Broken Arrow, OK – Part of the excitement of following the NCAA® Men’s Basketball Tournament is filling out the 64-team brackets. When it comes to selecting teams, some people count on luck and superstition. Others, do their homework and attempt to make an educated guess.
Then, there’s Gale Venosdel and James Ward, who decided to create an entirely new approach by “unbracketing” the brackets.
As a result, the long-time, college friends collaborated to develop 13 Unbracketed, an interactive online-game, designed to be a compelling alternative to the traditional brackets. Players select the 13 teams they feel have the best chances to go far in the tournament. The game’s dual scoring system encourages a selection of low to high seeds. Which makes trying to discover this year’s Cinderella story a compelling part of the game.
“When March comes around, everyone is a basketball fan,” said Venosdel, the game’s Founder and Creative Director. “However, most people who play the traditional brackets usually have a busted bracket after the first or second round. Unfortunately, the brackets don’t deliver on the greatness of the tournament. But 13 Unbracketed does. It’s a strategic yet simple game that allows you and your friends to stay engaged throughout the tournament. It’s unique scoring system and dynamic social platform make it the game that fans deserve.”
Leveraging their respective industry experience and educational backgrounds, Venosdel, Ward and three other partners formed Lucky 13 Unbracketed LLC in 2013. Having spent several years developing and fine-tuning their vision, they launched a beta version last year to friends, family and other tournament fans.
“We received a lot of great responses to the beta version,” said Ward the game’s UX Architect, “People were excited about the game. It encouraged us to take the next logical step in bringing it to market.”
This year, utilizing the popular crowd funding site Kickstarter, the team hopes to raise enough funds and awareness to release a new beta version to a much wider audience.
“Those who back us on Kickstarter will have exclusive access to the enhanced beta version in time for the 2014 tournament, and they can receive plenty of great rewards. Plus, they’ll be considered 13 Unbracketed Hall of Fame pioneers,” said Venosdel.
If they reach their funding goal of $6,000 by March 12, 2014, they will be able to launch a free version to the general public via Facebook in 2015.
“Obviously, we’re shooting for a successful Kickstarter campaign,” said Venosdel. “But, that’s just a part of the bigger picture. We’re ultimately focused on building a fun game and brand that everyone embraces.”
To learn more about the game and to view the Kickstarter campaign, click here: www.kickstarter.com
or, visit the website: www.13unbracketed.com
For more information, contact Gale Venosdel at: gv@13unbracketed.com
