Is Skillz Legit: How Does Skillz Work and Do They Actually Pay?

Is Skillz legit? You may have seen ads online for Skillz games, or even come across their gaming platform on one of your favorite games.

It looks fairly straightforward, like many of the gaming apps out there. The simple concept of playing games and earning some extra money seems harmless after all.

But how can you tell if Skillz is a scam or just another gaming platform that pays you to play games? How legitimate is Skillz anyway?

If you’re asking yourself this question, you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’ll dig deep into what Skillz is and how you can earn money using their app by playing games. We’ll answer your questions about the legitimacy of Skillz, as well as guide you towards how you can make money in other ways when it comes to playing games online and on your phone for some extra cash.

Are you ready to find out if Skillz is the real deal? Let’s get down to it.

What is Skillz?

It’s true that Skillz is a web- and mobile-based gaming platform that allows you to earn money by playing games. It’s as simple as that.

The app is free to download and all you have to do is create an account and you’re ready to earn. Simply enter your email and create a username and password. The last step is funding your account in order to participate in tournaments and other activities.

Skillz, as we’ll discuss, is not a singular game so much as it is a network of games. That doesn’t mean you have to have a handful of log-ins, however, since your Skillz account is accessible through the linked games. Log in once and you should be good to go when it comes to earning rewards in various games that partner with Skillz.

The benefits that Skillz offers include global competition with 30+ million players participating per month, competing to win over $60 million in total prizes. Yes, you play against real people to win real money. And with so many people to play with, it’s hard to see how you could get bored with such an opportunity. 

There are many types of games you can choose from on the Skillz Gaming app, some of which we’ll highlight in the next section. However, you can choose from genres such as board games, card games, bingo games, puzzles, solitaire games, sports games, word games, action games, and more. These games are all skill–based as well, so there’s no luck involved to put you at a disadvantage for earning real cash.

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How Does Skillz Work?

Skillz could be considered something of an arena or field where mini-games—the games you actually play to earn rewards—take place. Once you’ve logged in to the Skillz universe, your account follows you through each of the linked games.

This is particularly useful for tournaments where you’ll need to ante up in order to participate. Linking your account will also help Skillz transfer winnings to you as well. You can withdraw your winnings at any time, but Skillz will take a small transfer fee in order to do so.

Other than that, there are no subscription plans or associated fees. Your account is free and the only money you have to spend is a buy-in for a tournament. This is something you should be prepared to lose, however, as it doesn’t always guarantee you a return if you don’t successfully place.

To give you an idea of what kind of money you’re playing with, most tournaments have buy-ins as low as $0.60. The earning potential, however, goes fairly high. Skillz does, however, match you up with opponents of similar skill levels, even if they are AI interfaces. The higher you rank, the harder the competition gets. It follows that earning more rewards, then, becomes trickier as you continue to play.

Every Game on Skillz Right Now

Skillz does not make games. It supplies the tournament and payment layer that other studios build on top of, which is why the titles below all feel different but handle entry fees, matchmaking and payouts the same way. Here is the current lineup, taken from the Skillz catalogue.

Skillz also groups its catalogue into categories you can browse directly: puzzle, cards, board, sports, word, physics, action, bingo, bubble shooter, chess, dominoes, mahjong, pool, spades, sudoku, trivia, arcade, solitaire and strategy. If you have played Pool Payday, that is the same tournament model under a different genre.

How to Make Money With Mobile Gaming Tournaments?

Earning money with Skillz is fairly straightforward: play Skillz games to win to earn real cash. You enter tournaments hoping to come out on top with the potential for failure very much a possibility.

However, Skillz does set the bar a little higher if you’re seriously considering making Skillz a money-making opportunity. We’ll talk more specifics in the next section in regards to a particular Reddit user’s experience with the AI players on Skillz, but suffice it to say the feature that pairs you up with a suitable opponent soon turns to “the house always wins.” While this is somewhat to be expected on an app that pays you to play and play and play, it is a bit disappointing if you wanted to cash in on playing around.

The bottom line with Skillz is that you can enter tournaments and lose money. Yes, real money. However, there’s an earning potential there as well that draws people in to spend more money. Theoretically, the more you play, the more chances you have to win, but you also have just as much chance of losing as you do winning, too.

Skillz Reddit Comments

Potential is a great way to describe the opportunities you can find on Skillz gaming apps. For example, for the Reddit user mitchdwx, Bubble Shooter Tournaments are a real cash cow:

They even admit that they make $1,500-$2,000 per month and use it as a “reliable source of part-time income.” However, this shouldn’t be confused with typical results for Bubble Shooter or for any of the games within the Skillz gaming universe. While you may be able to earn sizable rewards from winning a few tournaments, it does require a certain level of skill. 

For example, another Reddit user who figured they could make some serious money by playing a few games found themselves instead caught up in the overarching rule of these types of platforms: whoever makes the rules can enforce the rules at their discretion. This particular user found the ceiling at which the AI trumps all, albeit perhaps in a less-than-legitimate way.

Is Skillz Legit?

We will answer the question of whether Skillz is legit? The answer is: Skillz is a legitimate company that pays players for winning tournaments in the games within their network. With the wide variety of games to play and new games being added frequently, it’s likely an opportunity that’s here to stay.

At the same time, Skillz may not necessarily be the best side hustle you can depend on. Chances are that you’ll get better at the games the more you play them, which leads to harder opponents and therefore higher stakes for those tournaments. Higher risk often translates to higher rewards, but your chances of winning can become increasingly smaller as well.

Plus, with the ceiling capped off by AI players, Skillz doesn’t necessarily make it lucrative enough to play and earn without spending a lot of time on the computer or phone. You might win a few here and there, but eventually, the software will outsmart you, in one way or another.

And with all that effort spent, you could have been earning rewards many times over on other apps with higher earning potentials.

Skillz Mobile Gaming Alternatives

Skillz only pays when you win, and the entry fee you put up is real money you can lose. If that trade is not for you, the apps below pay for playing or for finishing a task instead, so nothing is at stake when you sit down. We have also looked at Buff Gaming if you want another tournament style option.

Freecash

Freecash is the closest thing to Skillz without the entry fee. You browse a wall of game and app offers, and every one of them shows the payout before you start, so you know what your time is worth up front.

Instead of beating an opponent you complete a milestone inside the game, usually reaching a level or playing across a few days. Cash outs go to PayPal, crypto or gift cards at a low minimum.

Testerup

Testerup pays you to test games and apps and report back on them. Studios need real players before launch, and that feedback is the product you are being paid for.

The fee is fixed and stated before you accept the task, which means you cannot finish a session with nothing the way you can after a lost tournament.

Bigcash

Bigcash carries the largest catalogue of the three, with thousands of game offers live at once and new ones daily. If you liked the variety on Skillz but not the risk, this is the closest match.

Payouts on game and app install offers run well above what a survey pays for the same hour, cash out thresholds are low, and you withdraw to PayPal or take gift cards.

To Game or Not to Game

Skillz is a legitimate way that gamers have been making a few extra dollars here and there. That said, it’s not necessarily the most lucrative opportunity out there if you want to put your time to good use.

For example, many of the alternatives we’ve suggested help you earn cash in different ways, so your efforts have a higher chance of return than a simple game session. Plus, you won’t have to worry about losing money with these apps and websites, which are often free to use as you please. When it comes to getting paid to play, choose wisely. Play for fun and not for funds, and you may even find the results are more rewarding.