Gamesville - Odds Are Great, You'll Have Fun

It's their motto!

Gamesville is run by Lycos, and has been on the web since 1996. I have NO idea why it took me so long to find them!! The community is great, the games are fun, and best of all, they have oodles of winners every day!

Gamesville offers two methods to win prizes. On all of their games you earn Gamesville Rewards, or GVs. These are basically tokens to buy sweepstakes entries. They have a monthly sweeps (currently a 32 inch LCD HGTV), a weekly sweeps of $100, and a daily sweeps for a $25 Target gift card.

In addition to the sweeps, Gamesville also has nine games that have progressive jackpots.


Winners

Gamesville is the first site I've been to where you can hop into any room, ask people if they've ever won anything, and one (or more) people will say yes. The first time I witnessed this, at least three players said they'd won on Gamesville, and several more players said that they personally knew someone who'd won. And we're talking cash prizes here, not t-shirts, mugs, or virtual items!

How can so many people win? Well, games like Bingo Zone and Quick-Draw Poker are easier to win. Several people win small jackpots in those games every day! The games that are harder to win have higher jackpots and fewer winners.

Think of it this way - A $2,000 pot can go to one person in a hard game, or be doled out to about 200 people in an easy game. Yes, we all want to win $2,000. But your odds are better if you play rooms with smaller pots.

If you want to know when the last person won the JP in your game, just look on the screen. There will be an icon of their avatar along with the date/time they won, and how much they won. I really like this because it's easy to see that yes, real people are winning the games. ^_^

In addition, Gamesville also has a few sections on their site that show some of the previous winners. Note that this is NOT a full list!

What? No MiraHopes2Win? Blast!

If you're lucky and win a cash prize, head to Gamesville.com/wins to collect! It may take up to 24 hours for your win to be posted, and up to 60 days after that for you to get your check. (That's pretty standard.) If you claim a prize that's less than $5 you'll be charged a $1 processing fee. This is to keep their own costs down. You can just wait until you have more prize money and *then* submit a claim, if you wish. ^_^


Community

By and large, Gamesville has a very active and friendly atmosphere, which translates directly to the players! People chat and encourage each other. It's fun!

Gamesville is also very active on facebook and twitter. I'm not a twit (yet) so I can't comment on that, but I love hanging out on their facebook page. ^_^ It's very personal and comfy, not at all a stand-offish company that talks only about its games.


Membership

You can absolutely play Gamesville for free. But if you want to spring for their membership option, here's what you'll get.

• No ads. (Yay!)
• Member only rooms
• Double Jackpots for Catchup Coverall, Magic 21, Super Chef, and Quick-Draw Poker.
• Exclusive items for your avatar.
• Daily instant win games.
• Bonus GV rewards based on your subscription package.

The monthly package is $5.95 and you get 10,000 bonus GVs.
The yearly package is $24.95 and you get 25,000 bonus GVs. You'd save $46.45 over 12 months versus paying monthly.
They also offer a 3 year package for $68.99, which also includes 25,000 bonus GVs. You'd save $145.21 over three years, versus paying the monthly price. But uh, you'd only save $5.86 over three years versus the annual price. (Not a huge incentive there.)

I love instant win games, so that's the real tantalizing bit for me. *^_^* The double jackpots would be nice too. But I'll hold on to my money and keep playing for free. (Sorry, Gamesville!)


Games

The selection of games is a bit smaller than other sites, but so far I like almost everything I play. What really impresses me is how detailed they are in explaining the rules. It's common to have several screenshots or videos showing how to play the game. I happen to like knowing how to play new games, so this is very, very important to me.


Avatars

The avatar creation is fun, but not wildly impressive. You can unlock additional items by playing games, but there isn't any way to find out what you need to *do* in order to unlock items or any notice when you unlock something! Heck, I didn't even realize I had more items to play with until I revisited the avatar page!

I come for Reese's Pieces!

I'm not sure why the unlockable-items aspect isn't highlighted. I love it when sites have items that you can earn by playing the games. Badges, trophies, clothes, I love it all! ^_^

I also like that the avatars are more cartoonish than realistic. It keeps things lighthearted.


Site Layout

For some reason I *love* the background on Gamesville. I could totally see myself using it as real wallpaper, and I don't even like real wallpaper. *^_^*

Also, at the top of the page (any page) is a fun quote. It changes each time the page loads, and I love seeing what it will say next. Right now I have, "'Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.' - Scott Adams" at the top of my screen. Makes me happy. ^_^

Entering the sweeps is a little awkward. You need to click the "My GV" tab and select your sweeps from the list on the top right, or scroll to the bottom of the homepage. It took me a while to find it. *Sheepish grin*


Mascots

Because I know that Gamesville really listens to their players, I'm going to be completely honest here.

I love the penguin! He's cute and fun and totally in the spirit of Gamesville. ^_^

Don't poke the penguin!

I'm not-so-thrilled about the supermodels. They appear in a few places around the site and show up during commercial breaks.

Ta-daaa!

As far as cartoon drawings go, they aren't bad. They look moderately well proportioned and are modestly clothed. It's just the concept of using women as accessories that doesn't sit well with me. (And yes, I'm perfectly aware that it isn't a new concept. But I really like Gamesville and I want them to be better than the norm.)

I would love it if Gamesville switched entirely to penguins. *Hint hint* 


Final Thoughts

I <3 Gamesville. ^_^ It has its flaws, but by and large I feel that they *really* listen to their players. And of course, it's awesome that so many people win prizes every day!

Part of me wishes that they had more games available. But I have to admit, I'm quite happy playing the same handful of games for hours at a time. *^_^*

If you haven't tried Gamesville out yet, give it a shot! Just keep your head and remember that even though they have more winners than most sites, it may take years for you to win anything. Play for fun and keep your fingers crossed!