Casual gamer gets serious prize

$1 million prize awarded to "World's Best Casual Gamer" at inaugural WorldWide Web Games.

All the talk about professional gaming has focused largely on who can race the fastest, who can frag the most, and who can fight the best. That may all change now, as a prize of $1 million was given to the gamer who could break the most jewels, play the most cards, and bust the most bubbles over the weekend.

Kavitha Yalavarthi of Odessa, Texas, was crowned World's Best Casual Gamer by Fun Technologies at the first-ever WorldWide Web Games, held in Hollywood, California. Three games--Bejeweled 2, Solitaire, and Zuma--were featured in the competition, which took place over 12 hours and featured 71 contestants.

Casual games, called so because of their appeal to the nongaming crowd, have garnered a lot of attention in recent years because of their revenue potential and low development costs. Many industry experts believe the sector is due for considerable growth domestically over the next five years, with some pegging it as a billion-dollar industry by 2011.

72 Comments

  • _Sam_

    Posted Sep 14, 2006 4:04 pm PT

    Wow, I didn't know about this

  • Reetesh

    Posted Sep 14, 2006 11:59 am PT

    WOah she is an Indian! Great!

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Sep 13, 2006 10:23 am PT

    Oh SHE's a lucky Indian!

  • faizali86

    Posted Sep 13, 2006 6:11 am PT

    thats a typical indian name

  • Jerrymiru

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 7:31 pm PT

    I now feel just as cheap as the games buy learning of this. ~shakes head~ Game companies aren't going to put in the effort to make a truly great game if they can just release these. Sure some are fun to play, but to make a contest out of games that you play on your cell phone while you're on the toilet is sad.

  • cmhawk

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:23 pm PT

    1 mil is too much

  • ffgothic

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 4:39 pm PT

    lucky. when do hardcore gamers like me get $1 mil

  • Igwababa

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 4:24 pm PT

    Bet that guy is pretty happy and probably spent half of it on cars already etc

  • s151990

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 11:54 am PT

    dam, I wish I could get a million, I want a sweet car.....

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 11:10 am PT

    1 MILLION $!!! That's a lot of money...

  • StillWingless

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 10:39 am PT

    sweet. there's hope for my bejeweled addiction after all.

  • watsonphys

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 10:02 am PT

    I don't think it's a good idea to pay people to play games, I thought that they are for fun.

  • BohemianCoast

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 9:33 am PT

    I think the key distinction between 'casual' and other games is not playtime, or seriousness of players. It's the ease of picking up the games. It doesn't make sense to sit down and plan to play Oblivion for ten minutes, whereas ten minutes of Bejewelled is fine. The fact that you then go on to play for five hours is neither here nor there.

  • Dax207983

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 8:52 am PT

    People and governments already give millions of dollars every year to poor people all over the world. The problem is that most of that money is stolen by kleptrocratic dictators and very little makes it to those who need it. Also, throwing money at chronically poor countries won't bring its citizens out of poverty, only sustained economic development will (obviously). Many countries, particularly in Africa, have yet to embrace capitalism.

  • Drachman

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 8:36 am PT

    Woo, something I'd like to be in.

  • bizsumpark182

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 8:23 am PT

    casual gaming

  • TintedChimes

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 7:10 am PT

    Sounds contradictory. If you're a casual gamer, you'll never play enough to win in a competition. But if you train advidly, then you'll....aww heck with it...LET THE CHALLENGE BEGIN!

  • wenbin09

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 7:10 am PT

    Bejeweled 2 is extremely addictive!!

  • Berserker_2

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:46 am PT

    Hey Sk8nNotH8tn,

    How much do you give to the poor?

  • syxpack

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:44 am PT

    "Sk8nNotH8n
    He probobly spent the money on cell-phone games. Sad, with the the people dieing in Africa you CAN NOT give $1 Million to a casual."

    STOP WITH THIS DYING CRAP!!! What is wrong with you guys? Someone winning an award has nothing to do with people dying.

    And now again someone is more upset about "to a casual". You guys have to be 5 or something, it's the only explanation.

  • JetBradley

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:41 am PT

    Ok who's next in the idiot line talking about people dying.

  • Sk8nNotH8n

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:37 am PT

    He probobly spent the money on cell-phone games. Sad, with the the people dieing in Africa you CAN NOT give $1 Million to a casual.

  • LordAndrew

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:15 am PT

    I think that you stop being a "casual gamer" once you enter a gaming competion. Sorry Kavitha.

  • syxpack

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:14 am PT

    "Schillinger
    People are dying all across the world and we give $1mil to a casual "

    Where did you pull this one out of? "to a casual" like a video game addict is better than one who is not, and deserves AWARDS more than the next guy.

    It's like the lottery, only with a little better chance due to less luck and more skill.

    And has nothing to do with people dying all over the world.

  • japanesegoth

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 6:12 am PT

    i doubt the guy that won was actually a casual gamer...

  • Schillinger

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 5:39 am PT

    People are dying all across the world and we give $1mil to a casual

  • mike04016

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 3:56 am PT

    Mark Rein said it to, but that's just for PC games.

    Ya, I agree, playing arcade games 24/7 doesn't make him a casual gamer.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 3:51 am PT

    Casual gamer: Person who buys/plays less games.

    Wow! That is a huge, growing sector of the market! You can tell by how much games sales have dropped in the past year or so!

    I think casual gaming is going to grow and grow until there's no gaming hobby left! We've been on that trend for about 18 months now! While I can only give figures for PC gaming, in 1995 the average gamer bought 9 games per year, the average PC gamer in 2005 bought 3 games. And it has got worse in the last year, to the point that Peter Molyneux of Lionhead has said last week, that a PC only game can no longer make a profit!

  • Hakkzpets

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 3:43 am PT

    When do you go from casual to hardcore? Cause in my opinion, playing Solitaire for 12h isn't that casual.

  • snes08

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 1:47 am PT

    i hate they get crowned the 'best' although before i read this i had no idea it was even being held. im not saying if i had of entered i would have won or even made the top half of the list... but im pretty sure there are people better then the 71 contestents that entered.

  • capthunt

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 12:36 am PT

    HAHA! Real casual gamers dont play webgames all the time. Besides anyone can play those cheap games really well

  • RealWreckless

    Posted Sep 12, 2006 12:08 am PT

    man **** that guy

  • azizrulez

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 11:47 pm PT

    man thats is just plain old crap

  • mithund

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 11:43 pm PT

    wow, thats a hell lot of money to win for playing Bejeweled 2, Solitaire, and Zuma !!

  • Grunt_Lord

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 11:34 pm PT

    so even though they play more than some "hardcore" gamers, these people are only "casual" because they play a different kind of game? o.O
    that is just plain old f***** up man O.O

  • Bruin4ev3r1520

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 11:04 pm PT

    Kavitha....thats an indian name. well, now i know why shes smart. I think im the only dumb Indian in existance.

  • kinglink2

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 10:53 pm PT

    wait so the casual gamer was decided on three games that everyone plays. And thus she's the "best casual gamer".. umm sorry people she's the best gamer at casual games. She's definatly far from a "casual gamer" if she can master bejeweled and Zuma. And hell solitaire is a luck competition at best (seriously mathmatically it's 90 percent luck.)

  • abattoir_blues

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 9:27 pm PT

    yea my mom thinks that it is strange that I play on xbox live at my age (27)but she play solitare and minesweep on the computer every night

  • LINKloco

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 8:49 pm PT

    Kavitha is probably really a hardcore gamer. lol

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 8:47 pm PT

    one million...i wish i had one millino just for being a casual gamer

  • nintendorocks

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 8:06 pm PT

    A hardcore casual gamer?

  • chikahiro94

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 8:01 pm PT

    You'd be surprised how long casual gamers play their games - my parents (60 and 70 years old) easily put in as much time every night on Diamond Mine and Solitaire I did playing MMO's.

    "Casual" doesn't quite mean what we think it means anymore...

  • Illmaticnyj

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 7:52 pm PT

    i guess he aint a casual gamer anymore -_-

  • Croove_55

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 7:35 pm PT

    Yeah, the whole best casual gamer thing is kind of an oxymoron. I guess "Non FPS&MMO" Player doesn't roll off the tounge quite as well.

  • neozero9731

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 7:14 pm PT

    Whoa....

  • chad9

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 6:56 pm PT

    I played with a Jack-In-The-Box once and I won with about an hour of practice. Does that make me a good casual gamer?

  • KiLlA1991

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 6:33 pm PT

    wow

  • redgopher

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 6:32 pm PT

    Isn't being the world's best casual gamer the same thing as being a hardcore gamer? I mean, how to you be the best casual gamer and not hardcore?

    "Oh, I'm the f-ing best, but only on Saturday evenings for about 30 minutes."

  • den4sir

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 6:28 pm PT

    The money is gone. She spent it all at Jack in the Box.

  • MxBlackDragon

    Posted Sep 11, 2006 6:17 pm PT

    awesome!!

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