Tutorial Videos:
Streaming Skillz Tournaments for Beginners
Streaming Skillz Directly from a mobile device
What is Skillz?
Skillz is the leading eSports tournament platform that makes games more fun for players by introducing eSports tournaments while making streamers more money.
At our core, we make software that empowers a multiplayer experience and tournament play for mobile games – think about playing Mini Golf against your friends for real cash!
To share this with more players, we provide streamers the tools to painlessly host and stream their own mobile eSports competitions to complement and enhance their current streams. Your stream can now evolve from a channel to an eSports arena!
With over 1,600 game studios using the Skillz platform, more than 7M active players, over $39M in cash prizes awarded, and a variety of tournament options to choose from, Skillz is the perfect tool to engage and grow your current audience.
For specific questions on Skillz gameplay, please visit our player’s FAQ, here.
How does this work with the content I already stream?
Streaming with Skillz is meant to complement your existing stream, not replace it. For some examples, check out BrianFromDenmark's stream here, KoopaTroopa787's here.
How much will it cost me to host a Skillz Tournament?
Zero. Skillz lets you set-up, host, and stream tournaments of any size and for any game on our platform at absolutely no cost to you!
What does a typical stream for Skillz look like?
Streaming with Skillz is simple. You select the game, tournament template, and time.
When the tournament goes live you would show our streamer display window with the tournament running alongside your stream, and a chat message in your bot for instructions. That way people can watch your stream and play in the tournament at the same time. Typically streamers start off with the the Skillz streamer display window up for the first 10 minutes and explain the tournament and then flip back every 20-30 minutes or so to check in.
For some examples, check out BrianFromDenmark's stream here, KoopaTroopa787's here.
Who is working with Skillz?
We welcome streamers of all sizes, and have worked with some of the most well-known streamers in the industry, like KoopaTroopa787 and BrianFromDenmark. You can check out Koopa in action here, or watch Brian's stream here.
What is the legality of skill gaming?
We ensure that all of our games are skill-based, just like a physical golf or pool game is a game of skill. Whereas gambling games like poker and blackjack are largely impacted by elements of chance.
Skillz is just like the offline skill-based competitions where players pay an entry fee to compete, and then the winner is awarded a cash prize. There are many examples of these types of offline competitions:
- NYC Marathon
- Scripps Howard Spelling Bee
- Dota 2 Championships
Skillz is a tournament platform that brings this same paid tournament dynamic to mobile gaming.
What different tournament types can I choose from?
Skillz offers a variety of different tournament formats for you to host and stream. While the available tournament formats (or tournament “templates”) vary based on game selection, the choices are generally:
- Tournament Type –
- Unlimited Entry:
This format allows viewers as many tournament entries as they desire, with the goal of ranking as high as possible on the leaderboard by the time the tournaments ends. Payouts are awarded to the top scorers, with the exact distribution varying with the template.
- Bracketed:
This format enables a pre-selected number of viewers to complete head-to-head in a dramatic single-elimination tournament, with the goal of surviving and advancing to win the final match. Payouts are awarded to the champion, and possibly finalists, depending on the template chosen. - Entry Fee – This is the amount of cash or "Z's" (Skillz' in-game currency) that it will cost a player for each entry into the tournament. Most of the templates available in during the Beta period offer free entry!
- Prize Amount and Payout Structure – Different templates offer different prize amounts, and different ways to pay out those prize amounts. For example, you could choose a template that awards $50 to the top score, or a template that splits up a $20 award to amongst players with the top there scores.
For example, a template named "Free Entry, Unlimited Entries, $50 in Prizes for Top 15" would set up an unlimited-entry tournament that doesn't cost anything to join, and splits $50 amongst the 15 highest scorers.
Can I test out my tournament before it begins?
Absolutely. For each game, we've created a template named "Free Entry, Unlimited Entries, $0.01 for the High Score" that works perfectly to test out your first tournament stream.
Do I have to pay the awards out?
Not at all! Any award money being paid out to the winners of the tournaments you stream will be automatically deposited by Skillz into the winners' accounts as bonus cash.
Keep in mind, however, that the amount of prize money that each streamer can award per month is limited (usually at $50.00), so we recommend you award only as much as you need to engage your audience. That way you can run more tournaments.
What can I control once the tournament begins?
Every streamer has their own style, and Skillz provides the tools to allow you to stream the tournament as you see fit. From our video-control window, you can preview and select certain replays from tournament entries to share, create and edit a queue of which replays to show next, and even show head-to-head action of gameplay from you or your viewers!
How can I stream a Skillz Tournament on MobCrush?
We're working on making the Streamer Display scalable for your mobile device to make MobCrush streaming easier, but in the meantime, there are two options. below.
Option 2: To stream a Skillz tournament using the Streamer Display we generate, follow these instructions:
- Download “CamTwist” (for free): http://camtwiststudio.com
- Install, and open it, and Select “Desktop” as your video source.
- Click “Save Setup” and to use this set-up in the future.
- Go to "Preferences" in your menu options, and change “Video Size” to “Custom”, and enter “1920" into the first box and “1080” into the second box.
- Restart CamTwist.
- Now, when you set up your MobCrush stream, select the option that looks like "CamTwist (XXXX)” (the letters will probably be something different than "XXXX”), and click on the camera icon to make your camera feed full screen. This way, you can show the Streamer Display window in full-screen, 1080p!