash Royale also feels very accessible. The main progression involves collecting and leveling up cards. There are seventy-one total cards (as of right now) and players build decks of eight cards to go into battle. And that’s it. Obviously you have to level the cards up, that’s part of the progression, but there isn’t any trick to it. It’s presented simply because it really is simple. Pick the cards you like/cards that work well together, level them up to keep up with other players, and then compete with other players. It all just works really well.

Also, I’m drawn to the competitive aspect of Clash Royale way more than I thought I would be. I celebrate when I win, I get sad when I lose; I’m not really a competitive guy, so it’s an exciting and unexpected feeling. I mean, I’ve played other competitive games like Hearthstone, Overwatch, and even Rocket League, but Clash Royale pushes me to be to competitive. I’ve climbed into the game’s high-rank competitive arena, and, well… I’ve never done that before! Reaching my current personal best (4591 trophies!) was exciting and stressful and something that I’m always trying to challenge. I don’t know… maybe I am a little competitive.

There is something so satisfying about bite-sized competition. Some competitive games have matches that last anywhere between ten minutes and an hour. In that way, Clash Royale is sorta unmatched for me; With a hard limit of four minutes, Clash Royale rarely ever outstays it’s welcome. Regardless of how any battle goes — win or lose — I haven’t spent any more than four minutes.

But maybe moreso than anything else, I keep coming back to Clash Royale because of the community. Every player has the option to join or create a clan; Those clans have their own name and emblem, and within those clans players can chat, share cards, share replays, and challenge each other to friendly battles. It doesn’t sound like much, but these little clans have a really nice sense of community.

The community also exists outside of the game. Clash Royale has built healthy little groups on Reddit, YouTube, Twitch, and on it’s own official forums. These communities share rumors, strategies, funny posts, memes, whatever. It’s all in fun, and there is nothing too serious. Being a part of a fun-loving and carefree game community like this has been really refreshing for me; it’s something that I am really grateful for.

All of these things — and maybe a few more that I’m not currently thinking of — keep me coming back to Clash Royale, even after a year. It’s hard to put to words exactly what makes something special, so I hope I’ve done a decent job at explaining what makes Clash Royale special to me, personally.