Pretty interesting history
http://www.gameroommagazine.com/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=9
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Brad and his Free Tournament
BradMontgomery wanted to sponsor a Free Solitaire Tournament with a two dollar prize. After a little thought, we decided to put them up. At last check, almost 300 entries in just over an hour! Money for free is attractive I guess :). Have Fun!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
TG and Me
I remember going to an interview for a programming job with Tournament Games. I thought to myself, "How far back in the hills is this place?". After around 25 minutes of driving outside my hometown, almost to the end of a very long dead end road, I arrived at a driveway with Pearson on the mailbox. Whew! Finally found it! Well, I thought i found it. Turns out that the driveway was a mile or so long. Winding my way through woods, crossing a creek, passing a couple of barns, I found myself being stared at by a horse, donkey and a few dogs.... Is this the right place?
I continued another quarter mile, and finally see a home. It was a log cabin, nestled in the trees on the bank of the Cumberland River. Paradise! I get out of my truck, welcomed by cold wet doggy noses and paws on my chest. I notice a fishing boat tied to a tree in the water nearby, and a John Deere tractor waiting patiently for its next trip through the woods. I knock on the door to what seems to be a garage, and am welcomed inside by Jack. To me this did not look like a technically advanced place, but I soon learned that it was. Computers were blinking, hard drives chirping and screens displaying players from all over the world, who were at tournamentgames.com, playing Tournament Solitaire.
Somehow I convinced Jack to hire me. I cleared out a spot, set up a workstation and began to dig in to the inner workings of the site, soaking in all I could.
Not long afterward, we decided to move in to a real office, So we found a vacancy in town, and relocated all of the servers. It was nice, but we had to climb stairs to get to inside, it was not bad, heck it even had new carpet! This was in 2001, TG was already 4 years old, and I was like a little kid in a toy store. Not long after this, one of the original employees moved to a different job, and I was left with all of the programming responsibilites, and server duties. I was overwhelmed at first, but one is suprised on how much you can learn in a short amount of time when you have to.
Fast forward a few years. We figured, why not own our own office? It costs about the same as rent, and we can build equity. So we found a building that was for sale just a couple blocks away. Again, we moved all the servers (there were more this time around) and set up shop in what we now call home. Everyone had their own office, the servers even have their own air conditioned room. We were happy. During all of this we continued to streamline the site, add new games (and remove some!).
Since we were all small town folk, taking care of our players seemed second nature. We just treated our players, not as text on a screen, but as real humans. And you know what? We still have some of our original players. And we hope to keep you around for years to come.
Well, there's a little history for you. I used to say, "See you on the leader board", but since I get clobbered everytime I try to enter a tournament, I just say...
"Have Fun!"
I continued another quarter mile, and finally see a home. It was a log cabin, nestled in the trees on the bank of the Cumberland River. Paradise! I get out of my truck, welcomed by cold wet doggy noses and paws on my chest. I notice a fishing boat tied to a tree in the water nearby, and a John Deere tractor waiting patiently for its next trip through the woods. I knock on the door to what seems to be a garage, and am welcomed inside by Jack. To me this did not look like a technically advanced place, but I soon learned that it was. Computers were blinking, hard drives chirping and screens displaying players from all over the world, who were at tournamentgames.com, playing Tournament Solitaire.
Somehow I convinced Jack to hire me. I cleared out a spot, set up a workstation and began to dig in to the inner workings of the site, soaking in all I could.
Not long afterward, we decided to move in to a real office, So we found a vacancy in town, and relocated all of the servers. It was nice, but we had to climb stairs to get to inside, it was not bad, heck it even had new carpet! This was in 2001, TG was already 4 years old, and I was like a little kid in a toy store. Not long after this, one of the original employees moved to a different job, and I was left with all of the programming responsibilites, and server duties. I was overwhelmed at first, but one is suprised on how much you can learn in a short amount of time when you have to.
Fast forward a few years. We figured, why not own our own office? It costs about the same as rent, and we can build equity. So we found a building that was for sale just a couple blocks away. Again, we moved all the servers (there were more this time around) and set up shop in what we now call home. Everyone had their own office, the servers even have their own air conditioned room. We were happy. During all of this we continued to streamline the site, add new games (and remove some!).
Since we were all small town folk, taking care of our players seemed second nature. We just treated our players, not as text on a screen, but as real humans. And you know what? We still have some of our original players. And we hope to keep you around for years to come.
Well, there's a little history for you. I used to say, "See you on the leader board", but since I get clobbered everytime I try to enter a tournament, I just say...
"Have Fun!"
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Why skill game tournaments are fun.
The thing that makes skill games fun is you are competing against other real people. This is unlike Casino sites where you compete against the house and the house controlls the odds. They can adjust the odds to what ever the traffic will bare. Skill games have been around for years and there are skill game tournaments occurring daily in thousands of locations. Just look to your nearest country club where tournaments occur several times each week, or your local Bowling alley. Normally the entry fees are small and the winners prize is small which means no one expects to get rich. People are looking for good entertainment where they can pit their skill against others, The risk is small the reward is small but the thrill of winning is big.
The house takes a percent of each jackpot to cover the cost of developing the games and running the site. So the house has no stake in the outcome of any tournament. There is a winner each tournament and the house gets their percent regardless of who wins. The house however does have a responsibility to insure that no player has an unfair advantage by cheating or hacking the games.
The house takes a percent of each jackpot to cover the cost of developing the games and running the site. So the house has no stake in the outcome of any tournament. There is a winner each tournament and the house gets their percent regardless of who wins. The house however does have a responsibility to insure that no player has an unfair advantage by cheating or hacking the games.
Videos? Oh My!
Thanks to Shadooby, I have been enlightened to the world of screencapture videos. This opens up all kinds of possibilities. Our plans are to record all of our games, as well as recording instructional videos that deal with our console and tournaments. I have uploaded my first try to google video. At the time of this blog entry, it is still being processed. When it gets approved, I will provide a link.
TG Pinball
Our first 3D Game, Pinball Bingo is still under active development. We have had reports of the ball doing some weird stuff, and are actively trying to pinpoint the cause. It seems that it could be related to a slower than average frame rate, resulting in the physics not being able to accurately simulate. Rodger is changing the core routine for simulation, in hopes that it will create a more realistic simulation, even if your computer is not the fastest in the world.
If you are playing pinball and experience problems, causing you to loose game credits, just let us know. We will be happy to reimburse your account. Or, if you just have some constructive critism, we want to hear from you!
To Download Pinball Bingo, Click Here
If you are playing pinball and experience problems, causing you to loose game credits, just let us know. We will be happy to reimburse your account. Or, if you just have some constructive critism, we want to hear from you!
To Download Pinball Bingo, Click Here
How the Tournaments Work
This game site is all about players competing against each other in online tournament games. You will play a game and when that game is completed your score is automatically posted to our game server. Your score is compared to other scores in that tournament and your rank of that game will be immediately displayed. You will see up to the top 25 the top scores and player usernames. You can enter any tournament as many times as you want as long as the tournament is open. Each score is kept in the database and a player could hold several positions in the standings
Each player automatically develops a Skill Rank which is an indicator of that players Skill Level Each new player starts out with a skill rank of 100 and this Skill Rank will be re-calculated at the completion of each tournament. If you play multiple times in the same tournament only your best score will be consider in the Skill Rank calculation. The higher you finish in a tournament the higher your Skill Rank will be.
Each different Game has tournaments currently available for 3 different Skill Levels and a player can only enter tournaments for their Skill Level. The tournament are divided in to Skill Levels 1-9, 10-29,and 30-100. Some tournament may be for skill ranks 1-100 and these are for all players. The Skill Level category 1-9 is for the best players, 10-29 for the next best and 30-100 for the new players. Each Player can only enter tournament appropriate for their skill level. This is automatic so you cannot accidentally enter a tournament that is not for your skill level.
Each player automatically develops a Skill Rank which is an indicator of that players Skill Level Each new player starts out with a skill rank of 100 and this Skill Rank will be re-calculated at the completion of each tournament. If you play multiple times in the same tournament only your best score will be consider in the Skill Rank calculation. The higher you finish in a tournament the higher your Skill Rank will be.
Each different Game has tournaments currently available for 3 different Skill Levels and a player can only enter tournaments for their Skill Level. The tournament are divided in to Skill Levels 1-9, 10-29,and 30-100. Some tournament may be for skill ranks 1-100 and these are for all players. The Skill Level category 1-9 is for the best players, 10-29 for the next best and 30-100 for the new players. Each Player can only enter tournament appropriate for their skill level. This is automatic so you cannot accidentally enter a tournament that is not for your skill level.
A Shiny New Blog!
We were wanting a way to communicate with you, our players. So we decided to start a blog. Tournamentgames.com is a people driven site, with real people at both ends. For you who are not yet a part of our skill game community, our players can tell you, that we are real folks, passionate about helping people have fun. Skill games are our thing, and tournaments are our way of having friendly fun, and maybe creating bragging rights!
So, we hope you enjoy this blog. We will keep you up to date on what is going on here at tournament games. Your comments are welcome, and as we are a family oriented site, any questionable comments will be promptly removed, and your rights as a tournament games player will be reviewed. So, Keep it clean and have fun!
So, we hope you enjoy this blog. We will keep you up to date on what is going on here at tournament games. Your comments are welcome, and as we are a family oriented site, any questionable comments will be promptly removed, and your rights as a tournament games player will be reviewed. So, Keep it clean and have fun!
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