There are many ways to earn 
just by playing the game, without spending any real money!
[In any following calculations, "n" represents your current level (your neighbor's if it is finding Scrat there).]
Note that there is a coin cap of 2,147,000,000.
Collect from Animals and Fun Stuff
The base amount earned by each animal or fun building varies. As a general rule, those that cost 
, are given as collection rewards, or unlocked at higher levels tend to produce more for their recharge time.
- e.g. Compare the base earning rates for the completed families of Possum (Lv8, 1700 coins), Horse (Lv29, 3400 coins), Sabertooth Tiger (Collection reward, 6800 coins), Pink Ostrich (20 acorns, 8500 coins) and Shark (300 acorns, 8500 coins). They all have the same recharging time of 6 hours, but the coin earnings are quite different.
Placing Decorations near your Animals and Fun Stuff increases their revenue. See Layouts for suggestions about maximizing your decoration bonus effects.
Amount of income produced is also affected by your Village Status.
Clear Snow (or Leaf) Piles
6n coins for each pile, plus 1 or 2 coins to clear larger piles
Friends
There are various ways your friends can help you earn coins.
- Friends can send you a gift once a day, and it may be 100
. - Find Scrat in your friends' villages - you'll get 100n if you used the hint, 150n if you found Scrat before the hint.
Catch Scrat
Catch Scrat in your village - you'll get 150n coins if his acorn is successfully caught. Scrat comes by every 4 minutes in your village. If you didn't catch him successfully the 1st time, he will come back after 2 minutes. Leaving in between Scrat's visiting times will freeze the timer. Quitting the game 1 minute after catching Scrat will make him appear 3 minutes after starting the game again.
Play Kung Fu Scrat
The Kung Fu Scrat game can be a great way to earn coins. See its page for more details.
Complete Missions
There are plenty of Missions to complete throughout the game, and all of them provide a coin reward.
Complete Collections
There are several collections to be completed throughout the game - all of them provide a coin reward.
Daily Bonuses
For every day that you play the game, you will receive a daily bonus. The amount of you receive steadily increases up to 1,000,000 , and is always the reward for a day that is not a multiple of 5 (on those days, the bonus is a Decoration).
Sell Decorations and Fun Buildings
You can sell decorations and fun buildings. But the sale prices are VERY small compared to the purchase price. Any items bought with acorns will sell for only 5 . Items bought with coins sell for only 5% of the purchase price.
Level Up
Every time you Level Up, you get a reward!
Daily Challenges
Every day you have the opportunity to complete a new Daily Challenge. The reward is often .