I would also gladly pay once to get unlimited lives, but for them it's either a constant stream of disproportionate amounts of money considering what type of game it is, or nothing. So I choose nothing.

It wouldn't be nearly as bad if, like most other similar games, you only lost a life when you lost a match. I keep going back to play more, then getting frustrated and quitting again. I mean, combine the life thing with the fact that some of the stages are over in five moves. It's a game I badly want to play, and would gladly pay money for, and yet they just continually push me away. Someone explain how this is a good business model (considering that there are very few unlimited-disposable-income folks playing this, as opposed to smart phones, where it makes perfect sense).

I actually don't have too much a problem with the limited tries. I play my five levels and then put it away until tomorrow. What bothers me more is the limited in-game money (and I traded the gems I got in normal gameplay into money), because some later levels are ridiculously hard. The levels with only 5 moves were named, there were also levels where you start with most of the grid frozen so that you can basically do nothing and stuff like that. I tend to use ingame money to buy more moves or a mega-evolution from the start. Also if you want to catch Pokemon, you get into buying Superballs for a lot of ingame money. Didn't pay real money so far and doubt I ever will. But as Rol explained, free-to-play usually has a low percentage of paying customers.

The new Pokemon Rumble is also free-to-play and uses another concept to encourage people to put real money into it.

I don't play long enough for the restrictions to bother me.

You did the review!! The game is very addicting as you say but I lost interest pretty quickly as the chance for capturing the pokemon gets lower the more you play, forcing you to replay the same stage several times until you get it, halting your progress (if you are a completionist bitch, like me). The special stages are very hard too and they have a time limit...

I might try Puzzle and Dragons if it doesn't have any of the bullshit that plagues Pokemon Shuffle.

A funny tip: If you didn't update your 3DS yet you can get a hack for unlimited lives with a QR code!

The problem is I just don't think the same percentage of people are paying.  Probably nothing even close.  The smart phone crowd and the 3DS crowd are really different, mostly because of kids vs. adults.  It would be cool if they released some financials on it.

This is one of those games that should have been on IOS and Android instead of 3DS

I'm not a fan of Pokemon but I'm really enjoying this game. Currently trying to beat level 180, and just unlocked Exp level 18. Like 15 hrs playing and haven't spend any money on it, not bad for a free game.

There are some frustrating moments to be had, with very difficult scenarios where you'll be forced to buy items with in-game coins, but other than that is a fun game to play and very addictive. Is a good to play casually a few minutes, so I don't have any problems with the limited tries per day.

Good review. Maybe this game was made to create an appetite for the superior Puzzle and Dragon Z + Super Mario Bros. game?

I think the real number is much lower. Judging by the last Challenge Event (Mega-Turtok) there were app. 80.000 active gamers according to the highscore. And there are probably more active gamers than paying gamers.
However I enjoyed the game. It's free and I got nearly every pokemon available (3 of the bonus stages are still left) without using one of the "Klunker" ... 

Pokemon Suffer is a good name.