More than 15,000 adult members now belong to a website that helps them organize pick up games of everything from croquet to Ultimate Frisbee.
Looking for a fourth for golf or a pickup game of hoops? Find teammates in your own neighborhood on this nationwide website for players, teams and managers.
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GameSnake.com helps recreational athletes in the United States find, join or start pickup games and teams in their neighborhoods. Players are matched with pickup games and teams based on factors such as age, gender, location and sports preference.
Registered players can be connected to pickup games and teams in over 80 sports, including basketball, football, golf, soccer, tennis and volleyball, and specialized sports such as adventure racing, disc golf, dodge-ball, kickball, stickball and Ultimate Frisbee.
To get started, athletes create an online profile that enables the GameSnake.com system to match them with local pickup games and teams. Once a game is found, the player gets the game details: where and when the game will be played, how many players have joined, the desired number and skill level of players and any fees or equipment necessary to play.
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If players can’t find a matching game, they have the option of listing their own pickup game, and the system will help to fill it with matching players. GameSnake.com tracks sign-ups, creates printable game rosters and allows players to communicate with each other online.
GameSnake.com also keeps rankings on players and game starters. Players receive a colored jersey icon next to their nicknames in the system. The jersey color for a player can change as other players provide positive or negative feedback.
Game starters get their own special rankings, designated by 0-5 stars next to their nicknames. If they do a good job of getting a game listed and organized, they can receive higher rankings from players in that game.
GameSnake.com was launched in June 2004 because three Northeast Ohio business professionals—recreational athletes with varying sports interests—wanted an easier way to find pickup games and teams. With that goal in mind, and on a shoestring budget, they spent their nights and weekends developing the idea. For now, the site is free. The revenue potential is from advertising from sports-equipment companies and others.
GameSnake hopes to keep the GameSnake service free for players and team managers. The plan is to cover costs through targeted advertising sales and paid sponsorship of events.
The site’s organizers say there will also be the opportunity for sports marketers to utilize GameSnake to demo products and perform surveys of players and team managers. Plans include the creation of for-fee facility tools that will give facility managers and sports organizations the ability to find and invite players and teams to use their facilities, fields and courts.
Details at www.GameSnake.com.
