The Challenge

The core challenge was to design a retention game that would:

Boost daily login frequency: Encourage customers to return to the app every day.

Inspire social sharing: Create a buzz-worthy experience that customers would want to share with others.

Be fun and easy to use: Ensure the game was intuitive and enjoyable for a wide range of customers.

With these goals in mind, we set out to create a mechanic that felt nostalgic (like opening a pack of trading cards) while delivering real-world value through cash rewards tied to sports outcomes.

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Discovery & Research

To create a retention game that resonated with customers, I focused on understanding what drives engagement in similar mechanics—and where I could innovate.

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Learning from the Market

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My PM, Angus, studied existing card collection games and retention mechanics in both sports betting and gaming apps. A standout example was Virgin Bet’s soccer-themed card game, which saw a 20% increase in weekly retention. Key takeaways included:

Variable rewards create anticipation: Randomized outcomes (like pulling a rare player card) kept customers coming back.

Social sharing potential: Features that allowed players to showcase their collections or achievements inspired organic sharing.

Nostalgia matters: The act of "unpacking" or revealing cards tapped into a sense of nostalgia, making the experience more enjoyable.

These insights shaped the core mechanic of Player Reveal: a daily card reveal with randomized players and cash rewards tied to real-world sports performance.

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Exploring the Sports Card Aesthetic

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I also drew inspiration from traditional sports trading cards, focusing on:

Player imagery and stats: Highlighting player photos, positions, and team affiliations to create a personal connection.

Tiered value: Grouping players into tiers (e.g., star players vs. rookies) to add depth and strategy.

Visual polish: Designing cards that felt premium and collectible, with subtle animations to enhance the reveal moment.

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Scoping for V1

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With these insights, Angus and I prioritized features for the initial launch:

Daily card reveals: Customers unlock one player card each day, building a roster throughout the week.

Cash rewards: On game day, customers earn cash based on their players' real-world performance (e.g., touchdowns scored).

Value segmentation: Rewards are tailored to customer tiers, ensuring the experience felt personalized and fair.

Animations: Adding delight through card reveal animations and shimmer effects to make the experience memorable.

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By focusing on these core elements, we ensured the game was both engaging and feasible to build within the project timeline.

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Design Process

With a clear understanding of the problem and insights from research, I began exploring how to bring Player Reveal to life. My goal was to create an experience that was not only functional but also delightful and engaging.

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Exploration & Low-Fidelity Concepts

I started by sketching out different ways to present the game to customers. Key questions guided our exploration:

How do customers interact with their roster? Should it be a list, a grid, or a stack of cards?

How do we make the reveal moment exciting? What animations or interactions could enhance the experience?

How do we balance simplicity with depth? The game needed to be easy to understand but still offer strategic value.

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I explored several low-fidelity concepts:

List View: A simple, scrollable list of players with basic stats.

Grid View: A more visual approach, showcasing player cards in a grid format.

Stacked Cards: A dynamic, interactive stack that customers could "flip through" to reveal their roster.

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Early feedback from the team favored the stacked cards approach, as it felt more tactile and engaging, mimicking the experience of flipping through a deck of trading cards.

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Defining the Card Anatomy

Next, I focused on the design of the player cards and their packaging. I wanted each card to feel premium and collectible, while also providing useful information at a glance.

I also experimented with subtle animations, like a shimmer effect on the card, to make the card feel tangible. These small touches were designed to create a sense of delight.

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Challenges

As I moved into higher-fidelity designs, I faced a few key challenges:

⛔️ Descoping for V1‍

With a tight timeline, I had to prioritize which features to include in the initial launch. I worked closely with my PM to identify the core experience: daily card reveals, cash rewards, and basic animations.

More advanced features, like related markets and data visualization were pushed to V2.

⛔️ Shifting Priorities‍

Midway through the project, leadership decided to focus on hardening the foundation of our brand-new sportsbook, ultimately deprioritizing Player Reveal.