|
Alan Stillson holds copyrights on two interactive sports contests
– Team Standings Contest and Gameday. Licensing rights
are available to users.
The following is a description of how Team Standings
Contest is played:
Before the start of a chosen sports
season, contestants pick the team standings in each division.
Using the copyrighted scoring system, contestants earn more
points for correct picks and fewer points for picks that are
off by 1 or 2 places. Also, the higher that a team finishes,
the more points are earned by the contestants. Each contestant
earns a point total at the end of the season. The contestant
with the highest total wins first prize, the contestant with
the second-highest total wins second prize, etc. The scoring
system is designed so that ties for prizes are rare and multiple
ties for prizes are very rare.
The following is an example of how Team Standings
Contest can be used:
A major company uses it as a traffic builder or a major newspaper
uses it as for subscription/retention for two weeks before
the start of the football season. 200,000 contestants enter
Team Standings Contest during this period of time, hoping
to win one of the prizes awarded to the winner and ten runners-up.
When the season was over, the first-prize winner correctly
picked the top team in each division and many of the final
standings of the remaining teams. The second-prize winner
picked the top team in each division but not as many of the
final standings of the remaining teams. The third-prize winner
missed one of the division winners but was very close on picking
the final standings of the remaining teams.
The following is a description of how Gameday is
played:
Before the start of a chosen game, contestants pick the scores
of both teams and also pick a related measurable item (like
total yards football or individual high scores in basketball)
as a tiebreaker. Using the copyrighted scoring system, contestants
earn points based on the accuracy of their picks. Each contestant
earns a point total at the end of the game. The contestant
with the highest total wins the prize. If there’s a
tie, the contestant with the highest tiebreaker score wins.
The following is an example of how Gameday can be
used:
A major company uses it as a traffic builder or a major newspaper
uses it as for subscription/retention on the day of a football
game between the Giants and the Cowboys. 30,000 contestants
enter Gameday before the game begins, hoping to win two Superbowl
tickets. When the game is over, the Giants score 25 points
with 303 total offensive yards and the Cowboys score 14 points
with 267 total offensive yards.
None of the contestants picked the final score, but 17 missed
one score by 1 point by picking Giants 24 and Cowboys 14.
The picks for total offensive yards act as the tiebreaker.
Of these 17 contestants, the winning pick for total yards
was Giants – 310 (off by 7) and Cowboys – 262
(off by 5).
|
