Play in the Cloud and Win!It’s the return of Roshambo in the Cloud! The Rock, Paper, Azure team is back with the latest version of the on-line competition and a six-week sweepstakes where you could win one of five $50 Gift Cards weekly and even a Microsoft Surface at the end of the six-week run!

How’s it work?

The Rock, Paper, Azure game engine is hosted in Windows Azure (of course!) and manages the rounds, pitting each participant’s entry against everyone else in the game to generate the live leaderboard. Every time someone joins the game or updates their entry, rounds are set in motion, and the leaderboard is updated.

How do you Play?

It’s an easy three-step process:

  1. Get your free, 90-day Windows Azure account (or use any existing subscription).
  2. Download the ‘bot’ code and hone your logic. Your ‘bot’ is a bit of C#, VB, or F# code that contains logic to make one of the five moves of the game – yes, FIVE moves. Rock, Paper, and Scissors are a given, but to add a bit of spice to the game, there’s a Water Balloon and Dynamite move as well!
  3. Deploy your bot to the cloud and see how you fare. Keep tabs on the leaderboard and continue to improve your bot to crush the competition.

How do you Win?

Each week for six weeks - beginning this Friday, December 21st, 2012, through Friday, January 25, 2013 - five entries will be drawn at random (at 2 p.m. ET) to receive a $50 Best Buy card. You just need to get in the game to be eligible - heck, just deploy one of the sample pre-coded bots, and you're in the running!

If you do manage to be in the top 10 at the end of any given week (2 p.m.. ET), you'll automatically be entered into the Grand Prize drawing at which three winners will be randomly selected to win

  • A 32GB Microsoft Surface tablet with Windows RT
  • An Xbox 360 4GB with Kinect Bundle
  • A $150 Best Buy Gift Card

Be sure to read the full contest rules for details, and do note this sweepstakes is open only to legal residents (age 18 or older) of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia