As promised, here is my review of Moola
Moola introduces their project (which is currently in private beta) as:
Welcome to the web’s first “AdverTournament”; an ambitious entertainment project which took more than five years to develop and launch for the world to enjoy. Loosely described, Moola is something like a free super-jackpot game show, which allows anyone to become a millionaire on the internet, rather than watching others do so on TV. Similar to a TV game show, Moola is free and relies on sponsors to enable millions of people to vie for serious amounts of cash and prizes. The method used to facilitate competition is simple yet powerful: Sponsors give small amounts of money to millions of people, and then Moola allows those people to compete against one another so that individuals may win more or less, depending on how well they compete.
At its core lies an age-old economics class riddle about whether you would be willing to accept a job paying .01 cent the first month, and be promised that it would double every month after that, or if you’d go for “XX” more dollars a year that increases at a lesser rate. While the 2nd set of numbers changes depending on the story teller, the idea is that the although you’d only have .04 cents after 3 months of hard, back-breaking labor, you’d be making $40.96 a month after the first year, and $167,772.16 a month by the second year. Yea, pretty decent.
Starting out with 1 penny given to you by the company, you get to play other moola users in basic luck based games like cards, rock paper scissors, and more. The catch is that you have to watch a short 30-second commercial before playing each game, and then answer a contextual question before you can proceed. This secures Moola, Inc with the money it hands out. You are also offered other opportunities to score money by using their search page (powered by Snap!), registering for incentives from other companies (like Clearing House and online poker sites), and also getting percentages of money won by friends you referred to the program.
Although it boils down to the web2.0 version of those horrible pyramid schemes where you sign up for blockbuster trials in order to “win” a “free” “iPod,” the games are well designed, and the community is active. And you can cash out the second you reach 10 bucks.
Interested in trying out this new approach to easy money? At the time of this post, I have 7 beta invites to distribute. You can get them (while they’re hot) here:
Moola.com - First to 10 million has to buy me dinner!
Mail comes from: DoNotReply@moolamailserver.com
While I have yet to sign up for any of the “booster” pyramid programs, I can admit that the games are addictive enough to keep you playing for hours, the ads are harmless (and guessable), and I came DAMN close to cashing out before I wagered it all against another early adopter and lost. BOO.