dotblu blog

Ranks and Classes and Algorithms oh my!

As you probably know, we recently launched games. Whenever you play a game, we save your highest score. Now, your profile shows your rank. So, everyone will be able to see that you rawk at Air Pop but aren't so good at Snake. (I admit, it's a hard game!)

Also, we're adding Classes. Class is also based on your highest score and is a grouping of users we algorithmically determine are at your same skill level in a certain game. You'll not only see the class of a person in their profile, but also in the game challenges they create. We've also added rules to our website code that require you to be in the same class or lower of a public challenge's creator in order to accept the challenge. This helps keep people who are awesome at games from mercilessly beating people that still need a little more practice.

Let us know what you think of Classes by talking to the House (he loves all your questions!) at feedback@blubet.com or sending a message to him.

Clearly ScottyPip is super good at Air Pop.

Pacman!

Now you can play the classic game of Pacman on BluBet! Control Pacman using the arrow keys to navigate the maze and eat all the food to proceed to the next level.  But watch out for the ghosts! The ghosts will follow you throughout the maze and if they run into Pacman, he dies. You have three lives to get through as many levels as you can.

You can score bonus points and get the ghosts out of your way by eating the discs and cherries. After you eat one of those, the ghosts will frown and run away from you, and you can chase them and eat them, sending them back to their original position. As you get farther in the game, there will be more ghosts and it will be harder to stay away from them. Just keep chomping up the Pacman food to rack up points and achieve a high score!

As always if you have any suggestions or questions about Pacman, games, or anything else on BluBet, feel free to contact us.  Good luck!

More New Games!

Right on the heels of the launch of BluBet Games, we've added two new games to play.  Surf over to the game lobby and check out the newest additions...

Alien Zap!  In Alien Zap, your task is to destroy the alien spaceships whizzing by. Think you could lead the assault in the case of an alien invasion? Need some target practice for the rebel assault? Test out your reflexes by annihilating as many flying saucers as you can by clicking on them with your mouse as they go by.

Demolition In Demolition, you must demolish all the colored blocks on the screen. Use your mouse to move the paddle at the bottom of the game screen left or right and bounce the ball toward the blocks and off the walls.

As always, let us know what you think and if you have any suggestions for making BluBet games or anything else better!

Introducing a brand new way to earn BluBucks!

As of today we've introduced the easiest way to earn BluBucks yet: just by logging into your account.  Every day that you log in you'll earn 1000 BluBucks instantly!  You can only earn the reward once per day, but other than that you can easily earn 1000 BluBucks every day.

Tip: If you check the box that says 'Remember me for 2 weeks', you'll stay logged in for those two weeks so you won't earn your reward.  To make sure, you need to log in every day.  Whenever you receive the reward you'll be greeted with an alert to let you know.

Introducing Quizzes!

In an effort to better accommodate the needs of our users, BluBet now features three kinds of bets: Prediction bets, Majority Wins, and Quizzes.

Prediction bets we all know about -- they predict the future.  All the sports bets, election, and awards show bets fall in this category, they're settled by the user for the correct answer once it is known.

Majority Wins bets are a little different too, the comments will be hidden until you place a bet.  This way, everybody's got a fair shot at winning the bet, whether you come early or late.

And we've added a whole new bet type -- Quizzes!  A Quiz is a question with a known outcome -- a fact, a math problem, a history lesson, anything that's factual and verifiable.  When you create a quiz, you get to enter the answer to your quiz right away, so when a player clicks on the right answer, they automatically get 100 BluBucks!  No waiting around for the settlement, a hundred BluBucks, right now.

As always, let us know if you have any comments or suggestions about BluBet.  We are striving to adapt to your needs.

Bebo now supported in our Widget Sharer!

You may have noticed our Widget Sharer.  It lets you quickly and easily share your world or any bet with your friends on MySpace and Facebook.  Now, you can also add your world or a bet to Bebo by simply clicking the "Bebo" tab, clicking on the "Post" button and following the instructions that appear in the pop-up window.  It lets you show your friends on Bebo all the stuff you've gotten on BluBet.

Good luck betting and getting more stuff!

Christmas in…February?

Since we launched the BluBet Store, people have bought Ferraris, Cheap Houses and Waterfront Property. Also, some people have several cars and houses because they're so rich.  At the same time, their friends don't have as much stuff.  So, with this in mind, we've launched Gifting. 

As they say, 'tis better to give than receive, so we're letting you send anything in your BluBet World to your friends.  All you have to do is go to "Customize My World", click the "Give to a friend" link next to any of your items, type in your friend's username or email address, and they'll get a nice gift in their inbox.  It only takes a minute and is bound to brighten up someone's day!

Happy gifting!  Remember you can give gifts to people outside of BluBet!

The BluBet Store is Open for Business

For months people have been asking us, "What can I do with my BluBucks?"  So, in response, we're introducing the BluBet Store.  In the store, you can use your BluBucks to buy stuff to show everyone how wealthy of a BluBetter you are.  Start with real estate - do you want to live on the beach, in the city, or at the lake?  Then add a house to your property and a cool car to park in front of your house. You can choose anything from a Smart car to an experimental Hummer, a Ferrari or a Lamborghini - you can have it all if you've got the BluBucks.

But before you go shopping, make sure you have enough spending money in your balance to cover your purchases, minus the money you've borrowed from BluBet.  If you're not sure how much you have, surf over to your profile and check out your stats.  If you've borrowed money, you can pay it back from your stats page.  As long as you have at least 12,000 left over in your balance, you're ready to start shopping. Don't have enough?  Go win some BluBets fast and get your balance back up!  Good luck!

BetStar Silver and Gold

Due to popular demand, we're rolling out a couple of new achievements on BluBet to add to our popular BetStar award. Previously, we had a blue BetStar award for players that created at least 10 bets with 10 players each. But now all you BetStars can get the BetStar Silver and the BetStar Gold awards as well! BetStar Silver is for users who create 50 or more bets with at least 20 players on each bet, and the BetStar Gold is for users who create 100 or more bets with at least 20 players each. So how many interesting bets can you come up with? Do you have what it takes to win the Silver BetStar, or even the Gold BetStar? Good luck!

Putting the "Bet" Back in BluBet

You probably already know that there are two kinds of bets on BluBet: regular user-settled bets, which are based on a future outcome like a sporting event or an election, and Majority Wins bets, which settle automatically for the most popular choice. We've received a lot of requests for a way to sort out the regular bets better, especially from those interested in sporting events.  So, to make it easier to find regular bets, we've added a button that will hide all the Majority Wins bets on the site. It couldn't be easier to turn Majority Wins bets on or off.  Look for the button in the upper right hand corner of the "Hot", "New" and "Closing Soon" pages.  Click on it and you may see a side to BluBet you've never seen before. 

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions please pass them along.  Happy betting!