At a Los Angeles Kings game this past season, Winston Binch and two co-workers from advertising agency Deutsch LA started guessing the wealth of celebrities who were seated nearby.

The diversion became inspiration for High Rollaz, a new online game that the agency released Aug. 10. It represents the first project the agency has created as an entertainment product rather than for advertisers.

High Rollaz is on a website accessible by computer or mobile phone. In the game, a photo appears of an athlete or show biz personality together with an estimated net worth. The player must guess whether the true figure is higher or lower than the number displayed. Wealth estimates come from media reports.

“It’s Hot or Not for net worth,” said Binch, chief digital officer at Deutsch LA in West Los Angeles. “It’s designed for those in-between moments at bus stops and sports events when you want fun and simple mind engagement.”

The game is in test phase and people can play for free. If successful, it could become a paid product. Binch sees it as an experiment to see what works in attracting mobile phone users to a website.

The agency will try selling more games and apps, but history shows it requires many attempts to create a best seller. He cites the experience of Rovio, an Espoo, Finland-based studio that created 51 games before striking gold with “Angry Birds.”

“We want to get into product development, but to play in that space you have to get prolific and experiment a lot,” Binch said. “This is the first product we’ve brought out to the world. Hopefully it will lead to other ideas and eventually to a breakthrough success.”

– Joel Russell