Scramble, the competition site that used Twitter, has unexpectedly closed down – at least in it’s current format. The site has never really recovered from the issues that arose when people grouped together to try and “fix” which item would win the daily prize draw. Many comper’s asked for fair play and Scramble reacted with some changes in format.
This initially saw the end of the daily prize draw, but it returned with yet further tweaks to the format – but the plug has now been pulled and visitor to Scramble are now told:
Scramble has been an awesome ride, and we are proud to have created such a wonderful community of players, but unfortunately the site is coming to an end in its current form
Scramble as a competition site was an interesting concept, but once it became dominated by groups trying to “fix” the winners it lost it’s way. Voting for prizes is a notoriously difficult mechanism to manage in a fair way and Scramble never really figured out a way to keep everyone happy.
Another issue in our opinion may have been revenue!
Scramble never had adverts, nor collected user data to sell, so instead relied on adding affiliate links to the items submitted by entrants. Relying on retail affiliate marketing, especially when the user base is competition or money saving orientated, is not always the best way to finance a website (we know!) and we’d be surprised if Scramble came close to breaking even on it’s daily, weekly and monthly prize bills.
The sudden closure has left some compers in limbo with regards to whether they will get their outstanding prizes. However, Scramble are still contactable via Twitter and Facebook so we suggest you try those avenues if you’re waiting for prizes. If you’re really stuck you could also try Forward the company behind Scramble.
Will they be back?
Scramble do say they hope to get people “Scrambling again” and that there may be odd competitions via Twitter and Facebook.
In the mean time “competwitions” have been dealt a serious blow and the search for a good twitter prize draw system continues.
I’m waiting for a £1000 prize! I feel dreadful!
I’m sure you will still receive it hun as they are still running the current draws and awarding prizes x
Are they really still running the draws? I see people are still entering today and a winner was picked yesterday, but (just imo) it seems like they’ve closed the front door and left everything running – so the automated winner script will carry on until they switch it off.
However, as they’ve announced they’re closed anything “won” after that announcement may not actually be a valid win.
The weekly and monthly draws started before they said they were closing but I don’t know if that means they still have to give our prizes for those?
to be honest. i’m relieved! i just couldnt get my head around how it could work, and hated the feeling like i was missing out on all those great prizes.
hope all the winners get their prizes though.
I was aware of Scramble when it first began. I loved the concept and found them great to answer questions within a reasonable time limit. It’s a shame they have come to the point of closing but i think it brought them more trouble than it was worth.
I am sure they will send out all outstanding prizes.
it started off well but went downhill fast….and what communication has been left on the site regarding the status of the weekly/monthly draw which began prior to the closure and what info has been provided for winners of outstanding prizes?
I found the site from here, had a couple of days enjoyment until they suspended my account for 2 weeks as someone had apparently reported it as suspicious (being new) and potentially part of the fixing (more likely the person reporting it was!). Never went back and pleased to see them go – it’s not really the way to treat your visitors! If the problem was just grouping/fixing surely they could have just got rid of the prize for the original poster and made it draw based only, then there would be far less benefit in trying to collude?
[...] The open ones at least allow a promoter to see what’s going on, but the private groups could hide a multitude of vote fixing issues. Remember we’ve already seen that kind of thing with Scramble. [...]