Moola (website)

Moola is a Canadian based online gaming website currently open to United States and Canadian residents. Players receive free credits to wage against other players in return for watching a 10, 15, or 30 second video advertisement and randomly answering a trivia question AbOUT it. By extending credits to the viewer of the advertisement, players have funds to place bets against other players without risking any of their own money. These player may then 'cash out' the accumulated winnings for real cash once the equivalent of $10 has been reached.

Moola ranked 11th on PC World magazine's "The 15 Best Places to Waste Time on the Web" in 2007.

Play

In the Moola's three original games, two players play against each other. Players also have the option to play against a bot ("AutoPlayer") when no human opponent is available. Players are given m$0.01 by Moola to begin betting. They may only bet in doubling amounts (1¢, 2¢, 4¢, 8¢, 16¢, 32¢, etc.). Moola emphasizes that by doubling winnings 30 times, a player will earn over m$10 million. When a player loses all of their money, Moola provides a penny to begin with again.

Games

Moola currently features 4 main games.

• Hi-Lo: A modified version of the classic game of screw the dealer, in which each player has to decide whether the next card is higher or lower than the last. If they guess correctly, the player moves on to the next card. If they guess wrong, the player loses a life and starts over from the beginning. Players may lock, which will save their position, or lock and change, to deal in a card to replace the current card, and then save your position. Locking costs the user a life. The player who ends the game with the most cards locked in wins. If both players reach the end, the player with the most lives wins. This can be best played using a card counter (see #External links). Hi-Lo is currently Moola's most popular game.

• Ro-Sham-Bo-Fu: This game is a twist on the classic rock-paper-scissors, where in each of six rounds one of the available choices (e.g. rock, paper or scissors) is randomly chosen and shown. The player gets bonus points for voluntarily not using this choice, applied whether they win or lose that round. Ro-Sham-Bo-Fu is currently Moola's least popular game.

• Gold Rush: This game involves betting gold pieces to win gold pieces, played in 6 rounds. In each round, the player has to choose one of his/her 6 gold nuggets (numbered from 1 to 6) to place on a scale against the other player's choice. The winner of the round gets the value of both nuggets as well as the randomly selected nugget which had been placed in the middle of the scales.

• Charity Cash Cow: A progressive jackpot slot machine where each player has the option to bet in four different denominations (1¢, 4¢, 16¢, and 32¢ bets). As each player bets, a progressive jackpot is building until someone gets all 3 community chest symbols on the highest betting denomination. When a player wins the progressive jackpot Moola matches the jackpot amount and donates it to a charity of the winner's choice.

External Moola API Games

• GameWorldOnline: A site that offers games such as Blackjack, Five-Card Draw, Dice Poker, Guess the Numbers, Card War, Battleship, Hangman, Coin-Flip, Poor Man's Lottery, Slots, and Roulette!

• Blimplay: This site has two main games that quickly became popular: Farkle and Progressive Lotto.

• Wryer's Sports Prediction: Bet on sporting and television events!

Moola Points API

In 2008, Moola announced an API to integrate 3rd party games with the Moola Points system, allowing them to award Moola Points.

As of November 2008, Moola offered Sports Prediction by Wryer and Blackjack by GamesWorldOnline. In January 2009, Five Card Draw by GamesWorldOnline was added. Playing any of the games requires setting one's account to allow third party access. One of their moderators created BlimPlay, where players can play a popular dice game, Farkle.

Tournaments

There are multiple forum-based tournaments that have gained popularity on the Moola Website, some of which have cash prizes for the winners. A few of them are:

• Survivor: Moola: The first 'long-term' tournament on Moola. It can be found in the forum (as all of the tournaments are). This tournament lasts around 3 to 4 months, and it last completed its third 'season.' It is credited for being the first 'reality game show' on Moola. It was first created by a Moola member and is still being hosted by its creator. The final prize of the first, second, and third season was $20. The location of the first season was the fictional Moola Island, the second location was the Moola Outback (based on the Australian Outback), but the third was based in Egypt. Some have speculated that the fourth season will be located in Dresdonia, a fictional Middle Eastern City imagined by the host.

• Moola Big Brother: Another long-term reality game show that is currently being played on Moola through the forum. Appeared after the first Survivor: Moola tournament ended. Created and hosted by another Moola member, the second season is now being played, and a new host has been introduced.

• The Moola Mole: Another long-term reality game show based on the international television show, "The Mole". The Moola Mole is played on Moola through the Tournaments forum. Only one season has been completed, and the host has now gone MIA.

• Break The Bank: A "quiz show" run by the host of Survivor: Moola. Promises to be the biggest Jackpot in a Moola game, but the show ended up being canceled due to technical problems.

• Moola Apprentice: A long-term reality game show that is played with the site's games, or random games found by the host. It is based on "Apprentice." The host for this games also went MIA after just one season.

• Moola Endurance: A long-term reality game show based on "Endurance. Contestants compete on the site's games, or over the internet with various games found by the host. It was also the first Moola tournament in which contestants played in pairs, testing their friendship and teamwork.

• Moola's Top Designer: A spin off of American Idol adapted for Moola's forum. Contestants compete each round to make the best signature banner or other designs.

• Super Mario Mafia: A 2 team game based on IRC's werewolf game. Players take turns trying to get rid of the other team's leader. Currently run by rightfully named MarioMaster777

• OutSider's Triva Challenges: OutSider81 runs a couple of different style triva games, both single-player and multiplayer. There is most likely a cash prize at the end of it so people are eager to play!

• Misc. Lotteries: The ones that have the users buy tickets are staff approved but not everyone waits in line! Some of the users host their own lotteries for free with a cash prize. Most use Random.org for a proper random game!

• The Ultimate Contest: Somewhat like Moola Survivor, though mini-games are played, and it is much shorter. People compete to get into the top 15 list, then those top 15 people go head-to-head in mini-game fights, voting people off, and more! Currently run by Mikeyh11.

All Moola tournaments are currently run by members of the site and not by the site administration.

Membership

The site used to require new players to receive invitations to play from registered players. However, now new users can sign up on the main page. By inviting other players, the inviting player receives a graduated percentage of the invitee's winnings when the latter puts money into savings or receives a "booster", but only if both players provide their phone numbers to "verify" their accounts. A player can put money from their playing account into their "savings account" so they cannot lose it, which helps players accumulate more money to cash out. The referral amount does not come out of the invitee's winnings but is instead paid by Moola to help gather new members. There are several commercial and fan-created websites created that seek to provide the invitations indirectly, so that the share of the winnings can be funneled to the creator of the site itself.

Another option for an invite is to click on links given out by members, which automatically send you an invite when you fill in the appropriate information.

Moola is currently open to Canadian and United States residents except residents in Louisiana, Nevada, and Quebec. International players can also play but they cannot verify their accounts or cash out.

Partnership

Moola has recently partnered with Facebook so users can play games through Facebook.

External links

• Moola.com - Moola homepage