Jaro - The billion dollar game for good

Last Wednesday (17th April) I was invited to the new online global game called Jaro. Jaro is a new billion dollar game that is set to be the largest Single Annual Fundraising Initiative. The potential One billion dollars is set to be split between charity causes and one winner.

There are several big names charities already signed up, couple to mention are

Age UK, Amnesty International, British Red Cross, Cool Earth, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, Guide Dogs,World Cancer Research Fund and many more

The evening was hosted by Jason Bradbury from the Gadget Show, and was attended by individuals from the Charities raised as well as some celebrities that are interested in the game and the cause behind it.

Jaro is asking the world to raise US$1 billion within the year and decide how to split it between charitable causes and one lucky winner. The decision is entirely in the public’s hands, they are aiming to be the single largest fundraising initiative in the world and potentially the provider of the biggest single prize pot of money ever.

To play the game will cost $10 (around £7.00) to play and players choose how much of that is split between charity and a global prize pool for one lucky winner. Players then compete against real people across the globe in an online knockout tournament that works much like a ‘numerical battleships’.

How the game works

Players get a ticket with two three-by-three grids each containing the numbers one to nine. On one grid, players arrange the numbers in a way that they think will be hard for their opponent to guess. On the other grid, players need to guess how their opponent has placed their numbers. The player with the closest guess wins and goes through to the next round. The two players who successfully navigate 27 rounds will face each other in the grand final play off that could see one of them walk away as one of the world’s richest people.

Anthony Farah, CEO of Jaro, says, “Jaro.com is a billion dollar game for good – it is good for charities, good for the players, and good fun. We’re asking people a billion dollar question: how would you split a mind-boggling amount of money between charitable causes and one lucky winner’s jackpot? And then we’re asking them to pull together and make that US$1 billion a reality.”

Peter Lewis, CEO at the Institute of Fundraising, the professional membership body for UK fundraising, says, “We know it is tough for charities at the moment with the combined impact of the difficult economic situation, public spending cuts and increase in demand for their services. Innovative approaches such as Jaro are therefore important to deliver new sources of income to help them maintain and develop their vital services.”

Peter Lewis continues, “Jaro combines the popularity of social networking and online gaming with the desire to donate in a fun and interactive way. We hope this will be a winning combination that taps into new audiences and unlocks a much needed new stream of income for charities.”

Anthony Farah concludes, “Unlike lotteries or other online games, the players can donate some of or the entire ticket price to a charitable cause of their choice, or they can choose to put everything into the winner’s jackpot. As of today, that decision is in player’s hands.”

Just in case you are wondering, below are some stats of what you could do with a Billion Dollars.

What US$1 billion could buy:

40 private islands
25 Gulfstream G550 private jets
10 Le Grand Bleu luxury yachts
Instagram

Or:

Food for 100 million of the poorest people on earth for four days
Vaccinations against life-threatening disease for 649,350,649 children
Protection for every animal affected by disasters for a decade – saving around 40 million animals a year and protecting livelihoods of the communities that care for them
The cost of care for 21,654 people with cancer

You can join and play Jaro now at www.jaro.com. To learn more about Jaro, then head over to the site, of you can interact with them on Twitter @Jaro or on Facebook.

So the one big question is if you won the billion dollars. What would you choose to do with it? How much would you give to charity and how much would you keep for yourself? If you see me on the game (my name is geekcomputers), then I hope you let me win :-). For the record, I have set my dial so 80% will go to the charities I have chosen.

I would like to thank Three Monkeys and Jaro for inviting me to this event.

I am always interested in your thoughts so if you have any comments or feedback then please feel free to add any comments, or you can mail me here

Aluna GeorgeAnthony Farah CEO Jaro