Inside Social Games

Gaming for a cause is not something completely unfamiliar to the Facebook realm. However, Backstage, the developer of Scratch and Win on Facebook, has just announced that it has successfully raised over $100,000 for various charities through the use of its Facebook games.

The Canadian company has been developing this model for less than a year, with its first campaign back in April 2008. During this time, the company says it has had over 250,000 daily Facebook users playing the various Backstage games (Scratch and Win, Pull Tabs, Slots, etc), with 12,300 unique visitors supporting the fundraising efforts by purchasing special, charity Scratch and Win tickets.

Totaling $102,564 thus far, the proceeds from all the donations went to ten respective charities, with a new charity chosen each month. The individual totals to date are as follows:

• The Land Conservancy of BC: $10,521
• BC SPCA: $11,285
• The BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities: $9,587
• Doctors Without Borders: $14,032
• Prostate Cancer Research Foundation: $6,444
• Mustard Seed Food Bank (Victoria): $7,800
• The Salvation Army (Victoria): $13,159
• The Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon: $11,592
• The Australian Red Cross (Bushfire Relief): $8,460
• The Linus Foundation: $9,684 (ongoing)

Backstage has also told ISG that the success of the Scratch and Win game has paved the way to the development of other titles that will be based on a “virtual prize collecting model.” All of the titles are free to play, but “donations” will be collected via microtransactions. Currently, the company sells special game tickets for $0.10 each, which will be used to win themed prizes.