Will Passoker Be A Success? (My Unpublished GIQ Review)

Early this year I wrote a piece for GIQ Magazine which wasn’t published, so I’ll publish it here on my blog instead. The review was on Passoker.com, winner of start-up of the year at EIG 2010.

I’ve been to Passoker.com a few times since January and I believe that the review is still relevant. (I’ve updated it a little).

Features 5/10

Passoker is a new type of in-play game where players play during sporting events. Players are placed at a table and get points (tokens) when a sporting incident occurs, for instance a corner or a goal in soccer.

Victor Chandler and Passoker has teamed up and when registering at Passoker players actually register at Victor Chandler which isn’t completely clear for the player.

Support functions are missing at the Passoker website. It is possible to e-mail Passoker but players need instant help when playing.

Usability 5/10

When players login for the first time they have to choose a nickname, this is ok, but players also need to re-enter their city, country and e-mail adress. Probably because there Passoker isn’t fully integrated with Victor Chandler.

When logged in players can choose to join tournaments in different sports. This is pretty straight forward, the problem at the moment is that there aren’t many (if any) upcoming events to join.

Players actually don’t have to be at the website (game client) when the game is on since they don’t interact with the game (only in the chat). It is similar to bingo where you buy a ticket and then don’t interact during the drawing.

Passoker has a great opportunity in increasing the overall usability and help the players to get started, finding games and play.

Players might never come back if they aren’t able to play right away when visiting Passoker.com.

Design 6/10

The Passoker game client is very nicely designed and it feels like Passoker have put a lot of effort into designen it but the Passoker website feels more like it has been put together in a rush which isn’t good. The website is a new player’s first encounter with Passoker and it needs to be a great experience where a player instantly understands how to get started.

Innovation 8/10

Passoker is a new interesting type of game that feels similar to bingo in the game play. Both bingo and Passoker offer the possibility to join rounds and chat. I believe Passoker could learn a lot from bingo, having chat masters getting the chat going and offer sidegames for players to play during a game.

To be able to attract players Passoker need to offer many more games for players to participate in.

Verdict 24/40

Bringing a new product to the igaming market isn’t an easy task. All players are familiar with bingo, casino, poker and other type of games but players need to learn a new game.

Players also need to know a game exists. Passoker has teamed up with Victor Chandler to increase their player base which is a good move. Passoker will need more partners in the future especially when they start with real money games.

In summary, Passoker has the opportunity to be a successful game but there are a few hurtles to get over on the way.

/Staffan