Frequently Asked Questions
How much do these games cost?
Our games can be downloaded for free and there are modes that you can play for free, forever.
The games also include special tournaments that require a cash entry fee and include real world prizes. To play in these tournaments, you must first deposit cash into an account with our partner company (Skillz Inc) and any winnings you receive will be placed in this same account. You can then withdraw funds from Skillz at any time. The team at skillz has a lot of information posted about how this works and you can find some of it here:
https://skillz.zendesk.com/hc/
If you have any specific questions about how the skillz system works, you can send an email to support@skillz.com and they will be able to help you out.
How is this Skill instead of Luck?
All of our games synchronize all random factors between players in a match.
- In a card game, both players will play the same deck.
- In a puzzle game, both players will get the same pieces in the same order.
- In a word game, both players will get the same letters in the same order.
With this system, both players can get the same score if they take the same actions in the same order and the outcome is determined by skill.
The game experience can diverge quickly under some conditions:
- Players succeed or fail or in their actions
- i.e. one player misses a shot and the other player hits it.
- Players make different strategic choices
- One player fills a puzzle game board from the bottom-right, but the other player prefers the bottom-left.
- In a word game, if one player plays "stick", while the other player plays "stack"
How does the matchmaking work?
The Skillz multiplayer system assigns a skill rating for every player. As you play the game, the system changes your skill rating based on the opponents you face and the scores you achieve. When you win games, your skill rating will go up. When you lose games, your skill rating will go down.
When you enter into a new match, the system looks for other players that are close to your skill rating and does one of two thing.
- If there are players close to your skill rating that have already started a match, you will be given the same match as them.
- If there are no games available from players close to your skill rating, you will begin a match that will later be picked up by a player close to your skill rating.
In both of these cases, the matches are always played by real players. If no player close to your skill rating is found to match your game within 24 hours, then your entry fee will be refunded and the match canceled.
How do I make money?
Our games can be downloaded for free and there are modes that you can play for free, forever.
The games also include tournaments that require a cash entry fee and include a cash prize. To play in these tournaments, you must first deposit cash into an account with our partner company (Skillz Inc) and any winnings you receive will be placed in this same account. You can then withdraw funds from Skillz at any time. The team at skillz has a lot of information posted about how this works and you can find some of it here:
To answer your question more specifically, there are head-to-head games that start with $0.60 entry fees and have $1 prizes. There are other price points all the way up to $175 entry fees for $300 prizes. Beyond that there are also larger multi-entry tournaments that are in the $1 - $10 entry fee level with much larger prizes). In addition, there are also regular tournaments that have cash entry fees and real world prizes, like TVs, Cruises, toasters, gift cards and the like.
It should be noted that for all of these games you are matched up with players of similar skill, so you should always have a shot to win the match, but at the same time it’s not like you can just walk up and cash out a lot of money without beating a lot of people. The cash tournaments are more designed to be a way to make the competition more fun, rather than a way to get money for nothing. We generally encourage people to try out the free games first before jumping straight to the cash games, to learn how the rules work and to see if you enjoy it and are good enough to win regularly.
If you have any specific questions about how the skillz system works, you can send an email to support@skillz.com and they will be able to help you out.
Gambling vs. Skill
Are these games considered gambling?
We don't consider the games "gambling", since the outcome is not random and is not governed by things out of your control. Rather, they are "Skill Games" that allow you to bet on the outcome. Perhaps it's a small distinction, but it is an important one.
To make the games skill-based rather than random, we remove all of the random elements of the games and synchronize them for both players. For example, in a game that includes a deck of cards like Solitaire, both players will play the exact same shuffle of the deck and the player who can solve it more fully or more quickly will win.
And yes, to play in the tournaments that include cash prizes, you do need to deposit money and pay the cash entry fees.
To make it all work, we use a system called the "Skillz Multiplayer system" that is made by a separate company (Skillz Inc) to run all the account services and tournament operations in our games. Their system is used in a number of other games as well as ours. They have a lot of information posted on their website here: Skillz Zen Desk
If you have any questions about how their system works, feel free to send an email directly to the team at skillz at support@skillz.com and they should be able to explain in more detail.
Can I play from <my State>?
We use the "Skillz multiplayer system" created by a partner company called Skillz Inc. Skillz powers real prize competitions in roughly 80% of the world and 38 US states - the exceptions being Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Additionally, real prize gameplay is currently not available in Maine and Indiana if playing cards are involved.
Can I play from Canada?
Yes, everywhere in Canada is covered.
We use the "Skillz multiplayer system" created by a partner company called Skillz Inc. Their system is used in a number of different games in addition to ours and they are responsible for making the cash tournaments available in locations where it is legal to participate. If you run into any issues at all, you can send them an email at support@skillz.com and they should be able to help you.
They also have some more specific information about their system posted here: https://skillz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200620348-The-Legality-of-Skill-Gaming
Can I play from outside North America?
Yes, probably!
We use the "Skillz multiplayer system" created by a partner company called Skillz Inc. Their system is used in a number of different games in addition to ours and they are responsible for making the cash tournaments available in locations where it is legal to participate. With that said, all of our games are totally free to download and play everywhere. There are certain tournaments within the games that require a cash entry fee and pay out cash prizes and those are restricted to places where they are considered legal.
International payments are handled through Paypal, so you will need to be able to access a paypal account to participate in the real money games.
If you want to get a more specific answer, you can send them an email at support@skillz.com and they should be able to tell you for sure.
I can't access my account.
We here at Tether do not have direct access to the account system. We work with a partner company (Skillz Inc) to run all the account services and tournament operations in our games, and their system is used in a number of other games as well.
If you send an email to support@skillz.com they should be able to help get everything sorted out for you.
Why do you need all these android permissions?
We work with a partner company (Skillz Inc) to run all the account services and tournament operations in our games, and their system is what requires all of the permissions. From what we've been told:
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The photos access is required so that you can provide a custom profile picture for their system
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The contacts access is required because the game includes a "share your game" feature which lets you send out links a game where you won to your friends.
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They also require location services to validate that you are playing from a place where the cash prizes are legal.
The way their system is integrated with our game is why it needs to request access at startup. I can definitely verify that the game and the tournament system will never make calls on your behalf or snoop on your pictures/videos in any untoward fashion.
If you want any more details on why their system requires these permissions (as they are used a number of other games beyond ours), then you can send an email to support@skillz.com and they should be able to explain everything in a little more detail.
Is this all just a big scam?
No, it is not a scam. We do everything we can to make the games fair and the results transparent.
Are all the players real people, or are there bots?
All game participants are real people. There are no bots. None of our games have automated players, automated scores or any sort of robot players at all. Full stop. It is also against the terms of service and players will get banned if they are using automated helper programs to get an advantage.
The Skillz system does include auto-generated names and pictures for player accounts that can "look fake", but this is done only as a way to let new players enter the game more quickly. These are still real players though. It is true that some people prefer not to include real profile pictures or simply don't know where/how to setup their own name and picture. We are working with the team at Skillz to improve this part of the system so that more players will personalize their profiles earlier.
Why don't I win more?
The system is designed to pit players with equivalent skill levels against each other. This naturally means that if you go on a win streak, your skill rating will go up and you will start to play against tougher opponents, making it ever harder to maintain your winning streak. Similarly, if you lose too many games, your skill rating will go down and you'll start to see easier competition.
We understand that is can sometimes be frustrating since you do not get to see your skill rating at any given time, nor do you get to see the rating of your opponents.
Fundamentally though, the system will never "put a finger on the scale" and force you to lose or to match up two completed games to dictate the winner.
The rake is too damned high!
The system generally operates only based on player entry fees, the system does not inject money into the prize pools.
There are occasional large-format tournaments with guaranteed prize pools, but they are the exception, not the rule.
A common match format requires two players to provide a $6 entry for a $10 prize. This equates to a 16% rake to account for platform, development and maintenance costs. This value is not guaranteed to remain the same, but prices will always be posted ahead of time for every match.
Some people feel this is too high. That is a perfectly reasonable complaint, but this is never hidden from anyone, nor should it surprise anyone.
The system also provides a number of features (Bonus Cash, Leaderboard Prizes, Achievement Prizes, Match Code tournaments, etc) to help players achieve satisfying and/or profitable results.
With all that said, it should be noted that for all of these games you are matched up with players of similar skill, so you should always have a shot to win the match, but at the same time its not like you can just walk up and cash out a lot of money without beating a lot of people. The cash tournaments are more designed to be a way to make the competition more fun, rather than a way to get money for nothing. We generally encourage people to try out the free games first before jumping straight to the cash games, to learn how the rules work and to see if you enjoy it and are good enough to win regularly.
Why can't I see replays of every match?
The video replays are only enabled for a random sampling of cash games at this time.
This is primarily because it is very taxing on your phone to record and stream video all the time. The phones typically get very hot and the batteries run down quickly.
The choice to record a match or not is done procedurally by the system, and it is never done (or changed) based on the results of a match.
What is Bonus Cash?
Bonus Cash can be used to enter tournaments and compete for real cash prizes. You cannot withdraw Bonus Cash, and your Bonus Cash is forfeited whenever you make a withdrawal.
When you enter a match, you typically pay the entry fee with 90% real cash and 10% Bonus Cash. However, if you do not have enough real cash to cover 90% of the entry fee, a larger portion of Bonus Cash will be used.
When you win, your entry fee is refunded the same way you paid in (split between real and Bonus Cash). However, the winnings on top of your entry fee are 100% real cash.
The team at Skillz provides more information about the bonus cash features here: