Service to offer cash, prizes for online gamers

www.kansas.com Posted on Tue, Mar. 18, 2003 Associated Press

DALLAS - A new source of income - or debt - could soon be a mouse click away for PC gamers.

Players 18 years and older can win cash or prizes while playing against each other in the online World War II action game Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

It's part of a deal between YouPlayGames and two Texas companies - Even Balance, Inc. of Houston and Id Software, Inc. of Mesquite.

After registering with YouPlayGames, gamers can place their wager.

The cost of entry generally will range from a few cents to a few dollars for each kill or injury players incur on their opponents, YouPlayGames creator Chris Grove said Tuesday.

No money limits have been set, but that could change, Grove said.

Another feature will let gamers cap how much money they can lose in 24 hours.

"If two players want to play a game for $100 a life, then we'll open up a server for that," he said.

Grove said prizes eventually will include games, vacations and money.

YouPlayGames' system remains in beta-testing but should be released later this month.

Subscribers will have to connect to online matches hosted on YouPlayGame's servers, and for security reasons use Even Balance's Punkbuster anti-cheat software.

Negotiations are under way to bring the cash-for-kiling scheme to other games, and eventually, online consoles like Xbox and PlayStation2, Grove said.

YouPlayGames is headquartered on the Caribbean island of Curacoa in the Netherlands Antilles, just off the coast of Venezuela.

U.S. players in 11 states won't be able to wager any money due to laws against fee-based online gaming. The states are Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee and Vermont.

On the Net www.evenbalance.com www.youplaygames.com www.idsoftware.com