Moola is a new website, in private beta, that puts two visitors up against each other in a simple Flash game. The interesting thing about the site is that people are playing for real money.
Moola gives each new user $0.01 to start. You play against another player at your level, and the winner takes all of the money from the other person. So each time you win, you double your money. Win 30 times in a row and win $10.7 million. A user can “cash out” at any time and have a check delivered to them with their current balance. If you lose, you start over at $0.01.
The service is advertising supported. You have to watch a short video ad (every time I played it was for yellowpages.com) and then answer a question correctly about the ad. Once you’ve done that, you can play the next round.
I tried playing a few games and it seemed legitimate. I can’t tell if I was playing against a computer or not, though. Moola always found a rival to play against me within seconds, and the games are very simple and could be easily played by a computer. Given how easy it would be for Moola to beat successful players by automated means, I would assume that the risk of fraud is significant. The CEO of Moola addressed this question on the Moola blog.
What’s more interesting is Moola’s business model: paying users to watch ads. At the very least, they succeeded in getting yellowpages.com stuck in my head.
Moola also has a multi-tiered referall system. When you refer a user, you get a 4% bonus calculated based on any money they cash out for the following year. You get a 3% bonus from any friends they refer, and so on to the fourth level. Multi-level referrer programs are smart, in a pyramid scheme kind of way.
It’s in private beta now. You can sign up for the beta on the home page.
Comments
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It looks interesting. Would anybody send me an invitation, please? pgquiles AT gmail DOT com
Thank you.
Who’d have thought - get rich quick schmes at techcrunch!
Seriously, Michael, you can’t add up. If you play a person for $0.01 and win, you will have $0.02 and the other $0. Eventually, people won’t want to gamble with their $20 so it falls apart. Where will the $30mn come from? Plus, someone will write a bot program to win all the games. It’s a pyramid scheme but at least you don’t have to fork out any money for it, so I suppose giving away person details for the sake of 1 cent is worthwhile now is it, for a business model?
Can I get a referral as well? lukesanner@gmail.com
send me one pls…
iconaire \at\ yahoo \dot\ com
someone hook me up with a referral as well. Please.
tb9625 \at\ gmail.com
I’d love an invite if anyone has a spare!
tavis.booth@NOSPAMgmail.com
(remove the NOSPAM bit
Cheers!
love an invite too
cpjolicoeur [at] gmail [dot] com
I am the puzzle master. If you want to conquer this site. Invite me. I will appreciate it greatly. My email is
linux [at] popstar [dot] com
Would like to check this out as well any spare invites please sned one my way
danspankie \at\ gmail \dot\ com
Thanks
I would like an invite as well….
iceh0use [at] yahoo [dot] com
thx
Are people actually getting referrals like this?
Can I get an invite?
chambrot [at] gmail [dot] com
Hey!
Wow, this seems awesome =)
Anyone able to drop me an invite?
arthurschreiber (at] web [dot) de
Invite me please
andreacarini ]at[ gmail ]dot[ com
hey, if i could please get a referral, id be grateful
Thanks alot!
hey, if i could please get a referral, id be grateful
Thanks alot!
drop__in@hotmail.com
Can I get an invite?
Thanks
biilent ]at[ gmail ]dot[ com
Could I have an invite? cameron.davison [at] gmail.com
I would also appreciate an invitation. soho [at] gmx [dot] org
I’d like 1 billion invitations, please. If I win just once, on half of them, I think I’ll have something like a hundred bucks.
I’m looking for an invite. briphi [at] gmail.com
Hey, interestesting concept !
If you had an invitation i would greatly appreciate it: sam [at] krooga [point) com;
Thanks
Invite here too, please: moola at debacle dot org
Could I have an invite? FzArEkTaH [at] gmail.com
Would someone be willing to sign me up?
skwagoner@hotmail.com
invite plx
JohnnyJIV [at] gmail . com
I would love an extra invite if anybody has a spare.
My email address is:
Honshuzen [at] yahoo.com
It looks very curious please invite me as well.
rpucirkxbfb9btn@jetable.net
thax in advance
Give me an invite too, fooluaintblack@gmail.com
Invite here too, please: don.park [at gmail).com
Sorry, the concept of playing each other is interesting but ad supported model? That’s not new or interesting. There are enough websites that encouarge consumers to view ads, http://www.blogexplosion being the latest but the model strecthes way back to the last boom with alldavantage.com and bepaid.com two that came and went.
pick me! erikocc at gmail dot com
If someone could please send an invite to OIGEORGET323IO[@]gmail(.)com. Thanks!
I would also be interested in seeing exactly how this works. If anyone has an invite availiable, please send me one. You will get a decent bonus after im done reffering
hermy65@gmail.com
Thanks
oh i can’t believe these people are regular techcrunch readers, it must have been posted on some kind of forum for pyramid scheme fans. they have a bizarre referral system, I imagine, whereby people earn $0.0001 but could multiply a trillion times if you get rich quick first!
Can someone hook me up with an invite…the site’s (playmooladotcom) invites were all used up. mumfied [at] gmail.com
and I forgot to mention, that in order for the level 30 prize to be paid out, you’d need a bit over 1 BILLION players on the site (20% of the world’s population). Perhaps they should do a Chinese version. They claim to have level 17 players, that is 131,000. So only 7600 times as many people and they’re set!
Get rich now, folks, whilst the going’s good.
OK, well, at least they aren’t taking money from consumers directly. Imagine the addicted children though! Mind you, their business model is better than most you see on tech crunch.
Can you please send me an invite brikatz@gmail.com it would be greatly appreciated
Would love and INVITE PLEASE
counsel2k2(at)yahoo(dot)com
please invite me too.
mrb311 [at] psu.edu
89 comments and James is the only one who can do the simple math here?
And Michael, although I agree it’s simple for them to do fraud, I don’t think they’ll do it, cause it’s not necessary. Each video ads impression only costs them 1 cent, I don’t think they need to cheat.
If anyone has an invite I would love one.
bowlin(at)gmail(dot)com
Also, I have a great flowdown that would allow for higher level referals to whoever send the invite. Thanks.
James, I don’t think you have to have the 1 billion unique players to make level 30 come up, just 1 billion overall players. I’m sure even in their early beta stages, players have lost, gotten their next penny and play dozens of times.
This is not good!! Must. Stop. Playing.
The strategy of the first game is a lot of fun. They give you pity points the first few times you lose, I got 10 cents and was bumped up a few levels for losing. That was a good deal. I hope they enable chat in the future, it would be nice to know when I am playing a human and communicate with them.
btw, it says they have paid out $546,548 to date!! there are over 100 people online playing right now too.
I too would like an invite if someone has one to spare. Thank you
bryanlfuller at gmail dot com
Roses are red
Violets are ble
Sounds like a sweet site
I would like an invite too!
If someone could throw an invite my way that would be awesome, I’m interested to see what this is all about - (chrisstrom at gmail dot com).
(Hopefully my lovely poem will garner an invitation!)
Send me an invite, I would love to give this a try.
Email: Nealsan@gmail.com
I know I’m bucking the trend based on all the comments here, but I don’t see how this is a viable business model in terms of scalability or long term sustainability.
Also sounds like a waste of time from a user experience, you may as well hit one of those online poker sites.
jlgosse@hotmail.com
refer me.
Can someone send me an invite …sam@cazzu.com
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