News: Gamesville players will soon be able to EARN prizes!

The Gamesville team has been hinting for some time about a new way to earn prizes, using GVs. Well, they’ve finally released some more info about it! And we have one teaser picture to work with. ^_^

*Squints* I need mah glasses!

If you can’t see the pic, here’s what the text says.

Gamesville.com awards more cash prizes to more people than any website on the planet. And unlike other game sites – where some people win prizes but most don’t – every eligible player at Gamesville can win prizes. See, it’s not a matter of “if” you’ll win a prize at Gamesville; it’s only a matter of “when”!

Below that is a table that looks something like this:

Prize Amount	Description	Cost	Availability
$5	Cash	1,500,000 GV Rewards	77 (Claim)
$10	iTunes Gift Card	2,000,000 GV Rewards	22 (Claim)
$25	Amazon.com Gift Card	3,000,000 GV Rewards	3 (Claim)
$50	Cash	4,000,000 GV Rewards	2 (Claim)
$100	Cash	5,000,000 GV Rewards	1 (Claim

Since this is still a work in progress, the prizes AND costs may change, so please don’t yell at them if they come out with something different!

Having a limited number of prizes is interesting, but I wonder how they’re going to do it. If there’s only one $100 prize a month, when does it restock? If it’s at the start of the month, there’s going to be a mad rush and I imagine a lot of people will fuss about it restocking at a time when they’re asleep, or at work.

A random restock would be more fair (and fun), but could frustrate those who *really* just want one prize. Would you want to check numerous times a day for a month, only to find out that it restocked and you missed it?

So yeah, I’m really curious about how they’re going to handle restocks. ^_^ They hope to release it sometime in April, so start saving your GVs!!

What do you think of the new “earning” option? Do you think it will satisfy the players who are mad that they never win anything?

Guest Post: You know you’re addicted to Gamesville when…

Welcome to the first ever guest post on Free2WinGames! Today’s author is Rhonda, best known as u-feel-me on Gamesville!

I’ll shush now so you can read her thoughts on Gamesville addiction. ^_^

Button made by gigglebot! 

Addiction is an uncontrollable compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of its  consequences. This is as defined by Webster's Online Dictionary. The following is as it applies to us Gamesvillians.

You know you are a Gamesville addict when....

If you have ever "brb'd" and returned to find your 3 year old playing Quick Draw Poker  or daubing your Coverall boards as well as you can....

If it is not unusual for the name "Megadestructo" to be in your everyday vocabulary...

If you have ever scheduled a meal around  "jackpot time".....

If you have ever lost power in your home and been more concerned with loss of gvs rather than loss of a full refrigerators worth of groceries.....

If  you  have ever played on your lunch hour..

If you have downloaded software to your cell phone to "attempt" to play..

If you have ever gone to put your lunch in the microwave, only to find the breakfast muffin you forgot to eat....

If ever you have dreamed of veggies or your dear Gamesville friends...

If you have carried your laptop through the house as you do your housework....

If you have ever taken your laptop to the bathroom.....

If you have ever called in sick to work to play Coverall or Three Eyed Bingo....

If your internet service has gone down and you need nerve pills......

Hi, my name is Rhonda, (aka u-feel-me) and yes I am a proud card carrying Gamesville addict!!!

Special thanks to Skatterbrane, Connie 4518, Chachisrainbow, Beeaahcookie, Acwilcox , and Center_Ice_Lady for their contributions to this tidbit of silliness.

About the goofball writing this (oops author) Rhonda Green, mother of four lovely lil people, constant thorn in the same man’s side for almost 16 years (poor guy lol), jewelry designer maker (www.poofydesigns.etsy.com), proud Gamesville addict, and avid reader of Dean Koontz novels.

 

 

Thank you, Rhonda, for enlightening us all as to the dangers of Gamesville addiction. XD

If writing a guest post sounds interesting to you, let’s talk!

Hot Streak Solitaire – Cards + Fire = Ash. No wait, it’s AWESOME! That’s it. ^_^

If you enjoy solitaire games, then you should totally try Hot Streak Solitaire at Gamesville! It’s based off of tri-peaks solitaire, so named because of the three peaks (or pyramids) that form the playing field.

And deserts are REALLY hot.

This isn’t a new game for Gamesville, but it recently got a complete makeover! Now you’re helping Poke move through the worlds. (He’s trying to get back home, poor thing!) Right now there are three worlds, but 4 & 5 are coming soon. At least, that’s what the map says. ^_^

This map should help clear things up!

Will there be more worlds beyond that? I have no idea, but I kinda hope so.

Each world has 12 levels. Basically, when you finish a level Poke waddles a little bit across the screen. ^_^ And in order to complete a level you’ll have to clear all of the cards from the playing field. How do you do that? Well…

 

The Basics

If you’ve never played tri-peaks solitaire, don’t worry! This is a pretty simple game. ^_^

Each round you’ll start with 28 cards creating the pyramids, and 23 cards at the bottom that create a “deal” pile.

I’m with ya so far.

There’s also one card that’s face-up in the bottom right corner. This is the discard pile, and this is where you’ll play all of your cards!

To play a card from the pyramids you just click on it, and if it’s a legal play it will automatically move to the discard pile. You can play cards that are either one step higher OR lower than the current card. For example, I could play either a 2 or a 4 on that 3 of clubs!

If you reach a point where you can’t play anything on the discard pile, click the draw pile to flip a card over. Play on the new card, if you can!

To finish a level you must remove all of the cards from the pyramids. The draw pile is just there to help you clear the level, and there’s NO penalty for having draw cards left over! However, if you run out of draw cards and you can’t play anything else, you lose the round and have to try the level again.

 

Rewards

For each completed level you’ll get 500 GVs and 1 sweepstakes ticket. On levels 4, 8 and 12 in each world you’ll win 10 sweepstakes tickets instead of 1!

This means that if you played all the way through the (current) three worlds, you’d earn 18,000 GVs and 117 tickets!! (Once you reach the end you start back at world 1.)

The sweeps drawing occurs each day at 12 am GMT (That’s 7 pm EST.) and is for a $10 prize. The prize is automatically doubled for Gold members, which means they win $20!

If you aren’t a Gold member but you like the sound of doubled prizes, well I have good news! Non-Gold members can get double winnings for a month!

This is completely legit, btw. You can read about it on the Hot Streak Solitaire rules page. ^_^

You’ll need a business size envelope, a 3x5 index card, postage, and something to write with. (I suggest a pen.) Write ALL of the following information on the card.

• Your full name
• Gamesville account name
• Your mailing address
• Date of birth (mm/dd/yyyy)
• Daytime phone number and e-mail address

Seal the card in the envelope and mail it to:

"Gamesville Hot Streak Solitaire Automatic Prize Doubler "
c/o Lycos, Inc.
100 Fifth Ave.
Waltham, MA 02451-8703

As soon as they receive your entry you'll be eligible for a doubled prize for a MONTH!! Good luck to you! ^_^

 

Tips & Tricks

Score doesn’t affect how many GVs you’ll get, but the player with the highest score for the day is featured on the game page!

Congrats to houlygan2 & rotomojo!

I haven’t been lucky enough (yet) to be the daily high score, but I came darned close!

And no, I didn’t photoshop that. :P

Getting a HIGH score requires two abilities:

1. Successfully clear levels one after the other.
2. Create long streaks of cards.

Item #1 is the most important because you carry your score from one level to the next, but only if you clear the board. The first time you can’t finish a board, your score goes right back to zero and you start over. >_< (You only start over with score! You’re still on the same level, and Poke doesn’t take a step back or anything!)

Here are two tips for clearing the board.

 

1. Free the masses! Pick cards that reveal the most new cards.

Often in Hot Streak Solitaire you’ll have to choose between several paths. Whenever you have to choose between two (or more) cards, pick the card that will reveal the most cards directly below it.

In the picture below we can only play a 9 on that 10. (No Jacks around.) With two 9s on the board, which should we go for?

Oooh! Oooh! I know!!! *Waves hand*

The 9 of spades will reveal two new cards, whereas the 9 of clubs will only reveal one new card. Since we want to keep options open, we should pick the 9 of spades. Most likely we’ll use the 9 of clubs in a streak, but we still should use the 9 of spades first.

 

2. Free the populace! Pick cards that free up the lowest tier.

Sometimes your options will all reveal the same amount of cards. When that’s the case, go for the card that’s on the lowest tier.

In the picture below we have to choose between two 10s. Both will reveal only one card.

 Mmhmm. I see!

However, the 10 of spades is on the lowest tier, which means that more cards are “trapped” by it. (Three trapped cards, vs the 10 of diamonds’ two trapped cards.) In this case, I would definitely opt for the 10 of spades.

Take time to look at what’s below each card before you pick it. You don’t want to end up with a board that looks like this! *Points down*

“Uh-oh,” indeed.

That Jack has five cards pinned under it and no other cards to play off of. Even if we’re lucky and get a 10 or a Queen, it’s unlikely that we’ll get exactly what we need to clear the remaining cards.

And for the record, I lost that hand. XD

Let’s move on to streaks!

No, not hair streaks. Although… those look AWESOME!

A streak is when you play two or more cards in a row, without needing to flip a card over from the draw pile. The longer a streak is, the more points it’s worth!

I tried to figure the formula out, but I got confused. *^_^* (If someone else has figured it out, please tell me!)

In addition to the awesome points, creating a streak fills up the multiplier bar!

That thing.

Once your streak is over the multiplier bar stays where it is, so you can get the bonus on the next cards you play! However, the multiplier bar empties a little for every card you pull from the draw pile. Creating a new streak will fill it up again!

To give you an idea of how powerful streaks are, I have a little story for you. ^_^ (No pic because I didn’t think to take one. So sorry!)

I got on a roll with the cards and created a streak of 18! Then I looked at my score and nearly fell out of my chair. I had over 200,000 points, and that was my first hand!!! o_O Streaks are definitely worth taking time for!

So, how do you build better streaks? Well, the first step is to stop thinking of card order as linear.  (A2345678910JQK) Instead, think of the card sequence as a circle.

It looks like a clock.

It all connects! Every card has two other cards that it can be played on. And you can create streaks that move up and down. For example, you might play a streak similar to this: Q-J-Q-K-A-2-A-2-3

Here’s a simple streak for an example. We have a 3 on the discard pile and we also have a 4 and a 2 on the board. Which should we play?

Hmmmm….

If we play the 2 then the best streaks we could build are 2-3-4 or 2-A-K. But if we play the 4 we can make a streak that goes 4-3-2-A-K. That’s definitely the better option! And if we’re lucky, there might be cards underneath to extend the streak. *Crosses fingers*

Learning to build long streaks takes patience and practice. But you can’t forget everything that you learned about clearing the board too! If you ever have to pick between extending a streak over freeing buried cards, free the cards. The bonus points from the streak are useless if you can’t finish the board!

 

Final Rating

I’ll admit, I had a hard time writing about the new Hot Streak Solitaire. Why? Because whenever I sat down to play and get some pics I’d completely lose track of time. Seriously, hours would fly by before I remembered what I was supposed to do. Oops. *^_^*

So yes, I really enjoy this game! It’s addictive, easy to play, and looks great! I kinda want to finish this guide so I can play a few more rounds before bed. *Innocent whistle*

I rate Hot Streak Solitaire 5 out of 5 stars!

How about you? What would you rate it? Any tips to share? What other worlds should Poke visit?

For a glimpse of what it took to put Hot Streak Solitaire together, check out the Free2WinGames’ interview with the artist, Nick Sherman!

 

Similar Games

If you like solitaire-type games then you should give some of these a shot too!

• Pyramid Solitaire at IWON – Clear the pyramid by pairing up cards that equal 13! (It’s really freakin’ hard.)
• Treasure Hunter at Spigo – This is part tri-peaks and part bejeweled. Very fun!
• Rainy Day Spider Solitaire at Pogo – If you like Spider Solitaire you should definitely try the Pogo version. It’s really cute. ^_^

Interview with the Captain of the Skies, Nick Sherman!

Yes indeedy! In honor of the recent remake of Hot Streak Solitaire at Gamesville,  Chris Cummings let me badger the Gamesville artist, Nick Sherman!

 He also likes to fly planes.

Mira: Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview! ^_^ I know you’re a busy man, so let’s jump right into things. Hot Streak Solitaire currently has three worlds released and two more worlds hidden in the shadows. Where did you get inspiration for each world?

Nick: Each world was a combination of both Chris’ and my imagination.  There was nothing set in stone when I started to dive into this project, we just let the ideas flow out as I created each scene.  Poke has been a character of Gamesville for a long time, so there was a lot to reference about him.  I took my inspiration from his existing appearances, and tried to create an environment that I felt he would belong in.

Even Poke needs a map!

Mira: The current worlds look fantastic, btw. I keep spotting more details every time I play! Any idea how many images/animations are in a single world?

Nick: Each world has an array of different animations.  They each have 3 unique “You Won Sweepstakes Entries” animations, along with other background animations (such as clouds, birds, tumbleweed, fog, etc.) to make it look alive even while nothing is happening.  There are also a number of animations within Poke that are shared across all of the scenes like his walk cycle, idle animations, turning around, etc.

Mira: Wow.. So many things I never even thought about! How long did it take to create all of that?

Nick: I would have to say it took me between 2 and 3 months to complete everything.  That includes the game and all of its assets, 5 scenes (including the 2 that are coming soon), the foldout map, and one other fun feature that had yet to be revealed ;)

Mira: You’re such a tease! :P Now I want to know what the fun feature is. I guess I’ll have to be “patient,” or something like that. So, what was the process like for creating the images?

Nick: First, I make a rough sketch, on either paper or on the computer, and try to figure out where everything is going to go, and how to fit it all.  When the layout is there, I can then trace over it and clean it up.  I like to have the background and characters pretty finalized before I start animating them, so I have a clearer picture for what it will look like.  After all of the art and animation is done, I can take a step back and make sure everything is there that is supposed to be, and touch up any thing that looks a little off.  The final product tends to look much different than the initial sketch, as we’re always coming up with new ideas throughout the process.  Here are some of the original sketches for Hot Streak so you can see how much it evolved.

Poke ponders how to cool off.

Mira: That’s really cool! (Pun totally intended.) What was your favorite image/animation to create?

Nick: Man, that’s a good question.  I had fun creating all of them!   If I had to pick, I would say that the barfing penguin was especially fun.  It’s not too often that your boss tells you draw a drunken penguin that throws up a fish.  I also enjoyed making the desert scene because of all of the different characters involved in it.

Mira: Yeah.. I can see why a barfing penguin might not be a common request. ^_^ What was the most challenging item to create?

Nick: I don’t want to give anything away, but I’d have to say the final level in scene 4.  Keep an eye out for it when it arrives!

Mira: Again with the teasing! :P I’ll be on the lookout when scene 4 comes out. Are there any plans for limited edition, holiday themed worlds? 

Nick: Well the great thing about this game is that more can always be more added to it.  A holiday themed world is a great idea!  There are also the 2 more scenes that we’ll be adding soon.

Mira: What’s your favorite world?

Nick: All of them!!   I do like the first world, because it was the first one that I created, and it brings me back to the beginnings of Hot Streak.

Mira: Honestly, the first world is my favorite too. It’s just so cheery! ^_^ And I think.. *flips through pictures.* Yes! Here’s the concept art you sent me for World 1.

Idea

Reality!

Mira: I love that I can see the penguin ice-cream cart that rolls in at the end. ^_^ Out of curiosity, what drinks are served at the penguin pub and may I have one?

Nick: I believe they offer shrimp martinis, krill shots, and squid beer.  Not quite my cup of tea, and I hear they’re quite pricey.

Mira: Squid beer? That sounds.. different. o_O

Not squid beer.

Mira: Back to Poke. I'm a little concerned that he went from the desert to a graveyard. Is he dead? (World 4: The Afterlife!)

Nick: Haha, no no, he just took a wrong turn somewhere.  Poor Poke is always getting in trouble.  When Franken Penguin scares Poke off to Scene 4, I think he’s going to find himself in a very strange place!

Mira: I can’t wait to see it! And now the last two questions: What's your top score in Hot Streak Solitaire? Top streak?

Nick: My high score is 498,370 and my best streak is 13.

Mira: Awesome!

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer questions and share some of the sketches. And a big THANK YOU for contributing unique artwork as a prize in Points4Prizes! I know that whoever gets it will be really excited. ^_^

 

Want to learn more about Nick? You could always read his blog or check out some of his non-Gamesville art! It’s cool!

Somebody get me a blanket!

If you could interview anyone at Gamesville, who would it be? What would you ask? And in case you missed it, here’s a link to the interview with Chris Cummings!

Gamesville Policy Change

This really isn’t a big deal, but Gamesville is switching to a one account per person rule. From their blog:

Over the years, we’ve generally had a laissez-faire attitude toward individual people playing with multiple accounts. However, starting this month, we’re actually adjusting our policy to match the facts on the ground such that we’re only allowing one account per person.

 

The reasons why are multiple:

 

1) It’s easier for you and it’s easier for us. Many of the customer service tickets we get around member name and password issues stem from people confusing the password of member name #1 with the password for member name #2. If everyone’s playing with just one account, that problem goes away.

 

2) Our accounting department is hard-working, and they’ve asked us to reduce some of their burden, which includes reconciling multiple accounts for tax purposes. Our accounting department does a lot of good work for us, and rarely asks for anything in return, so when they make a special request it’s hard to turn them down.

 

3) To ease concerns about players using multiple accounts to game others in Spades and other table games; and to make things fairer overall for everyone.

To be clear, when we say “one member account per person,” we mean exactly that. It’s not one per email or one per personality

There are already a few comments on their blog from people worried about multiple people playing accounts and in different locations, etc.

So let me add a two more key things.

• This is one account per person, not per household! It’s perfectly fine to have several people playing in the same house, as long as they each have no more than one account.
• One account per person rules are largely based on trust. They (most likely) won’t take action unless there is a clear problem. Don’t be a problem. ^_^ Just use one account!

Also, I went back and edited the post about multiple accounts to include this new info, and I think I may see another reason for limiting the number of accounts a person can have.

I remembered reading this little gem on the Gamesville Blog, back in August.

Coming Soon: A New Way To Win

Speaking of prizes… I wanted to let you know that we’ve been discussing at GV HQ many of the ideas and thoughts you all have been discussing in the Blog.

 

And while it’s a little premature for us to talk about this, I did want to let you know that there will be an exciting new feature coming to Gamesville this fall: the ability to earn prizes.

How Will This Work?

Basically each registered member of this site, free or Gold, will be able to exchange their current GV Rewards for prizes.

 

These prizes will not be water bottles or t-shirts or hats or board games you could pick up at the grocery store (you know how I feel about those things as “prizes”).

 

And this will not be a sweepstakes where many enter but only one person wins.

 

This will be a guaranteed prize for you, as an individual, to save up GVs to redeem.

 

We can’t really say much more about it at this point because we’re still finalizing all the details. But we’re excited about this project, and hope you are, too. More details to come in the weeks ahead.

Many of the sites that are one account per person create that limit because players can “buy” prizes with points. Remember, these sites are businesses! They have to balance income, prizes, and pay their employees too!

It’s possible that whittling away the extra accounts now is just one step toward balancing the prize-earning future.

Frantic Fish – Definitely fishy.

Frantic Fish has many die-hard fans, and if you want to be one of them you’d better head over to Gamesville! This game is a cross between bingo and slots, and if you couldn’t guess by the name, it has a beachy theme. ^_^

 

Aloha!

 

In each game you have 4 minutes and 20 “spins” to score as many points as you can. On each spin you’ll get five fish with numbers one them, and one bonus item. All of these things appear at the top of the board,

 

The first five fish are directly above columns of numbered shells. Each shell randomly contains a number between 1 and 75, and the fish are numbered in that range too. However!  The numbered fish can only be matched to shells in the column directly below them!

 

Dangit. :(

 

To “match” a fish to a shell, just click on the fish and drag it to the shell. Keep matching fish each round and try to make as many bingo lines as you can. A bingo line is five fish-covered shells in a row, column, or diagonally. Each bingo line is worth 1,000 points!

 

Fish-o!

 

That takes care of the first five fish. The sixth spot is a random bonus, and you’ll get one of three things.

 

Item	Purpose
Random # Fish	It’s like a regular fish, except you can place it on ANY shell with that number!
Wild Fish	Place it on ANY shell for an instant match!
Coin	+1000 points to your score. Woohoo!

 

Pretty cool, huh? Unfortunately, the randomly numbered fish doesn’t always have a match on the board. Sadness. :(

 

But the Wild Fish is awesome! I love it. ^_^

 

Frantic Fish also has an awesome feature called “Auto Daub.” With auto daub on, the first 5 fish will automatically find their matches on each spin! You’ll need to take care of any bonus fish yourself, but with auto daub you have less to worry about. Woohooo!

 

Scoring & Rewards

Scoring is really simple. You get 200 points for every matched fish and both coins and bingo lines are worth 1,000 points. See? Easy. ^_^

 

The rewards are a little more complicated. Here are the current payouts.

 

1 Gold Coin	5 GVs
1 Bingo Line	10 GVs
Be in the Top 5 when the game ends	250 GVs & 5 entries
Be the #1 player when the game ends	250 GVs & 20 entries

 

Basically, you REALLY want to be one of the Top 5 players when the game ends! The entries are for a daily $25 drawing. This particular drawing is unique to Frantic Fish, and you cannot earn entries through other games! Really! You can’t buy entries with GVs either.

 

It’s pretty tough to get into the Top 5, so you’d better bring your A game and bribe lady luck.

 

Tips & Tricks

First things first. Turn auto daub ON! This will save you a lot of frustration down the road.

Secondly, keep an eye on your board and plan where you would place a Wild Fish. You want to make as many bingo lines as possible, so look for lines that are the closest to being finished. For example, a line with 3-4 fish already in it. ^_^

If the game has barely begun and you have few (or no) fish on the board, well, you have three options.

1. Start using the diagonals to build an X across the board. This distributes the fish and opens possibilities for more bingos.
2. Look for shells with duplicate numbers and cover one (or more) of them with a Wild Fish. Why? Well imagine that you have two #12 shells on the board. If you’re lucky you *might* get a bonus #12 fish that you can place anywhere, but it’s unlikely that you’ll get two bonus #12 fishies.
3. Close your eyes and pick randomly. Don’t look at me like that! Random can be fun. ^_^

Frantic Fish can turn upside down within seconds. I’ve had games where I was in the Top 5 for 10+ rounds and then stalled out at the end, and I’ve had one game where I joined on round 8 and somehow managed to make it into the Top 5. o_O

But most of the time I end up with a moderately covered board and no Top 5 title to make me happy.

Carp!

 

Final Ranting Rating

Many Gamesvillians LOVE Frantic Fish, but uh, I’m not one of them. *^_^* It kind of surprised me, because Slingo Classic is one of my favorite games, and Frantic Fish is a lot like it. I don’t want to delve into a full-out rant, but… well…. 

Get comfy.

Okay, here’s my BIG problem with Frantic Fish: If I play with auto daub on, I only have to worry about the bonus fish. This means I have 10 seconds to place one fish, and most of the time I either get a number I can’t use or a coin. I have nothing to do! Even 10 seconds feels like a loooooooong time if you’re just sitting there waiting for the timer to run out, and it’s not uncommon to sit there for 4+ rounds in a row with absolutely nothing going on.

On the other hand, with auto daub off, I have 10 seconds to scan and place 5-6 fish. No matter how hard I try, I can never do it fast enough. Since I automatically scan from the left to the right, this means I frequently miss out on the bonus fish. It’s extremely frustrating to realize you missed a fish. >_<

The reason there’s so much down time in Frantic Fish compared to Slingo Classic, is because it’s working with a larger pool. In Frantic Fish, every shell picks a number between 1 and 75. With Slingo Classic the columns divide the numbers into groups of 15, and nothing repeats.  (Column A ranges from #1-15. Column B ranges from #16-30, and so on.)

What this means is that you have vastly different odds of actually spinning something that you can use. Let’s focus on just the first column. With Frantic Fish, you have a 7% chance of spinning a match on the first spin. (5 out of 75.)

Slingo Classic has bonus pieces that you can pick up in the spins so the numbers are a little different, but for the first column you have a 32% chance of spinning a match on the first spin. (6 out of 19. Don’t ask, but it’s right.)

Slingo Classic doesn’t have auto daub, but it’s easier to find matches because I’m working with a smaller pool of numbers per row. It’s a quick pace but I never have trouble keeping up with it. Conversely, in Frantic Fish I often sit around and wonder if auto daub is working because nothing is happening. Seriously!

Also, the rewards are pretty shoddy. Unless you’re in the Top 5 you probably won’t get many GVs. (I usually picked up 30-50 GVs per game.) Oh, and good luck on getting in the Top 5, because you’re competing against everyone playing Frantic Fish at that moment. They take all of the players in all of the rooms and arrange the high scores through that.

Gamesville does this with most of their games, but Frantic Fish is the only one where getting in the Top 5 really matters. Remember, in order to get entries into the Frantic Fish $25 daily drawing, you must get into the Top 5 at least once! There’s no other way to get entries.

A game that has me yo-yoing between boredom and frustration is not a winner for me. I love the crew at Gamesville, but Frantic Fish is a stinker in my book. :(

2 stars out of 5.

Are you one of the rabid fans? Tell me why you like (or dislike) Frantic Fish! What would you have rated it? ^_^

 

Similar Games

If you like Frantic Fish, be sure to try some of these games too!

• Slingo Classic at Slingo – An exciting cross between bingo and slots! But you already knew that.
• Lottso Express at Pogo – Here we cross bingo with scratchcards! It’s really fun. ^_^
• Bingo Bash at Winster – Work together with your teammates to complete bingo patterns!

Interview with Mr. Awesome, aka Chris Cummings of Gamesville!

You read the title right! I actually got an interview with Gamesville's man of the house, Chris Cummings!

 I’ll come back later, when you’re not all tied up.

You might have seen him post on the Gamesville blog a time or two. (Or twenty.) Well, he graciously took some time out of his busy schedule to sit down for an interview! Check it out!

Mira: Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview! I have oodles of questions, so let’s get right to it! What is your job title and what does that translate to in English?

Chris: My official title is Director of Product Management for Lycos, Inc. My specialty is online games, so I focus on Lycos' gaming websites which include Gamesville.com, Lycos Games, and private label game suites.

Mira: So, what's a normal day like for you at Gamesville?

Chris: My day begins with a review of the previous day's key business metrics (like, how many games were played, how many advertisements did we show, how many people signed up for our premium services, etc.). The numbers only tell half the story, so from there it's talking with customer service, checking the Gamesville Blog for member comments, and meeting with our community manager to see what he has up his sleeve to entertain members that day. The rest of my workday is generally spent in meetings, interacting with customers and partners, and reviewing the status of the new games we're working on.

Mira: Yowsa. o_O Sounds like a lot! What's the most frustrating aspect of your job?

Chris: Without a doubt, the most frustrating aspect of my job is when servers go down! It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's like a disturbance in the Force that ripples through our bones. I know that many people rely on us to be there for them, and it physically hurts when we let them down.

Mira: I see what people post when GV goes down. You have more compassion for them than I do. *^_^* Let’s flip the coin. What's the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Chris: Creating games that people like -- which is not an easy task! I also very much enjoy being part of a team of game-makers who really cares about our products and about the people who play on our site.

Mira: Speaking of games, what's your favorite Gamesville game? What do you like about it?

Chris: My favorite Gamesville game is still in production -- so it's too early to talk about it yet! But I personally enjoy our 21 games because of their fast pace, and I think we have the best free online bingo games anywhere. Our next bingo games are going to really knock people's socks off because they're so different from anything we've done before and so different from anything currently available...

Mira: We’re all eagerly awaiting the new game! And I must agree, you guys really do have the best online bingo. But let’s venture beyond Gamesville. What's your favorite non-Gamesville game?

Chris: My favorite games are the ones I grew up on: Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., and Metroid. More recently, I've been obsessed with Canabalt and Plants Vs. Zombies.

Mira: My favorite Super Mario game is Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. I’m TERRIBLE at the normal Mario games. *^_^* Anywho, I noticed that your Gamesville name is chriscummings101. At first I thought maybe there was a "chriscummings" on GV and you added the 101 to be different, but no dice. So! What does the 101 stand for?

Chris: I love a good palindromic prime number.

Mira: ¬.¬ Alright, smarty pants. Will the Gamesville filter ever accept your name?

Chris: What do you mean? You can say "Chris" in there just fine :)

Mira: Touché. You win this round. ^_^ Now you've mentioned in the GV Blog that you all are trying a new marketing venture AND there are rumors of a commercial coming out. Bravo on that! But inquiring minds want to know, why did you wait so long to launch a big marketing campaign?

Chris: Honestly, I felt we had to prove to the rest of Lycos that we were worth the effort. Over the last couple years, we've been rebuilding Gamesville, turning it from an unprofitable venture with an unclear destiny to a profitable business with compelling games and prizes, an active and thriving community, and a customer focus that's second to none in our space. We've built the car, now we're filling it up with gas!

Mira: I’m curious. Do you ever visit "competitors" sites to see how they do things?

Chris: I try to encourage everyone on my team to take a broad view of the market -- which means looking at the competition, and also looking at things that might not be direct competitors but are also vying for people's time. In my view, the current battle isn't against the Big Gaming sites any more; it's about a world with millions of potential ways to spend your time and finding compelling reasons for people to spend some of their precious time with us.

Mira: I'm sure that not every day at Gamesville HQ is all sunshine and rainbows. What keeps you motivated when the storms roll in?

Chris: The main thing that keeps us motivated is our mission: When you get down to it, the reason that Gamesville exists is because we believe that everyone deserves a helping hand.

The way we help is by 1) offering fun games with prizes; 2) providing a special place for extraordinary people to create community, make friends, and offer each other support and smiles; and 3) creating a rich, immersive environment for sponsors to communicate with an audience that cares about the products and services being presented.

We know from personal experience that Gamesville can make a difference in people’s lives: Some of our jackpots have helped finance weddings, mortgages, school loans, braces, and vacations, while some of the $2 prizes have made the difference between kids getting hot lunch at school that Friday or taking peanut butter and jelly again.

Even more touching are some of the stories from people who have told us about the great friends they've made at Gamesville -- about the stories they've shared, the personal struggles they've helped each other with, and the good times they've had and continue to have as their circle of GV friends continues to grow!

Knowing that we help make a difference helps keep us motivated when things don't go according to plan.

Mira: That’s awesome. ^_^ One of my favorite parts about Gamesville is that you clearly work to build connections with your customers. Not every company does that, but it’s important!

Let’s wind this up with a few questions on the lighter side. Starting with,  what’s stocked in the GV fridge? (I hope you guys have *at least* a mini-fridge.)

Chris: The mini-fridge is jam-packed with Mountain Dew Throwback.

Mira: I’m a Dr. Pepper gal m’self. Anywho, will Gamesville ever have daily scratchcards? (I ♥ scratchcards!)

Chris: We do have an instant win game as part of our GV Gold program, but no plans for scratchcards at the moment. Keno, on the other hand...

Mira: But… but… scratchcards!! *Sighs* Fine then. :P What's the last book you read?

Chris: The last book I read was "What Got You Here Won't Get You There" by Marshall Goldsmith. I'm currently re-reading "Leslie Nielsen: The Naked Truth" by Leslie Nielsen and David Fisher; it's even funnier than I remembered!

Mira: I’ll have to check out “The Naked Truth.” Sounds amusing. ^_^ Do you have any hobbies that would surprise Gamesvillians? Such as collecting those sticky things that walk down walls. (Why do kids love those so much?)

Chris: I'd be willing to wager that I have the largest collection of toy Daleks of any person currently playing on Gamesville or working at Gamesville. (And the little aliens inside actually bear a passing resemblance to those wacky wallcrawlers.)

Mira: Gah! I keep forgetting to watch Doctor Who. *Facepalm* Well, for our last question, do you have a nickname around the office?

Chris: None that I'm aware of!

Mira: Well, that’s all. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. ^_^

If you’d like to learn more about the always-awesome Chris Cummings, you should check out his blog, Product Management Meets Pop Culture.

Now, just between me and you, I think we should take his last answer as a challenge. ^_~ What nickname do you think he should have? And if he’s kind enough to bless us with another interview, what would you ask him?

Newsy Newsness!

Hi! Have you missed me? I’ve certainly missed you! *Hugs* ^_^ The Winster project is 60% complete! I’d hoped to have time to post at least one guide a week for you guys, but I’ve had very little free time lately. The next two weeks should finish up the Winster project and then I can come back to you, my lovelies!

There’s a lot going on this week and I just HAVE to tell you about it! First off, Free2WinGames.com got to interview the Product Manager of Gamesville, Chris Cummings! Look for that to be posted around Wednesday.

Woohooo!!

Gamesville has been mad busy with creative projects of their own! They’ve started a podcast contest called WinSight. It’s free to enter and they have cash prizes of up to $250! They’ve also added GVTV, which lets you watch free shows on the site! I don’t have speakers so I haven’t tried it, but it’s getting rave reviews on the Gamesville Facebook page!

And if all of that wasn’t enough, it’s also Cashtober at Gamesville! The daily $25 sweeps are now $100, the weekly sweeps $100 is now $500, and the monthly sweeps is $1000!! Be sure you enter!!

In other news, Slingo has cleaned up their homepage even more! I really love the crisp look!

Also, one of Free2WinGames.com’s readers, Emilyne, won $1000 in Slingo’s monthly sweeps!! Major congrats!!!

Rumor on the street is that Spigo is releasing a new game this week. I don’t know what it is, but it’s coming out tomorrow!! Woot!

And I just had to add “Woot” to my spell check dictionary. I’m surprised I didn’t add that years ago. *^_^*

Anywho! Winster has gone from a sleeping giant on Facebook to an active participant with a quickly growing following! They’re almost at 4,500 followers on the Winnie Winster FB page! Nice job!

Keep an eye on their Facebook page tomorrow (Monday) because they’re going to start a contest for one of their new merchandise items! They created a shop at Zazzle.com with some interesting merch.

I’m really excited because it gives me more prizes to offer for the Free2WinGames prize program! I haven’t forgotten about it and I’m still working out the kinks. It will most likely be called Points4Prizes but I’m open to suggestions. ^_^ Hopefully it will be ready for full release by November. Stay tuned for more details!

Something’s going on at Gamesville!

I got the strangest letter in the mail. It was sealed with red wax and had an image of a flaming pack of cards pressed into it! Included was a picture and a message: !GNIDAER RETFA NRUB

Since I have no idea what that means, I guiltlessly present this image to you! ^_^

Alas, the letter didn’t include any puzzle pieces to fill the blanks. But it did tell me to keep an eye on the Gamesville blog this Wednesday!

I’m so curious! I’m guessing that there was a hit-and-run by an ice cream truck, because the driver was distracted by playing a new version of Hot Streak Solitaire. What do you think happened?

Winner picked!!

Congratulations to Terry (aka Silverkat46) on winning the comment contest!! Your prizes should be shipped to you within a week or so. I hope you enjoy your Gamesville bumper sticker, t-shirt, and tote bag! ^_^

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Miami Dice - Meet Mr. Super-Smooth!

This guy totally radiates "cool."

Miami Dice is a Yahtzee-like game that you can play only at Gamesville. You have fifteen rounds to score as many points as you can! Each round lasts 15 seconds (eek!) and in that time you have to decide which dice to keep and reroll the rest! After the third roll you're stuck with whatever you have and you must "Claim" a category.

Oooooh!

There are a total of twelve categories to pick from. Unlike regular Yahtzee, you can score any category multiple times! The "Matches" column tells you how many times you've scored that particular category.

Every now and then Mr. Super-Smooth pops up and shoots your dice. I have no idea why, but it's pretty funny. ^_^

Super-Smooth!

Scoring

This part isn't exactly rocket surgery. All of the points are listed on the card!

Handy!

For the top six categories the score is the number of dice times 100. If you rolled four 1's it's 400 points. Roll four 3's and it's still 400 points. Simple! ^_^

Two things to remember about the top half.

1. If you make a match in all of the top six categories you get an extra 1,250 points!!
2. You can only make a match in the top half if you have two or more of the same dice.

Let's say you're on the final roll and you need 1's to finish the top half. You hold onto the first 1 you get, but you don't pick up another 1 on the rerolls. Unfortunately, this means that there won't even be an option to score in the 1's section, so you won't get the bonus. Blast! :(

The bottom half is a little different. Most of the categories have set values, but two of them completely depend on the dice!

Working from the top category (in the bottom half) and moving down, first we have a Full House. This is when you haves 3 of a kind and a pair. (If you saw the show Full House, think of the three guys + the Olsen twins.) This is always worth 400 points!

Now the 3 of a kind and 4 of a kind categories are a bit different. Here the dice really matter! For 3 of a kind Miami Dice adds up the face value of the dice and multiplies it by 15. In 4 of a kind it adds up the face value and multiplies it by 25!

Here's an example of a low roll and a high roll for the 3 of a kind category.

• A low roll with three 1's, a 2, and a 4. (1 x 3) + 2 + 4 = 9. Multiply 9 by 15 for a score of 135.
• A high roll with three 6's, a 2, and a 4. (6 x 3) + 2 + 4 = 24. Multiply 24 by 15 for a score of 360.

That's a huge difference!!

The next two categories are 4 and 5 in a row. This means that the dice need to be in sequential order. For example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are the only options for five in a row. Don't leave these for the end rolls as they're very hard to "force" if you don't have the right dice. (More details on how to get a 5 in a row in the Tips & Tricks section.)

Lastly, the Kilo (5 of a kind.) This is worth the most points!! It doesn't matter if you have five 1's or five 6's, they're both worth 1,000 points.

Check out my luckiest game.

You scored THREE Kilos?!?!

Yup! Three Kilos in one game. It was awesome. ^_^

Additionally, completing the bottom half of the card is worth an extra 1,000 point bonus!

IMPORTANT: You do not have to score a Kilo to complete the bottom half!! It's in a section all its own. Woohoo!!


Lightning Strikes

Starting on round 11, Miami Dice moves into the lightning round. This runs for the last 4 rounds and it's an excellent time to catch up. Everything is worth double!!

2,000 points?! Daaaaaaaaaaang....

For that particular hand I rolled five 4's! Woohoo!!!

The only things that do not double are the bonuses. Those will still be 1,250 and 1,000 points, respectively.


Gamesville Rewards (GVs)

The one downside to Miami Dice is that only the top five players in each game actually win anything. :( But if you're in the top 5, yay!!! ^_^ Each person in the top five (t5) gets 250 GVs. The number one player gets an extra 1,000 GVs, making their total 1,250 GVs!

Even if you're an awesome Miami Dice player you probably won't get in the top 5 every time. Especially if I'm playing. ^_~

BOO-YAH!!

Seriously though, I'm pretty good at this game. (Land in the top 5 most of the time.) So pay attention to the next section. ^_^


Tips & Tricks

Each round is incredibly short (15 seconds!) so you need to have a game plan before you jump in. Have an idea of what you want to do, but be flexible at the same time.

Here are some tips to get you started. ^_^

#1. Work to get the bonus points. With most games the top player usually has around 10,000 points. Earning both bonuses adds 2,250 points to your score. That's a huge chunk!

In order to get both bonuses you need to be strategic when picking what category to score. Remember, you have 15 rounds each game and 12 categories. To earn both bonuses you'll need to score in 11 categories, so that means you have only 4 rounds to act as a cushion.

Start by looking for pairs. Hold a pair and try to turn it into a 3-4 of a kind on rerolls. Claim your score on the top half of the card.

When you're picking what to hold, keep looking at the card to see what categories you still need.

Okay. I'm looking.

I have a pair of 3's and a pair of 1's. I've already scored one match for the 3's in a the last hand, so this time I'm going to keep the 1's and see what I can get.

However, if you end up with 3-4 of a kind in fives or sixes, go ahead and score in the 3-4 of a kind sections in the bottom half of the card IF you haven't scored there yet. Why? Well as you recall, the 3-4 of a kind categories are the only ones where the face value of the dice actually matter. Here's a roll where I have four 1's.

Picking the 1's category earns 400 points, while picking the 4 of a kind category is only 200 points. That's a 200 point difference between the two categories! But look at this next roll.

Here I have four 5's. There's a 175 point difference between the 5's category and the 4 of a kind category.

Now let's say that I use the four 1's for the 4 of a kind (200 points) and I use the four 5's for the 5's category (400 points.) My total for those two rounds is now 600 points. Not bad.

What if I reversed it? If I put the four 1's in the 1's category (400 points) and the four 5's in the 4 of a kind category (575 points) my score is now 975 points. That's a 375 point difference!

The numbers will fluctuate a little, but you should always use 5's and 6's for the 3 of a kind and 4 of a kind categories.

#2. Getting 5 in a row isn't easy, but if you keep your eyes open it doesn't have to be so difficult. ^_^

Ideally you want to start with 2, 3, 4, and 5. Like this:

Okay. Now what?

When you start with dice 2-5, then you need to get either a 1 or a 6 to turn it into 5 in a row. Conversely if you have dice 1-4 only one die will turn it into 5 in a row. The same thing goes if you have dice 3-6.

This means that starting with dice 2-5 doubles your chances of turning it into 5 in a row! Keep an eye out for it!

#3. Kilos are fun, but you need to know when to use them.

That game where I won 3 Kilos? I didn't end up in first place because I forgot to make sure I picked up the bonuses. (Doh.) Remember, you only have four "extra" rounds to play with. I claimed the Kilos but I'd already used up 2 of my extra rounds. That meant I definitely couldn't finish one section, and I had zero wiggle room in regards to errors and mis-rolls. That isn't fun. =(

It's hard not to claim a Kilo when it pops up, but you need to look at where you are in the game.

Imagine this: You're in the 14th round and still need to score in the 5's category to get the top bonus. Low and behold you get a 5's Kilo! It's the lightning round so it's worth 2,000 points. Wow!!

You could:

1. Claim the Kilo for 2,000 points and hope to pick up 5's on the last round to get the bonus.
2. Claim the 5's and get the bonus for an instant 2,250 points. (1,000 from the lightning round + 1,250 bonus.) The last round is whatever you want.

Which is better? It's a tough call and you have seconds to decide. I seem to have terrible luck when it comes to getting the last category filled on the last roll, so I'd probably opt for #2. It's a little safer.

In a situation like that I can't tell you what to do. But since you have time now, go ahead and decide. If it comes up you'll already have a plan ready. ^_^

#4. Exceptions to the rules.

If you get a Full House or 5 in a row and you haven't scored those categories yet, go ahead and claim them. Those two categories are VERY hard to get on your own. If you can score them early on you'll have a much easier game.


Final Rating

I'll be honest. I didn't have high expectations for a game called Miami Dice, and Mr. Super-Smooth didn't boost my confidence any. *^_^*

Yo.

Once I started playing I was surprised by how fun and addictive this is! The rounds are so fast that you're constantly scheming and planning ahead. And I LOVE that you can score categories more than once.

So yeah, this is now my favorite dice game. ^_^ I wish more people could get GVs, but at the same time I don't really mind having to push to get into the top 5. It makes things challenging.

I'd say this one is 5 stars out of 5. What would you rate it? Do you have any tips you'd like to share?


Similar Games

It's worth noting that I found Miami Dice because another reader mentioned it after reading Para-Dice. I'm always open to suggestions, so if you've heard of another dice game that's free to play (and has prizes) please share! ^_^

Until then, if you like Miami Dice, give some of these games a whirl!

• Para-Dice at Slingo - Three different ways to play this single-play Yahtzee game.
• Yahtzee Party at Pogo - Work in a group to trigger the Yahtzee bonus!
• Double Trouble at GSNOodles - One Joker is fine. Two is better. Three is great! Four and you're dead!

The Sunday Reader - Issue 4: Understanding Odds

Odds are a hot topic in Gamesville blog posts. They can be a bit confusing, so I decided to try and explain some of this stuff. Keep in mind that I majored in English, not math. If you see any boo-boos please let me know! ^_^

The first thing to remember is that odds are very useful for large groups, but are practically meaningless for individuals. Seriously!

Perhaps you've heard (or said) this before. "I've played for YEARS and not won anything! Yet this new person played for only a few months before she won something. It has to be rigged!"

This type of thinking implies that odds function like a countdown, and it's a very common misconception! It seems logical that someone playing for a long time would win before someone who just started. But odds just don't work that way.

Let's look at some real-world odds for perspective. Did you know that the odds of having an ER worthy accident with a drinking fountain in any year is 1 in 220,700?

If odds worked as a countdown, you'd have to use a drinking fountain 605 times a day for a year in order to "trigger" an accident on your 220,700th visit. That's about 2 visits every 5 minutes for an entire year!

I don't know anyone that thirsty. ^_^

Clearly, odds do not work as a countdown. And unfortunately, people end up in the hospital every year for drinking fountain mishaps. So what gives?

Odds are calculated by taking the number of people (or attempts) and dividing by the number of incidents. In this case, there are approximately 307 million people in the United States. And every year, roughly 1391 people in the US wind up at the ER from a drinking fountain accident.

307 million people divided by 1391 fountain accidents = 220,700. Which is why the odds are 1 in 220,700 that a person in the United States will have an accident.

There are ways to affect your individual odds. If you avoid drinking fountains for the rest of your life, your personal odds are pretty close to zero. (I'm not going to discount the possibility of a drinking fountain falling from the sky and bonking you on the head. Weirder things have happened.)

Meanwhile, if you're feeling masochistic you could use drinking fountains as often as possible. Then you'd have a better chance of having an accident versus the person living in a water-fountain-free bomb shelter. That part makes sense. ^_^

HOWEVER, every time you use a drinking fountain, you still have a 1 in 220,700 chance of having an accident. It doesn't matter if you visit one every day or once a year. Someone could have an accident on their first trip!

Now let's apply this to games.

Cindy, Jan, and Marsha head to an arcade and they all play the same game. The game isn't rigged to favor any particular person, but here's what happens:

• Cindy plays 500 times and wins on her 500th play. Woohoo!
• Jan plays 10 times and wins on her 2nd and 10th play!! (Lucky girl!)
• Marsha plays 2,490 times and doesn't win anything. :(

Can you figure out the odds for this game?

First we count the total number of plays. (3,000 in this case.) Then we count the number of wins. (1 for Cindy, 2 for Jan, 0 for Marsha. 3 total wins.) Now we divide the number of plays by the number of wins. 3/3000 = 1/1000. Each time someone sits down to play they have a 1 in 1,000 shot of winning.

But wait! Marsha played 2,490 times! If the odds are 1 in 1,000 then she should have won at least twice, right?

Nope! This is why I say odds are practically meaningless when applied to individual people. Remember, odds are calculated by using group results! That makes a huge difference!

If Marsha was the only person to ever play that game, then yeah, she would eventually win. She might also play 5,000+ times before she won anything, and then have several wins in quick succession. Odds don't care about who you are or how long you've been playing.

Now here comes the next confusing part: Understanding how some people can win multiple times.

Bobby, Peter, and Greg hear about Jan's crazy luck so they go play the exact same game with the 1 in 1,000 odds. Each of them play exactly 1,000 times. (It was a slow day.) They thought that each of them would win once, but that didn't happen. Instead, Greg won twice and Peter didn't win anything at all!

As you might imagine, life at the Brady house turns chaotic. Marsha is certain that Jan cheated, and Peter stomps around the house loudly saying, "I NEVER win!!"

Finally it reaches a breaking point. Carol, Mike, and Alice all head down to the arcade and demand to speak to the manager. They're sure he's rigging the games somehow and they'll call the police, gosh darn it!

With a sigh, the manager produces a coin. He says, "Each time you flip a coin you have a 50% chance of the coin landing heads up. (1 in 2 odds.) If you flip a coin 10 times you probably expect to end up with 5 heads and 5 tails." They nod and agree that sounds right.

He digs in his pockets to get more coins, and then asks each of them to flip a coin 10 times to see what happens. (Alice is suspicious and uses one of her own coins.) Here were their results.

• Carol flipped 6 heads and 4 tails
• Mike flipped 6 heads and 4 tails
• Alice flipped 2 heads and 8 tails

All three were stunned. It should have been even!

The manager pulls out a white board and starts to explain combinatorics. Combinatorics looks at combinations (duh) and probability. ^_^

In the case of 10 penny flips, there are 11 possible combinations. (Edit: I oversimplified this. Read Chris's comment at the end for a full explanation!)

• 0 heads, 10 tails
• 1 head, 9 tails
• 2 heads, 8 tails
• 3 heads, 7 tails
• 4 heads, 6 tails
• 5 heads, 5 tails
• 6 heads, 4 tails
• 7 heads, 3 tails
• 8 heads, 2 tails
• 9 heads, 1 tail
• 10 heads, 0 tails

This means that the odds of flipping exactly 5 heads and 5 tails are 1 in 11. (Or a 9% chance.) This also means that you have a 10 in 11 chance of flipping any other combination. That's a 91% chance of getting something other than 5 heads 5 tails!

You can try this at home too! I think it's fascinating. ^_^

But how does combinatorics relate to winning games? Well, one of the biggest complaints at Gamesville is that there are repeat winners. Frankly, it would be suspect if there weren't any repeat winners! Let's take a look at Bobby, Peter, and Greg again. They were playing a 1 in 1,000 odds game, so it was pretty likely that they would have 3 wins in their 3,000 total plays. How likely is it that each of them would win one prize?

Let's see! In the graph below, each line across represents one possible outcome.

Bobby	Peter	Greg
1	1	1
2	1	0
2	0	1
1	2	0
0	2	1
1	0	2
0	1	2
3	0	0
0	3	0
0	0	3

Assuming that 3 prizes are given out, there are ten total combinations. That makes percents easy. Woohoo!

• 10% chance that each player will win one prize each.
• 30% chance that one player will win ALL of the prizes!
• 60% chance that one player will win two prizes and one player gets nothing.

It's entirely possible that each player could get one prize each. However, it is the least likely combination! And if you didn't notice, there is a 90% chance that at least one player will not win anything.

This is a simplified explanation of combinatorics, but hopefully you get the idea. ^_^

I'd like to end this post with something that I read in a news article many years ago. It was a study on people who defined themselves as lucky versus people who defined themselves as unlucky. Unsurprisingly it turned out that the lucky people really did have better outcomes! The researchers looked closer to try and figure out what made one person lucky over another. And you know what the biggest difference is? Lucky people keep trying. Unlucky people generally give up quicker.

There are more prizes on Gamesville than any other free site that I've found, and you do have better odds of winning something at Gamesville versus, say, iWon. Regardless, you are never guaranteed a win. It's entirely possible to play for years and never win anything. But if you stop playing entirely, then your odds are zero. You've no chance of winning if you don't play!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of the Sunday Reader. ^_^ If you have any questions or comments, please post!