why do I have to use my gems to play my games

@dianeg7774239Xp, I am a volunteer helper, not an EA employee. I think you are saying that you find that you have to use power ups (purchased from gems) to help continue and win games. This is a pet peeve of mine at Pogo too. The price for a subscription is actually reasonable compared to most game sites. I believe EA (owner of Pogo) has chosen to keep the membership price low in order to encourage more people to buy it. But they have to make up loss revenue somehow, and they have chosen to add games that offer power ups to win when a player cannot continue to win. There are a few other game sites that do this too, but it is very annoying to have to pay more just to win a game.  The game Quinn's Aquarium was one of my favorite games here until I finally stopped playing it because of all the gems spent to buy power ups to win the game.