NBCSports.com gets social with Bunchball

In a joint effort to build a connected community on NBCSports.com, social games provider Bunchball has created four community-driven games for the website. A user-generated trivia game and a matching game are available today for both the golf channel and hockey (NHL) channel of the site.

Members of the NBCSports.com community can submit their own questions for the trivia games, which are then voted upon by other players. Questions are rated on a scale from poor to excellent where the most popular questions will appear in the game. The trivia games include, NBC Sports Golf Trivia Challenge and NHL on NBC Trivia Face-Off and can be played online at:
NHL Trivia: http://www.nbcsports.com/nhl/1251842/detail.html
Golf Trivia: http://www.nbcsports.com/golf/1207641/detail.html

The two matching games, NBC Sports Golf Match-Up and NHL on NBC Match-3 Challenge, require players to swap adjacent items to create identical sets of 3 or more. The goal of the game is to outscore your opponent by creating more combinations. The NHL on NBC Match-3 Challenge will have players matching icons representing 30 different team logos while the NBC Sports Golf Match-Up will have players matching golf-related items, including golf carts, 18th hole flags, golf balls and the NBC logo. Bunchball games increase the connection between these members who share a common interest in sports and provide an additional layer upon which members can communicate and interact online. The matching games can be found online at:
NHL Match: http://www.nbcsports.com/nhl/1291809/detail.html
Golf Match: http://www.nbcsports.com/golf/1323546/detail.html

“NBCSports.com is committed to delivering the excitement and passion of sports on all of our digital platforms,” says Perkins Miller, senior vice president, digital media, NBC Sports & Olympics. “Through our partnership with Bunchball, we can provide a new way for our users to connect with people who share that same passion for sports.”

For NBCSports.com, Bunchball integrated its FastPlay service to help build community. By simply clicking on the “Play Now” link, up to eight players can be matched simultaneously in the trivia games or head to head in the matching games. Alternatively, users can invite a friend to play, whereby a link is sent via email inviting that friend to play.

“Since sports fans already have a heightened enthusiasm for the teams and players they love, NBCSports.com and Bunchball were a perfect match,” said Rajat Paharia, founder and CEO of Bunchball. “Bunchball games give these fans another outlet to share their passion with other sports fans; it’s like a digital tailgate party.”