If you have been on Bunt lately, there has been a significant change in the way that contest prizes are delivered to the masses. In the past, this is where I think the team has struggled significantly to keep people engaged, but this could be a step in the very right direction.

Basically, instead of packs or coins as a prize for winning a contest, you now receive a ticket that can be used in the card exchange. After a horrible downturn in marathon participation due to tickets last year, this is finally a tremendous use of the card exchange feature that can keep contests fresh all year long.

Even more than just regular season contests, this could pay enormous dividends when the playoffs start, as it gives a great outlet to generate tons of content without adjusting the contest formats themselves.

I understand that it can take a TON of time to generate contest formats that arent built from a template. More importantly, it can cause a ton of errors to pop up as well, most of which the users literally raise hell over. With tickets, the contest format can remain the same, while driving more content that can be delivered without giant investments from the producer team.

Its clear that this is almost 100% dependent on updating the exchange regularly with compelling cards. If that doesnt happen, this will fall as flat as we saw contests did last year when packs were stale and didnt include new base as they were released.

The true test of this as a vehicle is coming up as we approach the all star game, where the team usually kicks up a huge amount of new designs and compelling cards to drive revenue as the midsummer classic ramps up.

To put a bow on this, contests need love. A lot of love, mainly because its clear that the users will gravitate and spend to get the cards earned through top contest performance. Even better, tickets make it so that the top users playing in one contest can be on a level with mid range contest players who spread their attention over an entire week. Although there are still run and gun contests like Best of Bunt that play to everyone’s old school tendencies, but this is the start of a wonderful path. I hope it continues.