Web 2.0 Journal

Not many people have the fun job to deal with technology startups and play online gaming during work time. Fortunately, I am one of the few lucky ones. As I was heavily testing the new Umoo Social tournaments I was forced to compete with my entire office. I set up tournaments with my step dad in Germany and even my mother in law who usually only plays Mahjong or Scrabble online. I can tell you feel for me, having a blast while I am on the clock.

Today is finally the day that Umoo tournaments is coming out of private beta and into the public arena. I can now set up my own tournaments with a larger crowd, maybe I can push the magic “Invite my Facebook friends button’. Currently, I mostly play Fun games, without any entry fee that is, but I am itching to do the real game. For a few bucks I can make some real money with this game. We are interviewing Umoo players and some of them make a lot of money on Umoo. Surprisingly, they make more money than I ever made juggling my 401K account on the real stock market. However, after playing for a couple of weeks now, I have concluded, I am not going to quit my day job just yet.

So here is the scoop on Umoo’s social tournaments: you can organize social fantasy trading by competing with your friends, family or Facebook buddies. There is a big “Invite a Friend” button at the top of your playing lobby. The player-organized option is the first of its kind in social stock gaming. When I tell people about Umoo, oddly enough the first question is often not ‘Hey is this fun?’ (and the answer to this would be “YES!”), no, many law abiding folks respond with, “looks cool, but is it legal?” Duh! If you look at AOL, or Yahoo, there are cash based games and they are just as legal as pie. Besides, I think the US government would be fast closing down any site that is not abiding by the law.

Which brings me exactly to the point of why I am not going to quit my day job. Umoo is a skill-based game, and I am painfully aware that I do not have the skills perfected just yet. But there is still hope and there is always a lot of fun to be had with Umoo.

So here are more details for your fact sheets. UMOO.com is the most fun and fastest-growing fantasy stock exchange in the world. This completely new gaming entertainment mixes real stock market data with the ability to compare one’s performance against other players instead of the stock market. UMOO offers fast-paced, highly challenging, skill-based tournaments with real money prizes, without risking anything other than an entry fee. Players can opt to play against the UMOO Community or connect with Facebook, Yahoo and AOL buddies, friends, family or colleagues in a personal challenge. UMOO is the only game to offer this fun, easy to use, highly entertaining package. It is the perfect interactive blend of a virtual world, real-life and social networking that allows users to play as a group and even learn about the stock market.

To set up a free account and play the game, check out http://www.umoo.com.