Play Hard, Risk Nothing: Redefining Sports Betting for the Next Generation
TUSL set out to reinvent the sports betting experience for a new generation of fans, turning it from a gamble into a competition of skill. Built for Gen Z and younger millennials who live for fantasy leagues, real-time stats, and community rivalries, the platform needed to capture the thrill of betting without the financial risk. The challenge was to design a product that felt exciting for seasoned fans while staying accessible to casual players, blending strategy, gamification, and responsible play. Majestyk partnered with TUSL to bring that vision to life, guiding the concept from early idea to MVP and creating an app that shows anyone can play and anyone can win.
Outcomes
Clear Path to MVP
We translated a high-level vision into a focused MVP roadmap. By prioritizing core features and mapping user flows, we provided TUSL with a product blueprint that could confidently move into design, development, and future scaling.
Frictionless Betting Experience
We designed intuitive pick-and-bet flows that simplify decision-making without compromising the thrill. This ensured players could place, track, and manage their picks seamlessly, driving engagement week after week
Gamification that Motivates
Through pods, leaderboards, and badges, we created mechanics that reward both skill and consistency. These features fuel competition, spark rivalries, and keep users invested in improving their performance.
High Stakes, Zero Risk
The heart of TUSL is simple: capture the thrill of sports betting without the downside. The app transforms predictions into a game of skill, where users test their sports knowledge, track performance, and climb leaderboards. By removing financial risk, TUSL makes the experience more accessible, competitive, and social, redefining how fans engage with the sports they love.
Crafting the Experience
Every great product starts with a foundation, and for TUSL, that meant turning a bold vision into something tangible and actionable. During discovery, our goal was to transform early ideas into a clear roadmap for the MVP, including which features to prioritize, how to structure the app, and what requirements would guide design and development. We mapped user journeys, defined the core game mechanics, and developed the information architecture to support a seamless experience.
By the end of the process, we delivered more than documentation; we established the playbook for how TUSL could responsibly reinvent sports betting, laying the groundwork for a product that’s as strategic behind the scenes as it is fun to play.
Grounding the vision in real users
We analyzed leading betting and gaming platforms to understand best practices and user expectations. From there, we built personas that captured the needs, goals, and challenges of TUSL’s core audience. These personas humanized the target demographic and provided a clear direction for creating a product that feels intuitive and user-centered.
Defining the system behind the play
We mapped out the full user journey, from placing a pick to advancing through league tiers. This included visualizing system decisions, exploring both bet slip and individual bet flows, and structuring the league progression system. An app map then brought it all together, capturing every key screen and ensuring players could navigate seamlessly between bankroll, picks, leaderboards, and social interactions.
Testing ideas before design
We developed early concepts to bring TUSL’s structure to life, starting with two home screen directions—one focused on bets, the other on competitive leagues, with the latter emerging as the stronger vision. Additional wireframes explored leaderboards, picks, and profiles, providing the team with space to test ideas, spark discussions, and refine them before moving into complete UX/UI design.
Make Your Picks
We designed an experience that keeps the process clear, fast, and rewarding. The Picks dashboard gives players a complete view of their week. Every active and settled wager, bankroll movement, and potential payout is all organized in a way that makes tracking effortless.
Building a pick is just as intuitive: the Pick Slip lets users browse sports, dive into event details, and confirm selections in just a few taps. By streamlining this flow, we created a central hub that players return to again and again, whether they’re chasing a streak or testing their instincts on the latest matchup.
Compete In Weekly Pods
TUSL takes competition beyond individual bets with a pod system that pits players against one another week by week. Each pod has its own leaderboard, giving fans a clear snapshot of where they stand and how their opponents are performing.
To keep the momentum alive, we introduced a Weekly Wrap that highlights progress, celebrates achievements, and makes it easy to share results with friends. Much like Duolingo’s league model, this structure fuels repeat play, social rivalry, and the satisfaction of leveling up as each week unfolds.
Show your Skills
Profiles in TUSL act as personal highlight reels. Every stat, badge, and milestone is showcased to celebrate progress and spark competition within the community. Players can see how they stack up, earn trophies for their accomplishments, and build bragging rights that go beyond the leaderboard. We also introduced XP as a progression system, rewarding consistent play and unlocking new challenges over time. The result is a profile that doesn’t just record performance; it motivates players to keep pushing their skills and showcasing what they’ve earned.
Powering the Play
To make the experience truly real time, we built a deep integration with Sportsdata.io. Their live odds, game stats, and final results flow directly into the platform, where we normalize and cache data for speed and reliability. This ensures users see the latest lines and scores within moments of a play happening on the field. By weaving Sportsdata.io’s feeds into our Node.js backend and SwiftUI iOS frontend, we deliver an engaging betting experience that feels instant, accurate, and dependable.
Looking Ahead
The launch of the TUSL MVP marks the start of a long game, and Majestyk is still on the field. Together, we built not just a product but a foundation for continuous growth, with a clear roadmap for what comes next. From interactive avatars to new ways to play and win, the next wave of innovation is already in motion. Our team remains a strategic partner as TUSL scales, helping to design, test, and deploy new features that keep the platform fresh, competitive, and built for the future of sports engagement.
Build the Right MVP
Every big idea needs a strong first step. At Majestyk, we help turn ambitious concepts into focused MVPs that prove value, engage users, and set the stage for growth. With TUSL, that meant building a product that not only worked for launch but was designed to scale and evolve over time. If you’re looking for a partner who can bring your vision to life, we’d love to talk.
