playcafe_logo Last night I spent about an hour goofing around with this new site called PlayCafe.  What PlayCafe is, if you haven't guessed by the title of this post, is an internet game show.  It's broadcasted over Ustream.tv and all of the questions are dynamically pushed out to users (like myself) during the live stream.  Basically the hostess asks a question and a little flash applications pops it up for you to answer.  Based on how fast you can correctly answer the question  you'll get a varying number of points - and because the timer counts down so fast it sort of rules out the possibility of cheating by googling for answers.

I originally heard about PlayCafe via a TWiT podcast called Net@Nite, and so when I heard about it I decided to sign up because the idea was interesting.  A week later I noticed that Leo Laporte, one of Net@Nite's hosts, sent out a Pownce message saying he was going to be playing as well as doing his own stream of the game.  So I decided what the heck, I'll give it a shot.  I ended up getting in playing within about 5 minutes, the site was getting relatively hammered because of the TWiT audience so they had some issues at first but eventually things evened out and I had the chance to play a few rounds.  Users can break up into teams to compete with other users playing the game (it's all based on the cumulative points of the team from the answers they've answered correctly) so that's one draw to playing the game.  Another is that you can win prizes either by doing well and getting your name thrown into a hat for a raffle or by getting lucky in between question rounds.

celticslotteryticket What I mean by that is that for every 10,000 points you get in the game you get a key.  Then, in one of the bonus rounds, you use the keys to unlock treasure chests that have various prizes in them.  If you match up a certain number of prizes you get the prize.  Basically it's like a lottery ticket.  So since you can win something how much does it cost to sign up you ask?  Absolutely nada.  Free to play.  It's a really unique idea and I'd definitely give it a look if you're into game shows on TV.  Have you ever found yourself sitting on the couch yelling at the screen saying "This guy is such an idiot!  I know the answer!"  Well now it's time to put it on the line and prove your game show prowess!  I have to admit, I was one of those people too but I didn't do very well at PlayScene.  I started off okay but when a question popped up about how Cincinnatians preferred their lunch sandwiches I was lost.  The question was a pretty basic one based off of number of toppings (it was a simple math question more or less) and I got all of the questions in that particular series wrong.

Both Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur of Net@Nite were playing while I was, both interacting with the game show hosts over Ustream, and to be honest it was pretty cool over all.  The actual game shows run from 6 to 9PM PST (9 to 12 EST) so if you're sitting around some night with nothing to do you might as well try it out!  Good luck!

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