Game of Fame: The filmi stock market

Game of Fame allows gamers to invest in their favourite Bollywood celebs and films.

In a new online game called The Game of Fame (GOF), one can now buy and sell Bollywood stars and films. Brought to the virtual space by Bollywood Hungama, a Bollywood music website and Ponds, the values of the stars and films depends on how they perform in the real world. For instance, a certain star’s value may rise if his or her recent film was a hit.

Each movie that premieres features as an initial public offering (IPO). To play the game one needs to log in using their personal Facebook account. The aim is to buy and sell films and stars smartly. The players with the most gains stand to feature on the Wall of Fame.

The game is played with ‘Star Dollars’ which is a virtual currency and every player starts with 50,000 Star Dollars in their wallet. One can win exclusive movie memorabilia every week. To kick-start the game, the first giveaway is a costume from Hrithik Roshan starrer Agneepath.

The game will soon be available as an application on mobile phones. Siddhartha Roy, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, says, “Bollywood is the pulse of this nation and with GOF we are not only giving users a chance to own and trade Bollywood celebrities and movies, but are also gratifying them with exciting prizes.”

Hollywood games

Although Game of Fame may be one of the first celebrity stock exchanges in India, it is definitely not the first of its kind. BBC introduced Celebdaq a few years ago where one could bet on certain celebrities. Many smaller, lesser known websites like StarStocker and HSX have also capitalised on this phenomena.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2012.