JamSocial and the Case for Event Gamification
Most people know the feeling. You walk into an event, scan the room, and head for the snack table. Melvin Adekanye thinks a game can fix that.
Melvin is the co-founder of JamSocial, the Calgary startup behind Jam Bingo, a networking game for larger groups. He joined host Cory Sellar for Good Game Edmonton's first startup story, and made the case for event gamification along the way.
What is event gamification?
Event gamification turns the hardest part of an event, like the networking hour, into a game with simple rules and a built-in reason to talk. Jam Bingo does it with a QR code. Guests scan it, get a conversation starter on their phone, and go meet someone. No app download. No printing.
From Fortnite to founder
Melvin's start was in Fortnite. When Battle Royale launched, he and his friends went all in. They chased tournament rankings, streamed practice runs in playground mode, and studied every new tactic. Some of his friends grinded so hard they stopped showing up to class.
That mindset stuck. "How can we get good at this?" became the question he asked about business, too.
75 people, standing in corners
During a university exchange in the Netherlands, Melvin kept getting left out when conversations switched to Dutch. Back in Calgary, he hosted a meetup for people who wanted to make new friends. 75 people came. Many of them stood alone or stared at their phones.
So he built an app. Each guest gets a conversation starter, like asking someone what three words their friends would use to describe them. At the next event, the people in the corners started talking. One guest told Melvin it was one of the first times he'd actually been able to talk to people.
A $100 first sale
Melvin planned to make money selling event tickets. That didn't work. But people started asking about the app, starting with an organizer from Edmonton. His first paying customer asked the price. He said $100 and asked her to e-transfer it. Then he entered her questions into the back end by hand.
Today, organizers build their own Jam Bingo on the JamSocial website and get a QR code to put on screen.
Test it in a real room
One early lesson came from a pop-up that covered the next question for two seconds. In development, nobody noticed. At a live event, it left two people staring at each other in silence. Now the team tests in a separate practice environment before anything goes live. Melvin calls it playground mode, a nod to his Fortnite days.
Who uses interactive networking games?
Jam Bingo was built for social meetups. It now shows up in places Melvin never expected: a seniors' ESL class learning to use QR codes, church events, and corporate team days where staff from Calgary and Edmonton finally mix instead of sticking with their own office.
Organizers like it for another reason too. Putting a QR code on screen takes seconds, and guests remember the event as the one where they actually met people. As Melvin puts it, it makes the host look like a hero.
Why he wants competitors
Melvin's biggest take might surprise other founders. He wants more competitors. More players raise awareness of the problem and push everyone to improve. He'd rather be the biggest fish in a bigger pond.
Planning a holiday party, AGM or team day and looking for an icebreaker that works? Try Jam Bingo at thejamsocial.com. Watch or listen to the full episode above, on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
