Zynga Poker Going All-In With Real-World Prizes

Need a new ride? Normally the best plan of attack would be to check online, maybe ask some friends if they know of any affordable cars in the area. Then again, if a Ford Shelby GT500 is what you’ve got …

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Need a new ride? Normally the best plan of attack would be to check online, maybe ask some friends if they know of any affordable cars in the area. Then again, if a Ford Shelby GT500 is what you’ve got your eye on, maybe you can just play Zynga Poker to win it.

While the business world is fixated on how much Zynga CEO Don Mattrick is taking home, his company is pushing on with some new initiatives. One of those is rolling out real world prizes to players of Zynga Poker, beginning with the start of Zynga Poker Leagues on June 23.

During seasons that last eight weeks, players will compete against pools of 100 players to earn League Points. Those can be used to enter a drawing at the end of the first League season on August 17, with lucky winners getting what Zynga describes as “thousands of real-world prizes up for grabs like dream vacations and tablets.”

One of those prizes could be the aforementioned Ford Shelby GT500, but only if the entire Zynga Poker community makes it happen. Players can choose to opt-in and have a small percentage of their in-game winnings go toward a pool of chips that can unlock the car as the first season grand prize — similar to what we in the real world casino industry call a progressive jackpot. If that pool hits 250 billion chips, someone who enters the sweepstakes is going to be driving something that will turn some heads.

That beats combing through the classified for new wheels, if anyone even does that at this point. The full rules will be available online when Zynga Poker Leagues kick off later this month, giving everyone a chance to figure out exactly how much poker they’ll need to play to have a chance at upgrading in the automobile department.