History of Skill Games

In the early 2000, the Disney Corporation decided to invest millions in a new online skill-based game company called Skill Games (formerly Pure Skill). The Skill Games Company was based in Manhattan, New York.  Through the use of endorsements and sponsorship, Disney-owned properties such as Sports Channel ESPN and TV Channel ABC, was to develop skill-based games.

Players could win prizes up to a million dollars their first time playing. Skillgames, the brainchild of Walker Digital, also the parent company History of Skill Gaming Price line, fell on hard times in 2001. Congress had begun to threaten a crack-down on Internet gambling, and although the company was confident of the distinction between games of skill and games of chance, Disney decided to withdraw its investment.

The first commercial launches of major skillgame sites in the US occurred in late 2000 when both WorldWinner and SkillJam (previously known as EGamesGroup) released the first versions of their respective online skill game systems.

Play Skill Games at WorldWinner

	Walk the Plank! Its the most popular numerical strategy game in the world, but with a Buccaneers twist! Fill the 9x9 gameboard with numbered coins, according to the rules of Sudoku, but keep an eye out for the ghost of Jolly Roger!    Click to Play Seven Seas of Sudoku

In 2002 several large US-based portals, including MSN and Yahoo integrated SkillJam's and WorldWinner's services into their game platforms, thereby providing the first major distribution channels for wider skill game adoption.

Following the success of online poker sites, online casinos learned that users want to play against each other instead of the house, and attempted to launch skill-based game sites in 2004 and 2005 with mixed results.

SkillJam was recently acquired by Skill Gaming leader WorldWinner in April of 2008.