The Domain Game Has Arrived on Android!

[GoKaizen]

Five months ago we launched The Domain Game in the Apple App Store. Since then more than 500 players have joined in the fun, and we have served up nearly 350,000 questions. Today we are thrilled to announce the game is live on the Google Play store for both phones and tablets!

https://namebio.com/blog/the-domain-game-android/

@Michael

 

[Jman92]

Been waiting for this game for a while now. Thank you for the update.

 

[Michael]

Hope you guys like it! We've had two reports so far of people not being able to click on the answer buttons or on the Register button. If this happens to you please shoot me a PM with what device you're using, what version number of Android you have, and what your IP address is. It will help the developers track down what is going on.

Most people are reporting that it works fine, and we tested on seven different phones and two tablets all running different versions of Android, and it didn't happen on any of them.

If it works for you and you like the game, ratings and reviews are much appreciated If you're having issues sit tight, they'll make another release soon once the problem is identified.

 

[baseballworld]

This game would of been a perfect fit for my domain Virtual Domaining.com Just saying I was originally using the domain as a virtual reality domaining game for people to practice every aspect of domaining.

 

[D Haynes]

Having played the game for 10 mins I was usless lol. The names mainly sold for way way more than I thought. Goes to show that just like the automated valuation tools, human valuations mean nothing either as every name and sale is different.

 

[Michael]

Having played the game for 10 mins I was usless lol. The names mainly sold for way way more than I thought. Goes to show that just like the automated valuation tools, human valuations mean nothing either as every name and sale is different.

It's definitely a difficult game, and there are sales that surprise me every day going through our daily market reports. But you'll find that if you play it enough an overwhelming majority of sales will stop seeming so random/crazy and will start to make sense. It took me thousands of rounds for things to really click.

When I first started playing it took me a few days to get a double-digit streak, now I'm consistently getting streaks of 15-25. Eventually you get into the right mindset where if you see a mediocre domain but it sold at GoDaddy you know it is $xxx, but if it sold at Sedo you know it is $x,xxx or possibly even $xx,xxx, or if it sold at Uniregistry it is most likely $xx,xxx or if it sold at Afternic it is most likely $x,xxx. You realize that almost none of the private brokerages will get involved in a sale for less than $xx,xxx. Those kinds of patterns.

The venue should play a big role in your guess, almost as much as (if not more than) the domain itself. Get your gut reaction of how good the domain is, and then adjust up or down depending on where it sold.

Part of it is also knowing the history of prices. For example knowing that CHIPS 4L hit $x,xxx around September of 2015, when 5N without a zero or four hit four figures, when 3L hit a floor of $xx,xxx even on the wholesale market (late 2014), and so on. Another big part is having a good memory.

If you stick with it things will make a lot more sense. I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about the domain industry, and I've definitely seen more sales data than almost anyone, but the game showed me I wasn't even close. Other very sharp domain investors have said the same, this is a review from Ali Zandi for example:

I had no idea I could get THIS much better at valuating domain names just by playing a game. Straight up. This is a must for any serious investor, even if you’re already at the top of your game, this will take you higher. Every time I play, I get a better understanding of what every type of domain name has been worth, is worth and could be worth. LOVE this game. Brilliant I say!

Thanks for playing! I hope you keep at it.

 

[D Haynes]

The venue should play a big role in your guess, almost as much as (if not more than) the domain itself. Get your gut reaction of how good the domain is, and then adjust up or down depending on where it sold.

Thanks for the detailed reply Michael. What you say makes a lot of sense especially with regards to the sales venue having an effect. Maybe one day there will be sales data from NP and $X and $XX options as a harder difficulty setting. I'm joking of course. I'll definitely give it another go though and try to improve my score.

 

[Jman92]

@Michael I just have a quick question. Whats the rationale behind setting the game on a timer? Its hard to think about all the things you said in such a short amount of time, especially if you are newbie like me. Thank you for bringing this game to android.

 

[Michael]

@Michael I just have a quick question. Whats the rationale behind setting the game on a timer? Its hard to think about all the things you said in such a short amount of time, especially if you are newbie like me. Thank you for bringing this game to android.

We have a timer for a few reasons. One is to make it harder to go look up the answers, although ten seconds is still plenty of time so we have a number of methods for detecting cheating, which unfortunately has caught several people. Another is just to increase the difficulty and keep the pressure on.

Finally, I wanted the game to develop people's gut instincts, to the point that they can look at a domain and almost instantly have a good idea of what it is worth. Without overthinking it, without having to look up stats like search volume and CPC, to just look at it and know. You have to be fast at analyzing domains to be effective in this business, we read through thousands of domains per day going through auction inventory and drop lists. Being able to "appraise" a domain twice as fast could save you hours a day.

When I first started playing it was taking me maybe four or five seconds to answer each question, now I'm answering almost every question in one second or less. If you play long enough and watch for patterns you will eventually get really, really fast.

The game is intended to be challenging for intermediate domain investors and at least mildly interesting for pros. Beginners will find it very difficult to even maintain a score above zero, but if you don't give up I promise you'll become a better investor for it, or at least a better appraiser.

 

[Jman92]

We have a timer for a few reasons. One is to make it harder to go look up the answers, although ten seconds is still plenty of time so we have a number of methods for detecting cheating, which unfortunately has caught several people. Another is just to increase the difficulty and keep the pressure on.

Finally, I wanted the game to develop people's gut instincts, to the point that they can look at a domain and almost instantly have a good idea of what it is worth. Without overthinking it, without having to look up stats like search volume and CPC, to just look at it and know. You have to be fast at analyzing domains to be effective in this business, we read through thousands of domains per day going through auction inventory and drop lists. Being able to "appraise" a domain twice as fast could save you hours a day.

When I first started playing it was taking me maybe four or five seconds to answer each question, now I'm answering almost every question in one second or less. If you play long enough and watch for patterns you will eventually get really, really fast.

The game is intended to be challenging for intermediate domain investors and at least mildly interesting for pros. Beginners will find it very difficult to even maintain a score above zero, but if you don't give up I promise you'll become a better investor for it, or at least a better appraiser.

thank you for the detailed explanation. I see the rationale now and I agree with it.