Online skill-based game
Encyclopedia
Online skill-based games are online games in which the outcome of the game is determined by the player's physical skill (like fast reaction or dexterity) or mental skill (logic abilities, strategic thinking, trivia knowledge). As in off-line games of skill, the definition has legal meaning, as playing games of chance for money is an illegal act in several countries.
Another useful way to broadly categorize skill games is to divide them into games that require physical skill and dexterity (such as arcade games) and games that require mental skill and strategy (such as backgammon).
invested millions in a new online skill-based game company called Skillgames.com (formerly PureSkill.com). Manhattan
-based Skillgames, with endorsements by Disney-owned properties such as ESPN
and ABC
, was to develop skill-based games such as "Hole-In-One Golf
," "Soap Opera
Trivia" and others implemented as Java
applet
s on their site. Players could win prizes up to a million dollar
s their first time playing. Skillgames, the brainchild of Walker Digital
, also the parent company of Priceline.com
, fell on hard times in 2001. Congress had begun to threaten a crack-down on Internet gambling, and although the company was confident of the distinction between games of skill and games of chance, Disney decided to withdraw its investment. Skillgames management announced a business model change in late spring of 2001 and rounds of layoffs followed. After Skillgames was forced by the September 11 attacks to relocate from its offices in Manhattan's Woolworth Building
, the company failed to define a new direction, eventually going out of business in November 2001.
The first commercial launches of major skillgame sites in the US occurred in late 2000 when both WorldWinner and SkillJam (previously known as EGamesGroup) released the first versions of their respective online skill game systems.
In 2002 several large US-based portals, including MSN
and Yahoo integrated SkillJam's and WorldWinner's services into their game platforms, thereby providing the first major distribution channels for wider skill game adoption.
King.com
, the world’s largest online skills-game site, was launched in 2003. In January 2009, more than 350 million games were played at King.com, which is available in nine languages. King has featured the skill-game versions of such TV shows as "American Idol
," "The Biggest Loser
," "Deal or No Deal
" and "1 vs.100." More about history and skill gaming tips here.
Following the success of poker
sites, online casinos such as Casino On Net and GoldenPalace.com
learned that users want to play against each other instead of the house, and attempted to launch skill-based game sites in 2004 and 2005 with mixed results.
Several efforts have been made to include poker
under the definition of game of skill to legalize internet poker in the US. On May 26, 2007, Rep. Barney Frank
(D-MA) introduced HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act
and on June 7, 2207, Rep. Jim McDermott
(D-WA) introduced H.R. 2607, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act. In 2009, both Frank and McDermott reintroduced modified versions of these bills. In combination, these bills would legalize and regulate online gambling.
In August 2009, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has an introduced the Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act, suggesting to license and regulate online poker and online skill-based games such as backgammon
, bridge
and mahjong
in the US.
Supporters of online skill-based game legalization and regulation include the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative
, which believes “the government should regulate Internet gambling to ensure proper consumer protections are in place”
from head-to-head and tournament games, but unlike casino games or games of chance, the outcome of a skill game is predominantly determined by the user's skill level.
Successful skill games heavily modify the game play of "regular" casual games such as Solitaire
or Sudoku
in order to remove as many random events as possible. The analogy is that the influence of chance in a skill game should not exceed the influence of chance in any other pro sport competition, such as golf or football.
Category
Most skill-based games, or skillgames, fall into four categories:- Arcade gameArcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s involve quick fingers and quick thinking. These games are generally sped-up puzzle games. Arcade skillgames include CollapseCollapseCollapse may refer to:* Collapse, the action a collapsible or telescoping object does* Collapse * Collapse * Collapse ** Cave-in is a kind of structural collapse** Collapse of the World Trade Center, a 2001 event...
and Mini-Golf. - Puzzle games rely on logic abilities and require the user to solve certain types of puzzles. While not as fast-paced as arcade games, these games often come with a time limit. Popular puzzle games include BejeweledBejeweledBejeweled is a puzzle game by PopCap Games, first developed for browsers in 2001. Three follow-ups to this game have been released. More than 75 million copies of Bejeweled have been sold, and the game has been downloaded more than 500 million times....
and HexTwist and Ponk Phenomania : Appstore App. - Word gameWord gameWord games and puzzles are spoken or board games often designed to test ability with language or to explore its properties.Word games are generally engaged as a source of entertainment, but have been found to serve an educational purpose as well...
s are basically puzzle games using word problems, like rearranging letters to make words. Popular word games include BookwormBookwormBookworm may refer to:* Bibliophile or bookworm, an avid reader and lover of books* Bookworm , a popular generalization for any insect which supposedly bores through books...
and Alphabet Soup. - Trivia games test the user's knowledge of trivia in specific categories or in general.
Another useful way to broadly categorize skill games is to divide them into games that require physical skill and dexterity (such as arcade games) and games that require mental skill and strategy (such as backgammon).
History
Around 2000, DisneyThe Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
invested millions in a new online skill-based game company called Skillgames.com (formerly PureSkill.com). Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
-based Skillgames, with endorsements by Disney-owned properties such as ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, was to develop skill-based games such as "Hole-In-One Golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
," "Soap Opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Trivia" and others implemented as Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
applet
Applet
In computing, an applet is any small application that performs one specific task that runs within the scope of a larger program, often as a plug-in. An applet typically also refers to Java applets, i.e., programs written in the Java programming language that are included in a web page...
s on their site. Players could win prizes up to a million dollar
Dollar
The dollar is the name of the official currency of many countries, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.-Etymology:...
s their first time playing. Skillgames, the brainchild of Walker Digital
Walker Digital
Walker Digital is a privately held American research and development lab based in Stamford, Connecticut. It was founded in 1994 by Jay S. Walker, who also holds the position of chairman as of 2011. The company specializes in creating applications and business solutions that work with large-scale...
, also the parent company of Priceline.com
Priceline.com
Priceline.com is a company and a commercial website that helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related purchases such as airline tickets and hotel stays. The company is not a direct supplier of these services; instead it facilitates the provision of travel services by its suppliers to its...
, fell on hard times in 2001. Congress had begun to threaten a crack-down on Internet gambling, and although the company was confident of the distinction between games of skill and games of chance, Disney decided to withdraw its investment. Skillgames management announced a business model change in late spring of 2001 and rounds of layoffs followed. After Skillgames was forced by the September 11 attacks to relocate from its offices in Manhattan's Woolworth Building
Woolworth Building
The Woolworth Building is one of the oldest skyscrapers in New York City. More than a century after the start of its construction, it remains, at 57 stories, one of the fifty tallest buildings in the United States as well as one of the twenty tallest buildings in New York City...
, the company failed to define a new direction, eventually going out of business in November 2001.
The first commercial launches of major skillgame sites in the US occurred in late 2000 when both WorldWinner and SkillJam (previously known as EGamesGroup) released the first versions of their respective online skill game systems.
In 2002 several large US-based portals, including MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
and Yahoo integrated SkillJam's and WorldWinner's services into their game platforms, thereby providing the first major distribution channels for wider skill game adoption.
King.com
King.com
King.com is an online skill-based games company. King.com is available in nine languages and in 10 countries. King.com is an international company with 85 employees and offices in London, Los Angeles, Rome, Hamburg and Stockholm.-Operations:...
, the world’s largest online skills-game site, was launched in 2003. In January 2009, more than 350 million games were played at King.com, which is available in nine languages. King has featured the skill-game versions of such TV shows as "American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
," "The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
," "Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
" and "1 vs.100." More about history and skill gaming tips here.
Following the success of poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
sites, online casinos such as Casino On Net and GoldenPalace.com
GoldenPalace.com
GoldenPalace.com is an online casino, hosted at Mohawk Internet Technologies, which is located in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory near Montreal. They are well-known for their publicity stunts. They are also known for large 'bonuses' which must be waged a comparatively excessive fifty times before...
learned that users want to play against each other instead of the house, and attempted to launch skill-based game sites in 2004 and 2005 with mixed results.
Several efforts have been made to include poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
under the definition of game of skill to legalize internet poker in the US. On May 26, 2007, Rep. Barney Frank
Barney Frank
Barney Frank is the U.S. Representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and...
(D-MA) introduced HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act
Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act
The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act was a proposed 2009 bill in the United State House of Representatives that is intended "to provide for the licensing of Internet gambling activities by the Secretary of the Treasury, to provide for consumer protections on...
and on June 7, 2207, Rep. Jim McDermott
Jim McDermott
James Adelbert "Jim" McDermott is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1989. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The 7th District includes most of Seattle and Vashon Island, and portions of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Tukwila, SeaTac, and Burien.He serves on the House Ways and Means...
(D-WA) introduced H.R. 2607, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act. In 2009, both Frank and McDermott reintroduced modified versions of these bills. In combination, these bills would legalize and regulate online gambling.
In August 2009, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has an introduced the Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act, suggesting to license and regulate online poker and online skill-based games such as backgammon
Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
, bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
and mahjong
Mahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...
in the US.
Supporters of online skill-based game legalization and regulation include the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative
Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative
The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative promotes an individual's freedom to gamble online in the interest of creating safeguards to protect consumers and ensure financial transactions are legal and safe.-Background:...
, which believes “the government should regulate Internet gambling to ensure proper consumer protections are in place”
Mechanics
Like poker sites, skillgame sites take a rakeRake (poker)
Rake is the scaled commission fee taken by a cardroom operating a poker game. It is generally 5 to 10 percent of the pot in each poker hand, up to a predetermined maximum amount. There are also other non-percentage ways for a casino to take the rake. Some cardrooms will not take a percentage rake...
from head-to-head and tournament games, but unlike casino games or games of chance, the outcome of a skill game is predominantly determined by the user's skill level.
Successful skill games heavily modify the game play of "regular" casual games such as Solitaire
Solitaire
Solitaire is any tabletop game which one can play by oneself or with other people. The solitaire card game Klondike is often known as simply Solitaire....
or Sudoku
Sudoku
is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 sub-grids that compose the grid contains all of the digits from 1 to 9...
in order to remove as many random events as possible. The analogy is that the influence of chance in a skill game should not exceed the influence of chance in any other pro sport competition, such as golf or football.