Unlock Real Prizes
Recommendations Before Real Prize Enablement​
Skillz highly recommends that your game has all advanced features turned on before submitting for becoming Real Prize enabled. We encourage all developers to set up Single Sign-On, Push Notifications, and Custom Themes. These features are key for maximizing the potential of a game from a retention, engagement and monetization perspective.
Games that meet the following criteria may apply to have tournaments with real-world prizes enabled. Please note that games must remain in compliance with these conditions in order to maintain their real-prize tournaments.
Requirements to Become Real Prize Enabled​
- A Minimum Of 100 Daily Active Users (DAU)
- Pass The Skill Algorithm Test
- Skillz Random is Properly Implemented
- The Most Recent Skillz SDK Is Integrated
- Free Of Bugs, Crashes & User Experience Errors
- A 4-Star Rating Or Above In The Appropriate Store
- No 3rd-Party Ads Before or After Tournaments
- Adherence to Skillz Marketing Guidelines
If your game meets these criteria, apply for real-world prizes by contacting us. Our Developer Support team will be in touch within five business days.
Please note that in limited cases, we request content and/or best practice changes to your game as a precursor to enabling real-world prizes.
Skillz maintains full discretion to withhold real-prize tournaments for any game, at any time.
1. A Minimum Of 100 Daily Active Users (DAU)​
Before enabling real prizes in a game, Skillz ensures that the player volume justifies offering matches that reward real prizes. Any game with under 100 DAU often leads to players not matching, which results in more aborted matches. This creates a poor user experience and ultimately harms paying user retention rates.
If your game does not have the minimum number of DAU required, then check out our webinar on UA best practices for tips and tricks for driving player acquisition for a Skillz-powered game.
2. Pass The Skill Algorithm Test​
Skillz partners with game developers that are committed to skill-based competitive gaming. Skillz has developed a patented algorithm to determine if a game is more than 65% skill versus chance. The algorithm determines the skill level of a game by measuring a game’s outcome compared to a player’s perceived skill. In order for the algorithm to function, a game must have had at least 1000 games completed in a single type of tournament.
Algorithm scores are a part of the real prize enablement process and are not viewable in the Developer Console. If you would like to see your score, then please contact us. If you would like to learn more about our patented algorithm, then check out our Knowledge Base article.
If your game does not pass the Skillz algorithm test, then we recommend that you first check that Skillz Random is properly implemented. If it is, and the problem still persists, then we recommend re-examining the game mechanics and see if any changes can be made to increase the skill vs chance probability in your game. Some examples of factors that could be re-examined are reducing random variables or adding mechanics to make scoring more varied between players of different skill levels.
3. Skillz Random Is Properly Implemented​
Skillz is fully committed to ensuring that all competitive matches are fair, without providing an advantage of one player over another. Therefore, Skillz conducts a fairness test to ensure that player matches are sufficiently randomized and both players receive the same outputs. To be eligible to host real prize tournaments, all games that utilize random elements must have Skillz Random integrated and functioning.
If you would like to check if your game has properly implemented Skillz Random, then please refer to the article of Fairness. If your game does not pass the Skillz fairness test, then it’s recommended to retest Skillz Random in the Sandbox environment and pursue minor game iterations until the game is fully fair.
4. The Most Recent Skillz SDK Is Integrated​
A game must be on the most up-to-date SDK. With every new SDK version, Skillz is building in features that improve the player experience, decrease negative effects of known bugs, and help drive the overall performance of your game.
If a game does not unlock real prizes due to being on an older SDK, then follow these instructions to upgrade to the newest SDK.
5. Free Of Bugs, Crashes & User Experience Errors​
Skillz wants to ensure that a game is stable before unlocking real prizes. Unexpected bugs and/or crashes result in a higher amount of aborted matches, which create a negative player experience and hurt the overall brand reputation of both Skillz and the game developer. In addition, aborted matches often result in player refunds, which has the consequence of net revenue losses.
If a game is rejected for having bugs, crashes or user experience errors, then we recommended conducting a game iteration to resolve these issues before resubmitting. Check out our user experience and app design guidelines for related information.
6. A 4-Star Rating Or Above In The Appropriate Store​
Part of the Skillz quality assurance process is to ensure that players enjoy playing well-functioning, fun and polished games. As a low rating often indicates an issue within a game, Skillz will not enable real prizes in any game that has lower than 4 stars in the appropriate App Store.
If your game currently has lower than 4 stars, then check out our App Store Optimization eBook for key tips and tricks to improving your App Store rating.
7. No 3rd-Party Ads Before or After Tournaments​
3rd-party ads are not allowed for any Skillz game that has unlocked real prizes. If your game is rejected for this reason, then please remove all 3rd-party ads before resubmitting your game.
Any game that includes 3rd-party ads after tournaments will not unlock real prize tournaments. 3rd-party ads are disruptive to the player experience and can interfere with the overall gameplay and/or game behavior.
8. Adherence to Skillz Marketing Guidelines​
While Skillz encourages game developers to market their game with competitive play and real prizes, it is important to ensure that players don't mistake your game, or Skillz games in general, for a game of chance. For the mutual benefit of all the game developers on our platform, please follow the recommendations set in the Skillz Marketing Guidelines
In addition all marketing materials should not utilize Skillz marketing assets or mention Skillz without explicit approval from Skillz.
The reason for this requirement is that Skillz is a part of the game’s interface, but it is not supposed to be the star attraction. Skillz highly encourages game developers to create custom themes within the Developer Console, so that your game stands out from other Skillz-powered games.
If you would like to request permission for utilizing the Skillz name or marketing assets, then please contact us.