Back in July, a Clikz columnist Tessa Wegert wrote about the recent trend of games in pop-up ads.

If you can look past the fact that the column is sponsored by adware kingpin Gator (don't call it spyware, or you'll get sued), you'll see that advertisers who create these games claim that they sport both high CTRs (click-through rates) and high conversion rates. I took a look at some of the games by the developer cited in the article, Dreamam. Without exception, the games seem to be distractions that "fool" the player into thinking that some game of chance yielded a winning result. There's a slot machine that spins the same with every pull (DVD Special Offer), a horse race in which 1st or 2nd place results in a "special offer", a piñata game that offers the winner $5 credits in exchange for opting in to various email lists after "winning." Oh, and the piñata game has a spyware ad inside it (sort of a meta-ad).

These aren't the most offensive kinds of online ads, but they're close.

These games could be considered skeuomorphs of those scratch-off lottery card type promotions, like you might get at McDonalds. In fact, there are actual scratch-off games in the Dreamam catalogue. Somehow, these feel more offensive online, since the player hasn't made any . I suspect the fact that the advertisers report higher CTRs and conversions indicate that these ads are more successful, or that the measurements of conversions are, well, "creative," or that computer-unsavvy consumers are easily duped.