Prize Pyramid - Field Test

As promised... here's that "very close relative" to the lucky chair that I was talking about earlier, having its very first field-test on-site in LapGirl Boutique...

How does it differ from a lucky chair?

After claiming a letter, the "winner" is given the chance to improve their prize by bringing other people into the store to collect other letters. Each time a letter is claimed, another tier of the pyramid lights up ... and lighting up the entire pyramid awards the top prize to all participants.

So, here's two big advantages over a lucky chair:

Firstly, a user can't tp in, grab the prize, and tp out again - the pyramid has a buffer period (currently 7 minutes by default) in which winners are offered the opportunity to attract somebody capable of unlocking the next tier and improving the pay-out. If they leave the sim during this period, they don't get their prize. There's no way to skip or fast-forward this period - so users are either going to work their address books to bring in more bodies, or (if they don't have sufficient contacts online, or are just happy to take the first tier prize), they're going to start browsing your store to kill time. Both of which are good results for you.

Secondly.... the winner has a real incentive to bring more people into your venue... they *want* the top prize - they *need* to light up the whole pyramid ... and anybody they bring in to light up a level is going to have to hang around for their own 7-minute "count-down" period.

OK... this is probably sounding more complex than it should ... bottom line: it's a pretty intuitive system to understand when you see it in action (the first test-victims had no problem at all getting to grips with it), and devilishly effective at bringing small crowds into your shop who _must_ hang around for a short time before leaving.

Assuming this test session completes without problem, the Prize Pyramid will be on pre-sale to members of the "Lucky Designs" group tomorrow, with wider distribution to follow ASAP.

                           

(P.S. - don't sit on it. It's not a chair. It's pointy. Sitting on it would be a baaaaad thing.)