Lolapp’s Ravenwood Fair is now perched at the number one spot for the second week in a row, in terms of monthly active users — CityVille has stayed level at a little under 100 million MAU since earlier this month.

With massive growth of almost 1.4 million MAU in the last couple weeks, and a daily active user count rising somewhat more slowly, the game could be getting some new help on the marketing side.

According to our Appdata tracking service, poker games are filling four of the top 20 spots with other hobbies such as drawing, cooking, and bingo showing a nice traffic increase over the last week.

Top Gainers This Week – Games

Name MAU Gain Gain,% 1. Ravenwood Fair 6,997,419 +1,377,270 +25% 2. 德州撲克(中文版) 7,806,157 +685,692 +10% 3. Paradise Life 1,762,210 +529,637 +43% 4. Texas HoldEm Poker 37,187,222 +493,707 +1% 5. Car Town 7,942,067 +416,195 +6% 6. Draw My Thing 651,240 +370,412 +132% 7. GodsWar Online 1,800,057 +341,442 +23% 8. FarmVille 中文版 3,938,841 +310,014 +9% 9. Happy Hospital 1,627,927 +304,508 +23% 10. Jersey Shore 1,351,481 +304,202 +29% 11. Dragons of Atlantis 1,466,209 +299,773 +26% 12. Bubble Island 5,905,837 +273,182 +5% 13. Dog Show Friends 420,450 +249,698 +146% 14. Bingo Island 1,100,081 +211,831 +24% 15. The Pokerist club — Texas Poker 616,558 +192,187 +45% 16. Millionaire City 12,275,360 +190,832 +2% 17. Mahjong Trails 2,275,189 +175,302 +8% 18. 鋤大地(大老二) 742,970 +173,000 +30% 19. Cooking Mama 516,328 +155,152 +43% 20. Mahjongg Dimensions 1,283,107 +145,581 +13%

A newcomer to the scene is OMGPOP’s Draw My Thing, a Pictionary-type game that allows players to synchronously play with their Facebook friends.  The game saw an increase of 370,000 monthly players in the past week, in part due to cross promotion with Cupcake Corner, another OMGPOP title.  Draw My Thing does still have some issues with matching up players with each other, but once those problems are ironed out we should see the game continue to flourish.

We took a close look at Cooking Mama with a full review earlier this month. While we felt it had a long way to go to catch up with the Nintendo DS version, the game is starting to gain steam with 516,000 MAU, a 43% increase in players in the last week. Whether or not Cooking Mama will continue to climb the charts is still hard to predict as it depends if players will be able to handle the Flash performance issues that plague the game.

Finally, GodsWar Online is still going strong as it reaches an all-time high of 1.8m MAU. While IGG’s fantasy 3D MMORPG isn’t retaining players particularly well, a steady stream of new and predominantly male players are coming to the game. Kabam’s Dragons of Atlantis is another fantasy game geared to a male audience that has done well over the past week despite being  a more niche genre of social game.

Some of the world’s largest media companies and game publishers have made major acquisitions of social game developers in the last 18 months. At the same time, we have seen even more consolidation in the space through several acquisitions of small-to-midsize developers. Now in 2011, what do the shifting landscapes in the media and games industries mean for M&A activity, and potential acquisition targets, in the year ahead? Additionally, how important will factors like game design and creative content be when some players are able to leverage a significant marketing advantage?

The following panel discussion took place at Inside Social Apps InFocus 2011 last week, and featured leaders from Zynga, Facebook, Playdom, and ThinkEquity.

ISA 2011: The M&A Landscape for Small and Mid-Sized Developers from Inside Network on Vimeo. To download an mp3 version of this talk, please email us at info (at) insidesocialapps (dot) com.

Other videos currently available:

• ISA 2011: Monetization & Customer Acquisition on the Facebook Platform in 2011
• ISA 2011: Fireside Chat with Bret Taylor on the 2011 Facebook Platform Roadmap

Photos of the event are viewable on our Facebook Page.

Today’s release of Monopoly Millionaires seems a natural symbiosis between EA’s Hasbro licenses and its acquisition of Playfish. With the success of Family Game Night on the console, it was just a matter of time before said titles arrive on Facebook.

Much of Monopoly Millionaires is familiar to players of the classic board game from Baltic Avenue to the “metal” game tokens (everyone starts as the race car). The art style and music are pitch perfect but this is not your grandfather’s, or even your, Monopoly game. The key aspect – monopolizing the board – is left out of the gameplay in favor of each player having their own board.

All players begin with the ability to place houses on every property; all it takes is Monopoly Money.  Each property color requires housing of the corresponding color with ever increasing prices. Place a single house on each, and hotel construction begins. In order for construction to complete, friends must “invest” by clicking on a wall post a prescribed number of times. For investing, said friends are paid.

Rent can be collected from completed houses every few minutes but only if electricity is run to the homes. This is purchased in blocks of five minutes to 24-hours. Rent is accrued over time; there is no need to check in every few minutes..

Collecting property is achieved by visiting a friend’s board. Rolling the dice and landing on their property will earn them rent but also grant you the opportunity to earn a card of that color. A full set can be traded to upgrade a home for increased rent.

Circling the board can be expensive, though. Not only will you pay rent, you will contribute to the Community Chest, Free Parking, and Luxury Tax each time you pass. Land on them and you might win serious Monopoly Money but until then simple play can drain your funds.

Upon returning to your own board, you will collect any funds earned from friends visiting your board, collect your rent, upgrade buildings and hope a few hotels have completed.

Interaction between friends is a requirement. There is no earning of properties on your own board. Though hotels can be purchased with gold, it will become costly very quickly. At the same time, the wall posts quickly become spammy. In 15 minutes of play, I had five hotels needing upgrades by three friends each as well as notifications of money to share, free dice rolls, leveling up and mission completion.

A final note should be made regarding the in-game advertisements. Charles Schwab chimes in to give game advice whenever the game loads, a player returns from a friend’s board, or it sits idle too long. The news suggests sending a friend a 3^rd Generation Prius, then Mr. Schwab says hello. Hopefully, time and balance will tone down the commercial interruptions.

A new feature has come to Facebook’s largest cross-promotion bar, Applifier: retargeting, a tactic usually used by ad networks. With retargeting, developers will be able to send optimized messages to users who have encountered their game before.

Here’s an example use case. Applifier’s bar is essentially a line of ads, in which developers trade views on a one to one basis. With retargeting, you can make a user that has already clicked through your ad once see a different message — instead of “Try our game!”, it can be “Come back!” Regular players can see yet another message.

Retargeting won’t help developers get new users, but it will help them improve retention for existing players, according to Jussi Laakonen, the CEO of Applifier. Some users use the Applifier bar almost like a navigation toolbar, instead of returning to the front page to click through Facebook’s built-in bookmarks.

Applifier is working on more features beyond retargeting, Laakonen says; it’s just one of the first to launch. The company has good reason to try to differentiate itself. Since launching last May, the company has gained two strong competitors, in the form of Tapjoy’s AppStrip and Digital Chocolate’s VIP Games Network.

There are arguments for each network. One of Applifier’s has stayed the same since its launch: it’s independent, and untainted by big developers. AppStrip, as we pointed out early this month, has benefited from selling substantial traffic on its network to Zynga for CityVille, while Digital Chocolate gives a pure 1:1 exchange (Applifier takes 10 percent of traffic for its own revenue) but, presumably, uses the data from the network for internal purposes.

All the competitors will find fertile ground for expansion,  says Laakonen, but he’s sticking by his model. “As a publisher, the best company to work with is not just the one that has the largest reach, but one that has your best interests in mind,” he says. “We’re data neutral — if you’re a publisher on Applifier you don’t know where your traffic is coming from. We want to make sure people don’t get competitive info.”

One by one, storied casual gaming franchises have made their way onto Facebook. Diner Dash, by PlayFirst, is the latest, with a Facebook rendition that keeps the fast-paced time management of the original games with a layer of gameplay additions that take advantage of the social platform.

For those not familiar with the original, Diner Dash is all about well-timed clicks. You play as Flo, a down-to-earth waitress who’s usually faced with some greater challenge than just waiting tables — more on that in a moment. While Flo is doing her job, she must satisfy an entire restaurant full of customers, all with their individual habits and quirks.

Each customer, or group of customers, follows the same four steps: they must be seated, have their order taken, be served, have their check delivered, and then their table cleaned and bussed. The problem is that each set of customers moves through each step at a different pace. They also have a heart rating that determines their tip. For the most part the number of hearts they have at the end is determined by how fast Flo can meet their needs.

After a couple easy rounds, the starting restaurant — Darla’s, named after a San Francisco diner — starts to fill up with tables, encouraging flurries of clicking that would rival any arcade game. Aside from graphical differences this part is much like other Diner Dash games, except that you aren’t directly paid your tip money; instead, you receive a set amount based on a tiered ranking system at the end of the “shift”. You also get a second character besides Flo, meant to represent yourself, who works in the kitchen.

Around this core, PlayFirst has built up the standard elements of social gaming. Working a shift requires energy: for Darla’s, five energy each shift, which runs out quickly since you only have a total of 10 energy to start.

A partial solution to this energy shortage is the park. An ongoing Diner Dash villain, Mr. Big, has filled the park with trash, toxic waste and construction equipment, which, at least according to the story, is driving potential customers away. Flo’s earnings go toward cleaning and beautifying the park.

The typical energy mechanic is flipped around here, as you actually gain energy from cleaning up the park. Each bottle, construction cone, or bulldozer you “clean” gives you one energy. In the beginning of the game, this gives a seemingly endless source of energy, allowing shift after shift at the restaurant.

This bounty is short-lived, though, as we found out after just a few minutes of playing. Once you’ve put Mr. Big’s exploits to shame by rampaging through your initial trash resource, only the occasional piece will appear, resulting in a sudden and drastic slowdown in play. Placing decorations doesn’t seem to reward any energy, either, even though some cost a substantial number of Credits.

It’s reasonable that PlayFirst should try to find some way to monetize its players, but in its current state the park feels tacked-on. This could be corrected with a more generous allocation of energy, which seems to work fine for PopCap with its two arcade titles on Facebook, or a clearer way to earn more energy in the park, even if that meant buying premium currency decorations. For now, if you want to pay for anything, it’s best to just direct your money toward energy refills.

The last part of the game to note are the additional restaurants. Five are shown on screen, with only Darla’s available at first; Tony’s Ristorante can also be unlocked for 30 Credits, while the other three are yet to come. To repeat a point, players might feel short-changed if they buy Tony’s, since the six energy required for shifts will quickly run out.

Diner Dash is still small for now, with only about 26,000 monthly active users. But PlayFirst is almost certainly aware of all the issues, including the numerous technical glitches that currently plague the park, and likely hasn’t orked to promote the title yet. Luckily, the core gameplay looks and feels great. Once Diner Dash is more polished, it will have the potential to reach millions of players, just like its previous incarnations.

Check out the top headlines and insights this week from Inside Facebook— tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

• Facebook Agrees to Change Friend Finder in Response to German Privacy Complaint

Monday, January 24th, 2011

• Facebook’s North American Ad Rates Rose in December 2010, Traffic Stayed Flat
• Badoo, RootMusic, LivingSocial Top Among Applications That Grew the Most This Past Week
• Facebook Sets July, 1, 2011 Deadline to Make Credits Sole Canvas Game Payment Option
• Facebook Launches Page Citing Statistics and New Incentives for Adopting Credits
• An In-Depth Look at the Social Gaming Industry’s Performance and Prospects on Facebook
• Facebook Campaigns: Microsoft Hong Kong, Transportation and Topps
• Facebook’s Sponsored Stories Turns News Feed Posts Into Home Page Ads

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

• Top 20 Fastest Growing Facebook Pages: Zynga, Harry Potter, MTV, Ronaldo, Music
• ISA 2011: Live Blogging The Future of Social Gaming Panel
• ISA 2011: Fireside Chat with Facebook CTO Bret Taylor
• Facebook Acquires Hyper-Local Mobile Advertising Startup Rel8tion
• Facebook CTO Bret Taylor: “Mobile is the primary focus for our platform this year.”
• ISA 2011: Live-Blogging New and Alternative Social Platforms Panel
• ISA 2011: Facebook Announces Buy With Friends and Frictionless Micropayments
• ISA 2011: Live-Blogging Growth and Monetization on Mobile Social Platforms
• ISA 2011: Sony Ericsson to Preload its Android Devices with Facebook Login at Startup

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

• Yahoo and Badoo Rhyme Their Way to the Top on This Week’s List of Fastest-Gaining Facebook Apps by DAU
• Facebook Combats Image of Insecurity with HTTPS and Social Authentication
• Highlights This Week from the Inside Network Job Board: Facebook & Meteor Games
• Facebook Tests Voice Chat, Could the Facebook Phone Run on VoIP?
• Facebook Increases Application Requests Limite: More Virality, More Spam?
• ISA 2011: Roundup of Press Coverage

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

• Facebook Career Postings: Payment Operations, Sales, Mobile, Engineering and Data Centers
• Facebook Runs Survey to Assess User Perceptions of Credits
• ISA 2011: Growth and Monetization on Facebook — The Credits Panel [Video]
• EHow.com to Delete its User Profiles and Switch Entirely to Facebook Login
• Facebook Ups Application Security with Roles, Whitelists, and Notifications

Friday, January 28th, 2011

• Dating and Pictures Appear on This Week’s List of Emerging Facebook Apps
• ISA 2011: Facebook CTO Bret Taylor on The 2011 Facebook Platform Roadmap [Video]
• Facebook Confirms Removal o fSuggest to Friends Feature from Pages, Reducing Virality
• Platform Update: Developers Sit Reorganization, Deprecations Reminder
• Facebook’s Redesigned Page Creation Flow Helps Admins Choose a Category
• Facebook Roundup: Prineville, Zynga, Android, Verizon, Egypt, Tunisia, Japan, Zuckerberg and The Oscars

Mike Murphy Takes Advisor Role at Zynga — According to All Things Digital, former Facebook head of advertising sales Mike Murphy is now taking a part-time role at Zynga, advising on its advertising strategy. In addition to this, Murphy will be focused on team growth, advertising products, and creating new relationships with major brands.

[image via All Things Digital]

Mafia Wars Expands to Four New Languages — Earlier this week, Zynga announced that it’s long running Mafia Wars title will now be available in French, Italian, German, and Spanish. According to the developer, approximately 15% of the game’s daily players speak one of these four languages.

Castle & Co Launches in Chinese — In more localization news, Ubisoft’s Castle & Co is getting a Chinese language version this week. The new app is entitled “萌堡奇緣” or “Cute Castle, Amazing Encounter!”

SiXits Jumps into Social Games — A new startup by the name of SiXits is getting into social games says VentureBeat. Using cross-platform games, the company is hoping to set itself apart by incorporating more engaging games. Their first title, dubbed Babies Everywhere, centers around users caring for a cartoon-like baby.

Pocket God’s Episode II Launches on Facebook — Frima Studio and Bolt Creative have announced the launch of Pocket God’s latest update, Episode II: Clash of the Frightened! for Facebook. The new version includes new social quests, friend taunting, extra idols, and more.

PopCap Goes Cross-Platform with Bejeweled Blitz — PopCap Games appears to have gone cross-platform with its popular Bejeweled Blitz title for Facebook and iOS. Based on information from W3i’s blog, users can now connect and compete with one another from either platform.

Zynga May Acquire Whereoscope — Social developer Zynga may be close to acquiring a company by the name of Whereoscope, who helps parents keep track of their kids using a location-based application on smartphones.

Zong & Boku Partner with Verizon — Mobile payments companies Zong and Boku have announced a direct carrier billing service with Verizon through BillToMobile, says TechCrunch. Now, the companies can now offer services at a much lower transaction rate than SMS payments.

Foursquare Grows 3400% in 2010 — Foursquare released some interesting numbers this week, noting that it had grown 3400% in 2010. In addition to this, the company has totaled 381,576,305 check-ins last year, one of which was from the International Space Station. A full compilation of top check-in locations, numbers, and States, can be found here.

Spartacus Comes to Facebook — In more social gaming news, the recently previewed title Spartacus: Gods of the Arena has launched on Facebook. Published by 6 Waves and developed by Large Animal Games, the Starz show marks yet another franchise to make its way onto Facebook.

Facebook to Focus on HTML5 — After noting the growth and potential of HTML5 at ISA 2011, it looks like Facebook is now focusing more heavily on it with JSGameBench version 0.1.

Booyah & Indaba Music Present Nightclub City Album — Booyah and Indaba Music have announced the release of a new music album, Drop the Bass. Centered around the music of Nightclub City, the tracks are all created by members of IndabaMusic.com as part of the “Drop the Bass” contest held late last year.

HeyZap Gains First Unity3D Game — A previously reviewed title by the name of Foxie Hunny Jump is coming to HeyZap this week. Of particular curiosity, it is noted as the first title to utilize Unity3D on the platform, says the developers, Fusion Studios.

Facebook has publicly announced what many developers already knew to be the case: Credits, the company’s virtual currency for canvas applications, will be the only payment method that Facebook allows canvas applications to use for virtual goods. We explored this topic on Tuesday at our Inside Social Apps conference, on a panel featuring Facebook commerce product marketing head Deb Liu and a number of successful developers.

The Credits topic comes up at 14:15, with Liu going into detail at 18:40.

The promise of the virtual currency continues to be that Facebook can use its size, brand-name and features to make the currency bring in more money for developers than they’ve been making with their own payments implementations, even though Facebook takes a 30% cut of all virtual currency transactions.

The first part of the panel, for those interested, covers trends on user growth and retention on Facebook.

ISA 2011: Monetization & Customer Acquisition on the Facebook Platform in 2011 from Inside Network on Vimeo. To download an mp3 version of this talk, please email us at info (at) insidesocialapps (dot) com.