OneUP Games has a unique spin on sports social media gaming. Basically, it doesn’t want to try to figure out the most compelling experience all by itself. Instead, OneUP will deliver to the market an open Application Programming Interface (API), which will allow people to change the data feed that drives a game. Fantasy sports commissioners and sports promoters will have the means to create games tuned to the leagues they lead and the teams they represent.

That’s a dramatically different strategy than we’ve seen so far, as numerous companies look for ways to tap into the evolving viewing habits of sports fans. To date, most sports social media gaming companies have developed a gaming experience in house, and then built black-box technology that delivers the game to fans. If the game is compelling enough, the developer has a hit on its hands. If its not, there is nowhere for the company to go but back to the drawing board, often with millions in venture capital burned up.

To show off its technology, OneUP Games has indeed gone live with a couple of in-house designed games, including the just-released version 1.2 of Football Connect, which is described as a bingo-type social game based on live NFL games. But OneUP isn’t saying that’s the end of the story. Available for iPhones and iPads at the App Store, nearly 10,000 people are currently playing Football Connect, and downloads are increasing at a 400 percent week-over-week pace. But Football Connect, and its predecessor Baseball Connect, are really showcases for the OneUP API.

Here’s OneUP’s description of Football Connect:

“Players start with random digital game cards that contain the many different plays that happen during Football games, such as touchdowns, first downs, interceptions, fumbles, etc. Players use strategy and game knowledge to earn more points by swapping the events with a specific player event (e.g. Aaron Rodgers TD pass) or they can play it safe and pick the team (Packers TD). When a row or “connect” is unlocked by successfully predicting a series of events, the player earns points while competing against friends.”

It may be just a showcase, but there are indications that OneUP Games could have a hit on its hands. Return play for Football Connect exceeds 50 percent.  That far outshines the return play rate of about 19 percent to 20 percent that most social game developers are experiencing, according to MobileSportsReport research.

OneUP Games is one of several developers looking to define the category of sports social media games tied to live sports events. Earlier, GiveMojo.com launched its college football-centric game, which creates a gamespace within a Twitter stream. Predictive gaming company GameSlam raised millions several months ago and started out as a very aggressive player, but it has since pulled back to rework its strategy. PrePlay Sports, like GameSlam, is focused on predictive gaming, which by definition calls on sports fans to predict upcoming plays in a live sporting event in order to win.

Predictive gaming has flaws. It often proves too much work to appeal to a mass audience. In fact, when predictive gaming platforms were released on proprietary systems at sports bars more than a decade ago, a hard-core following gravitated to the game, but not the widespread audience needed to make it a viable business. The fact is, most people watching a sporting event want to be engaged, but also want to enjoy the game and the people they are with. That’s why OneUP Games

To date, there is no clear market leader among  all companies trying to join social media and live sports, but OneUP’s return rate indicates that it may be a force to be reckoned with as the market shakes out.

OneUP CEO Daren Trousdell

OneUP Games‘ API strategy has a terrific wrinkle. The company plans to release its open API early in 2012, OneUP CEO Daren Trousdell confirmed to MobileSportsReport. This will allow third-party developers to integrate the application into other platforms or develop customized social-media experiences around games of their choosing.

In other words, the sports information director of a Triple A baseball team could create a customized application tuned to his team’s players and a select opponent, and give away prizes to whatever fan in attendance racks up the most points by predicting what is about to happen next. This is the first time a sports social media game developer has announced plans to release an open API, according to Mobile Sports Report research. OneUp has dubbed that strategy “gamification.”

Trousdell, who heads the six-person OneUP Games, is a former digital marketing executive, who sold his firm Mindblossom to Isobar three years ago.  Trousdell sees the open API as competitive advantage few in the sports social media space can match.

“It means we can scale our ideas, and produce hundreds of different versions of a game without re-architecting (server) systems or the (interface),” said Trousdell.

For more about Trousdell, StartUp Beat published an interview with him in August. Trousdell’s personal website is also worth a look.