Correction: The original version of this blog post contained an error. Grantoo will be hosting large tournaments almost every Sunday, and smaller tournaments virtually every day.
Plenty of students enjoy taking a break from college work and relaxing by playing fun social games such as online poker or “Words with Friends.” But what if students’ skills in those games could help pay for their tuition?
That’s the hope of Grantoo, a new company that will be bringing a social game tournament to UCLA students and a select group of other colleges. Grantoo will be hosting large tournaments almost every Sunday, and smaller tournaments virtually every day. UCLA students will get the chance to compete against peers in different social games for various cash prizes ranging from $50 to $2000.
Dimitri Sillam, co-founder of Grantoo, said that he came up with the idea behind the company in 2007 after then-President George W. Bush banned online poker. He said that he wondered how these games that college students seemed to enjoy could be used to help them pay their way through school.
The upcoming series of tournaments will consist of three games, a Texas Hold “˜Em game; Wordy Bird, a scrabble-like word game; and Quiz Night, a trivia game that will play the biggest role in the tournament.
Grantoo is able to offer cash prizes thanks to funding from various partners, with this tournament being sponsored by WePay, which has donated $5000 to be split amongst 12 winners. The first tournament, to be held today, will earn the winner a $2000 prize, with smaller tournaments running from Monday to Friday offering $500 prizes.
College students play an average of six hours of social games a month, according to Sillam, who also said that part of his goal with Grantoo is to give these students tangible rewards for their efforts and skills in these games.
As of now, Grantoo is exclusive to only 40 college campuses, including UCLA, UC Berkely and USC, with this weeks’ events representing the first official game tournaments. In May, however, Grantoo plans on expanding its services to a wider range of campuses.