As off-course golf entertainment overtakes traditional gaming in popularity, a Las Vegas-based company is using patented AI technology to “meet the golfer where they are,” according to co-founder Sameer Gupta.
Evenplay, formerly known as Skill Money Games, launched in 2020 and now offers skill-based games to entertainment and golf training simulators, allowing players to accumulate rewards, develop their index skills and win or lose money on challenges.
“We will work with virtually every golf simulation company and driving range, so that every time you step it up, you don’t have to press a button,” Gupta said. “You get points if you want to win money – you can try that – or just see yourself improve.”
Evenplay recently secured an investment from EP Golf Ventures, a partnership between the PGA of America and Elysian Park Ventures, bringing the company’s fundraising total to more than $10 million, according to a January release.
Evenplay’s technology is already in use at various venues across the country, including at T-Squared in Manhattan, at a Topgolf near Seattle, and at Evenplay’s Las Vegas offices, which Gupta described as a “works factory.” ‘AI Willy Wonka’.
He demonstrated the first part of Evenplay’s AI technology (player recognition) in the office, approaching an indoor golf simulator and showing how the system automatically recognized him and entered his name.
“You can imagine being at Topgolf, and when you enter a bay, it recognizes you immediately,” Gupta said. “So that’s the first element of AI.”
The second element, he said, concerns the challenges themselves. The golf simulator technology assesses an individual’s skills and provides them with fair and fun challenges to earn points or money with each swing, Gupta said.
For example, if the challenge is to hit the ball a specific number of yards, a player could earn money based on how close they get or whether they sink the ball.
The company’s technology is also a real-world demonstration of AI predictive analytics, with its ability to anticipate how well a person will hit a golf ball after just a few shots. It’s unique because it allows players of different skill levels to play against each other or against the house. It can be used solo, with friends or in tournaments, Gupta added.
“We don’t invent or develop golf simulator technology,” he said. “We make things more fun.”
Evenplay CEO and co-founder Bryan O’Reilly, who credits bringing Topgolf to Las Vegas, said Evenplay’s technology levels the playing field between beginners and experts so everyone , and not just the best players, can have a chance of winning. .
Evenplay is the first of its kind to create a gaming environment in which users actively hit or throw a ball, O’Reilly said, and the technology has already been applied to golf and bowling, which Gupta said would be “the next step.”
This can ultimately be applied to all sports, O’Reilly said, by determining how good a player is and providing them with a challenge that fits their profile.
“The scale of what we’ve created in Vegas is a whole new gaming vertical,” he said. “It never existed. That’s why it’s so exciting. …We’re changing the rules of the game on what it means to bring gaming to the world.
With Evenplay, players can virtually bet $1 and have a chance to win $3 immediately, O’Reilly pointed out.
“Someone can actually win real money against the house on every move or every move,” he says.
The technology will allow the player to see how good they are with each shot, and Gupta said Evenplay is partnering with UNLV’s PGA university program on a Catalyst project to demonstrate how this reward system makes users more likely to practice and ultimately become better at golf.
“It’s really behavioral athletics,” Gupta said. “What makes people do things, practice more, and get better at something? So the idea here is that rewards do that. People don’t like to train, but they like to win.
Evenplay is expanding gaming outside of its traditional boundaries, and Gupta said it’s a great example of what can happen once gaming moves beyond the stigmas surrounding it.
“All the constraints that we had as a games industry have largely been lifted,” he said. “And now is the time for technology and new products to take advantage of this market shift. »
Evenplay is currently in field testing in New York, Denver, San Diego and Seattle, Gupta said, and will expand this year to venues like Topgolf and GOLFTEC, a leading training institute for the sport. The company also has major partnerships with other companies like Swing Suites to eventually branch out into countless commercial and home golf simulators, he said.
O’Reilly and Gupta emphasized that Evenplay is a company born and raised in Las Vegas, powered by Las Vegas locals and longtime veterans of the video game industry.
“Being based in Vegas means a lot to us and represents something in the industry,” Gupta said. “We benefit greatly from being here, not only in terms of the team, but also in terms of the environment. »
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This story was originally published in Las Vegas Weekly.