Wager Conversion

Converting an evergreen casual game to lucrative wagering

Vikram Thampy, CEO, Play Games24x7

Introduction• Operator of India’s largest real-money online rummy website

RummyCircle.com. 120+ team members.

• Current $1.6B social casino market is over saturated with typical slots, bingo and casino. We see a huge opportunity to innovate and bring new social casino games to an audience looking for something fresh.

• Today I will describe how our casino game design team came up with a brand new wagering game that was inspired from a casual card game.

Why have social casino games succeeded?•Despite lack of real-money, the action of betting is

inherently engaging.

• Other Factors • Scarcity of currency is critical to player engagement• Low cost, low risk and socially acceptable way for players to “gamble”• Social factor is important – play and interact with other people

Our strategy• We believe the “low hanging fruit” is gone• Slots, blackjack, poker, bingo are saturated

• However the key things that make these games successful can be applied to other games• We are actively identifying other games and game genres that can be “re-

purposed” into social gambling style games• In particular, we are looking within the world of trick-taking card games

Our 1st game - Call it Right!

• Has a cult-following • Casual trick-taking card game • Very easy to learn• Usually played by 4-7 players• Game play can be overly

lengthy• Not sufficiently volatile as a

game

Snapshot of Oh Hell!

Based on the game of “Oh Hell!”

✗ Fast game play✓ Easy to learn✗ Highly engaging wagering✗ Skill matters, but chance is still a pretty big factor

Requirement Mapping

Our 1st game - Call it Right!

✓ Fast-paced

✓ Betting becomes essential part of the game creating much needed volatility

✓ Ratio of chance to skill increased

✗ Long games

✗ No wagering and not much volatility

✗ More skill than a typical social casino game

Trick Taking Card Game / Oh Hell!

Based on the game of “Oh Hell!”

Brand new social casino game

Games24x7 Game Design Team

Key Lessons• Betting is a statement of confidence or belief• In any game where a player has to make some decision about how well they

will do in the game, integrating betting into the game should be possible.

• Quick gratification is critical• Game speed and the get-in & get-out process have to be carefully tweaked

• Balance of chance and skill is critical to create hope for lesser skilled players. • The ratio can be adjusted by altering the ratio of available to unavailable

information.

Find us on Facebookhttps://apps.facebook.com/callitright