John Chow dot Com Online Investment Review - Make Money Online Investing in Businesses
 

Win Money With The Incredible Cash Machine

written by John Chow on May 2, 2007

While the theme of this blog is to help you make money online, eczod figures they can use it to help you win money online. eczod ordered a ReviewMe review to help create some buzz for their newest creation, a cute little Internet based game that lets you win money without doing anything except retyping a captcha. The game is call the Incredible Cash Machine and it pays out $50 everyday and it’s free for anyone to play.

True to its promise of offering the best entertainment experience, creators of the Incredible Cash Machine wanted to break with the frustration brought by games based on user subscription or on money payments such as online casino games. IncredibleCashMachine.com is different from these games as it is completely free to play to every incoming visitor, and offers real cash sent to winners’ houses with a complete respect of privacy policies.

cash-machine.jpg

To play the game, you simply reproduce the randomly generated word displayed (there is a refresh button in case you can’t make out the captcha), hit OK and hope you win. This can be done at anytime of the day; the goal is to be the first to reproduce the word correctly after the winning session of the Incredible Cash Machine has started. The winning session start time of the machine is randomly generated for each game session, once per 24 hours period.

It’s All About Trust

Any Internet base game that pays money to users needs a certain level of trust before users will participate. eczod has tried to create this trust by having a clearly defined Terms & Conditions and fully disclosed company address and phone numbers. I call the number listed for eczod’s San Mateo address and got a voice mail.

The Business Model

The Incredible Cash Machine is monetized with two Google ads. I must admit, they are creatively placed and very well blended. However, I think the site may conflict with Google’s image near an ad rule.

I’m pretty sure the AdSense ads get a good level of clicks because the game itself is pretty boring. How much fun is it really to enter a captcha? I tried the game three times, didn’t win, got bored and left. I also had to refresh the captcha a bunch of time because it’s really hard to read.

This may all be by design – make the game really boring so the users will notice the “Play Bingo!” Google ad and conclude that would be a lot more fun than the Incredible Cash Machine. I can see the game eventually making more than $50 per day for eczod (if it hasn’t already).

eczod is looking for feedback on their new game. Give the Incredible Cash Machine a try. Let me know if you win and tell eczod what you think of the game. I think it’s a neat concept and I may play it if I’m really bored and have nothing to do.

Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...

Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.

{ 63 comments }

Stuart May 2, 2007 at 12:28 am

Pretty sure the adsense in that floating Ajax box isn’t allowed :razz:

Another MAKE MONEY ONLINE Blog May 2, 2007 at 12:16 pm

I’m pretty sure it’s a double NO-NO in the Adsense TOS:

NO Adsense near images
and
NO Adsense on page with NO content…

Actually, there’s 3 NOs :mrgreen: .

BTW–w-t-f–I get pissed off everytime I have to enter captcha, just because I usually got them wrong and have retyped them multiple times…Argg…That’s not a game by the way: IT’S TORTURE I’ll tell ya :twisted: !

Matthew May 2, 2007 at 12:30 am

I tried it several times and its just a little too slow for my liking. Maybe it’s just feeling the chow effect right now or something.

Monetize Your Blog May 2, 2007 at 4:42 am

i guess so. it’s a bit slow for me as well.

Market Matador May 2, 2007 at 12:30 am

Really cool site. Pretty funny that the whole site idea is based off of this one thing.

-Sam from MarketMatador.com

P.S. LET THE DIGG REVOLUTION CONTINUE!

Kumiko May 2, 2007 at 12:31 am

Haha! Now bloggers will be trying that on their sites…make their posts really boring and hope people click the adsense! Although I could probably be accused of unintentionally doing that…. :eek:

Voluntary Death May 2, 2007 at 2:38 am

it might be a good scheme and would really work if people got bored of the game.

Just like Spiderman 3.. it is boring and doesn’t live up to expectations.

Ali May 2, 2007 at 4:09 am

Also a similar site is moola.com, I signed up but got bored quickly. These get rich quick schemes just don’t work.

Plus those Ads by Google look like they are violating TOS, the bee images are more than enough to get them banned.

James May 3, 2007 at 1:09 pm

Why bother posting- use markov stuff.

Irish web design blog May 2, 2007 at 1:06 am

hmmm. not as fun as ESP or peekaboom (http://www.peekaboom.org/) – but a good idea for sure. No doubt the overriding factor in fun v productivity is that less interaction = more captchas “done” per hour :)

I do wonder though, who is paying them for their service (cracking captchas).. and what do they use the automatically created accounts for.

can’t monkeys be trained to do this yet? – surely it’s only a matter of time. :D

Of course, it’s all about the money right!
Great review!

Tim Spangler May 2, 2007 at 1:32 am

I tried it a few times and didn’t win. It is a good idea, though.

While the AdSense blocks are gorgeous and well-blended, I can see them getting banned quite quickly for them.

Dension Ice May 2, 2007 at 2:03 am

Not exactly the most fun game I’ve ever seen.

Best CD Rates May 2, 2007 at 2:05 am

wonder how much those ads pay out?

Spiderman 3 is boring May 2, 2007 at 2:33 am

if it really is a boring game then those ads will be clicked for other games and most likely will generate so much more money.

Spiderman 3 is boring May 2, 2007 at 2:34 am

tried the game… and it will really force you to click the ads because it is sooooo boring.

Voluntary Death May 2, 2007 at 2:36 am

unfortunately, it will force you unconsciously to click those ads because of the unexcitement and boredom.

Just like Spiderman 3… it’s boring and doesn’t live up to expectations.

bas May 2, 2007 at 2:44 am

I don’t think the concept is to have fun really but more to play as you would play a lottery. So it is not intended to be played more than a few seconds.

Fishy May 2, 2007 at 2:54 am

Seems a little suspicious, I wonder what they’re doing with all those cracked CAPTCHAs :???:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha#Human_solvers

Steve May 2, 2007 at 2:55 am

I would have to be really bored, like falling asleep at the computer bored to try this. But then if I fell asleep I think it would be more productive than trying to remain awake to play.

Best CD Rates May 2, 2007 at 2:56 am

you didnt like spidey 3?

Merija May 2, 2007 at 2:59 am

Somewhy I think that there is not so much chances to win this game though one time…

Internet Marketing Blog May 2, 2007 at 3:53 am

I just tried to play, But got the message “You are black listed” :evil: . When clicked on link “read why” the windows dissappeared :?: .

Any reason??

uncle sha May 2, 2007 at 7:33 pm

me too …

i think our range of IP is blacklisted eh? because it’s the first time i played such games

anyone?

Internet Marketing Blog May 2, 2007 at 10:01 pm

May be they thinks that users of this IP range have better knowledge of captcha and they can loose lots of $$ to us :cool:

ThekillerApp May 3, 2007 at 1:00 am

Me too but I asked why through the contact form. The answer was that my network ip was either an open proxy relay or an identified source of spam…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNSBL

James Britton May 2, 2007 at 4:22 am

The “$50″ logo covers the Google Ad and the game is super boring. I’m sure they’re still making loads of money from click-thru ads though. This is the type of site that encourages loads of clicking and that fits in well with Google ads.

Linux operating system May 2, 2007 at 8:53 am

At least while they still have adsense!

Monetize Your Blog May 2, 2007 at 4:43 am

john, your price has gone up to 400 now! i think you will still get as many reviews if not more.

congrats

Cheap Custom Content May 2, 2007 at 4:51 am

The game didn’t really get me jumping for joy either, but I do know a couple of people who could appreciate it more. If there was a clicking conspiracy going on, then I say well done, eczod, very well done. :twisted:

derrikd May 2, 2007 at 5:43 am

John, was this a good enough contest to do again?

I have a different tshirt for a condo project I am doing. If you want to do a context giveaway for them let me know and Ill send 10 if you want.

Shirts look like this:
http://flippingrich.com/w-minneapolis-condo-t-shirt-contest/

Tony May 2, 2007 at 6:05 am

What an ingenious way for spammers to get around captcha’s

Get thousands of people to do it for free.

Money Maker May 2, 2007 at 7:37 pm

Well it’s innovative alright!

‘evil’ i might say :twisted:

tke71709 May 2, 2007 at 6:22 am

I’m surprised Tony was the first person to figure out how this site most likely monetizes it’s traffic. The adsense would be a bonus to the real money making scheme.

This is even better then the “create a proxy and force people to enter a captcha every 50 page views” way to get around captchas.

Website Revenues May 2, 2007 at 6:35 am

I just tried the site and found it pretty boring and slow. It remind me of that Monkey game with the bananas on the tree back in the days.

Let hope we dont start seeing banners all over the place with moving captcha going across the screen.

I don think this site has the legs to endure.

Cheap Custom Content May 2, 2007 at 2:18 pm

Wasn’t that on a Game & Watch? I remember that game LOL yeah, it was fun…THEN.

Monetize Your Blog May 2, 2007 at 6:53 am

it seems i need to spend a bit more time on the site

SEO blog May 2, 2007 at 7:22 am

John,
I don’t think they are violating the Adsense rules. The rules were that you couldn’t have images next to the ads that give the user the impression they are looking at images from the ads themselves. In this case, at least as I’ve interpreted it, they would be in trouble if they had an image of a Bingo Card or a Bingo ball, not a cartoon bee. Of course, you need to take my advice with a grain of salt as I was (unjustly) banned from adsense long ago.

Internet Marketing Blog May 2, 2007 at 8:45 am

You can’t put any arrow or something else pointing towards the add. Look at the antena of bees in bottam ad. They are clearly are violating the Adsense rules.

SEO blog May 2, 2007 at 12:13 pm

Come on, they aren’t arrows pointing to the ads… Are you going to claim that the bee’s feet are pointing at the ad on the left?

Let’s not go overboard here. What Google was targeting with their new policy is people placing 4 pictures directly above or below a block of 4 ads to make people think the images were part of the ad etc. Not something like which direction the bee’s antenna are pointing.

Shaun Carter May 3, 2007 at 11:24 pm

Yes but in this page the bees do look like they are meant to be part of the ad… that is definitely against TOS.

Make Money Online At Earning Blog May 2, 2007 at 7:43 am

well this site looks really boaring

but i will try it out everyday

jake May 2, 2007 at 7:49 am

they could also be transferring capcha code from myspace or digg :grin: which means they are mass creating accounts.

Shaun Carter May 3, 2007 at 11:25 pm

Now that would make a good ReviewMe discovery! Clever concept if they were to do that.

darkzzt May 2, 2007 at 8:05 am

I played the game a few times and most of the time I couldnt even get the letters right.
My Experiences with Making Money Online

darkzzt May 2, 2007 at 8:06 am

I played the game a few times and most of the time I couldnt even get the letters right.
My Experiences with Making Money Online

Shaun Carter May 2, 2007 at 8:07 am

I tried this game a few times and it is hard to read the letters. I think the Google ad at the bottom is in violation as well because of the little bees placed next to it. But on my screen the $50 bubble does not obscure the adsense unit on the left side like it does in the screenshot John took.

How to start a clothing line from scratch May 2, 2007 at 8:45 am

The game is kind of boring…but I’m guessing their going more for the click-thrus anyway.

Linux operating system May 2, 2007 at 8:54 am

John, what do you consider to be a good % of review me’s post out of the normal post?

Internet Marketing Blog May 2, 2007 at 9:28 am

This is just an ‘another’ type of MFA site. You are bound to click on the attractive ads after playing the borring game few times.

Terry Smith May 2, 2007 at 9:51 am

Scam.

What this is is farming out the capchas on peoples blogs and forums designed to keep machines from posting spam there.

Don’t play this.

bas May 2, 2007 at 10:36 am

If this is the case it would be easy to detect and stop as the server would call remotely the blog or forum captcha.

blogdinero May 2, 2007 at 12:51 pm

It´s a choice for the adsense banned jeje :lol:

Amanda May 2, 2007 at 1:54 pm

well if anything they’ll eventually get banned or they worked out something with adsense you never know?

seo May 2, 2007 at 2:29 pm

No problem with the ads but they are 100% sacm!

Doug May 2, 2007 at 7:55 pm

Woa, i actually thought of an idea similar to this but with a slight twist. I just need to figure out how to do it without getting banned from adsense.
http://www.imutopia.com

green May 2, 2007 at 10:42 pm

Funny game :mrgreen:

julie adams May 2, 2007 at 10:50 pm

:twisted: blah!! not fun- I played two times-didn’t win….I can’t beleive something so lame took me away from your blog for even a moment-that is three less minutes to learn with!!! :grin: :grin: :grin:

Mehdi May 3, 2007 at 11:54 am

Get rich quick sheme :-)

Shaun Carter May 3, 2007 at 11:27 pm

Get rich quick for the player or the owner? I think it’s driving players to suicide from boredom and will get the owner banned from adsense.

Cheap Custom Content May 3, 2007 at 3:59 pm

I must say, it does cure boredom…however, 5 to 10 minutes into the game you would have to find something else because the boredom is only going to creep up from behind again…

David Mackey May 4, 2007 at 8:30 pm

Acck! A very boring game.

Scot Smith May 5, 2007 at 12:47 pm

I think this might be a spammer’s tool to get you to enter in captchas for them. Just an idea.

Christinesy May 11, 2007 at 9:44 am

Stumbled upon your blog through one google ads and was reading your old entries.

Saw the link to the site and simply tried my luck. Keyed in the captchas and it says I won the price of the day – $50 :shock: :shock:

It leads to having my key in my personal details including address and etc. It requires me to send in a PDF form together with proof of identification to France in order for them to send me the cheque.

Still wondering if it’s real and should I send the form back or not. Yikes!