Co-founder of Fanamana Games, Paul Murphy talks about Live-Action Fantasy Game from Verizon News Center on Vimeo.
It's no secret that fantasy league play has driven NFL's surge in viewers over the last two decades. According to the FSTA, there are over 33 million fantasy sports players in the United States, most of that Fantasy Football, with players averaging eight hours a week preparing or consuming sports with an eye on their fantasy team.
However, when the real games kick-off, the interaction ends. Each week at game-time, fantasy players must sit back and watch. Sure, they're tweeting, and yeah, they're trash talking. Perhaps they've toyed with some of the prediction games on their phones, but they're not really playing. Even with the rise of Daily Fantasy, when the live games begin, you sit back and watch... Wait... Hope...
This is where Fanamana comes in. Last season, Fanamana Baseball went live in the iPhone App Store. It’s a live fantasy-type game with a twist: it scores like real baseball. You earn hits, get runs, and play 3, 6 or 9 innings against your opponent.
It's a head-to-head game with a traditional boxscore -- a game you play in real-time when live MLB games are in progress. You can be at the stadium, on your commute home or of course watching TV, but now you're part of the game!
Here's how it works: With Fanamana, there is no lineup. You can use any player at any time as long as they are playing in the live games. You choose batters in your game from players currently on-deck in real-life. For example, Bryce Harper is next up to bat for the Nats – you make your first pick and Harper hits a single. Next up, you pick David Ortiz, who's playing 500 miles away in Boston. He hits a home run, resulting in a two-run homer in your virtual game. You're up two runs, and your opponent is running scared!
While we regroup after an exciting first season of baseball, the opportunity to be part of the connected home revolution is obvious. Fanamana is not just a second-screen game, but it is set to become the primary gateway for home media consumption. The app will replace that dinosaur on your coffee table called the remote control. With API access to major cable providers such as the FiOS native app, once your player gets up to bat, you will be able to easily jump to the right channel on your set top box and watch his at-bat.
Just as exciting, Fanamana is now spreading its wings. An all-in-one live-action game is being developed for football, basketball, soccer, NASCAR and more. The new game will go live for March Madness. So every day, every game matters, every score will matter, and Fanamana will do for other sports what fantasy did for the NFL. And with the FIFA World Cup just around the corner, Fanamana is ready to go global.
Paul Murphy is Technical Co-Founder at Fanamana. He recently presented at the Verizon DC Meetup 'Innovating for the Connected Home'. Fanamana is currently seeking media partners for upcoming sports tournaments. Please contact team@fanamana.com to join the revolution.
