Bejeweling for Dollars

By Darren Gladstone, PC World

Play "Bejeweled?" You can win thousands of dollars (maybe) while killing some time.

Samantha Christian trains hard, eight to 10 hours some days, honing her craft. She plays "Bejeweled 2." As a result, she's bagged almost $400,000 in the past three years. I've heard of hyperactive twitch freaks competing for big money prizes on the pro gaming circuit -- but turning casual gaming into cash?

WorldWinner.com kicked off its 2009 WorldWide Web Games (W3Games) championship series on March 2, and Christian, aka GamerGoddess, was one of the elite gamers hoping to walk away with a big piece of the $500,000 prize pool. Broken out into several tournament brackets, players square off in a number of games -- "Solitaire Rush," "Wheel of Fortune," "Bejeweled 2" and "Big Money" -- with the 32 top scorers earning top coin. Sounds simple enough, right?

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Friends training friends

An admitted "gamer since the womb" and currently studying for her masters in clinical psychology, Christian makes time for polishing tactics by teaching -- and learning from -- the competition. "My friends in the community are helping me train in games that I don't know as well as they do," says Christian. She adds, "Even though we're competition, it doesn't mean we can't be friends."

One of those friends, Camarofire (aka Danielle Ulrich from Rockland, Calif.), is particularly good at "Big Money." "I see other people at my level are improving all the time," Ulrich says, "so I have to keep training." When not playing, she's talking with other players. Her tactic: "I find other good players in the forums. We challenge other players that we're friends with, upload videos of our games, critique and give tips to each other."

She's been playing for profit these past seven years, but only started taking it seriously in July. Since then, she's snagged about $20,000. "But I don't play while I'm at work," she jokes, "even though I make almost as much online as I do at my real job." Ulrich currently works at an insurance company and plans to go back to school soon for premed. There are worse ways to earn money for med school; trust me.

"On average, I make between $100 and $150 a day if I game. On my best night -- playing for about four hours -- I won $3,500," she says.

"A bunch of my co-workers are jealous. Some of them are signing up to give it a try. With my winnings, I've bought a car [and a] trailer, and I'm looking to put a down payment on a house right now."