Jambool brings in-game payments system to Flash games

jambool 1Online payments firm Jambool said today it is bringing its in-game payments system to games based on Adobe Flash. That means it will be easier to monetize thousands of Flash games built by indie developers for casual gamers on the web.

San Francisco-based Jambool makes Social Gold, a virtual currency and payments platform. Social Gold has taken off on Facebook, where players use it to pay for virtual goods in a wide variety of social games. With Social Gold for Flash, players can pay for items or game expansions without jambool 2exiting a game. That’s important because players often abandon a transaction if they have to exit a game to make a payment. With Social Gold for Flash, the payment system can be more frictionless and Flash developers can move from being hobbyists to setting up real businesses.

RealGames is using Social Gold for Flash inside its recently launched Uno game, while TheBroth used it within its Barn Buddy game (pictured). That game has seven million monthly active users.

Jambool was founded in 2006 and has 15 employees. Its rivals include PlaySpan and Live Gamer. Jambool has raised $6 million in two rounds to date from Madrona and Bay Partners. Social Gold launched in 2008 and is now used in hundreds of social apps and games.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.