The 2010 World Cup kicks off in South Africa in just over a month, but that does not mean it is too early to start scouting and preparing for the fantasy World Cup season.

The World Cup has grown in popularity in the United States in the last couple of decades, and with that growth, comes a rise in fantasy games revolving around the tournament. The most common game you will see is a the completion of a second round bracket, that is exactly likely filling out a March Madness bracket. In addition, some games will have a combined first and second bracket that is guaranteed to frustrate you when the soccer equivalent of Butler University emerges in this year’s World Cup.

Serious fantasy World Cup players will enter leagues that have them picking players to use throughout the tournament. This can be incredibly challenging since half the player pool is eliminated after three games.

Here is a mix of fantasy World Cup games that you can check out:

• World Cup Pool – This pool is dedicated to simply hosting World Cup pools. The game featured on the site covers both rounds of the tournament and teams score points based on how well fantasy players are able to predict who wins, loses, or ties. Players can compete in the site-wide contest or just a private sub-league amongst friends. Over 22,000 players have signed up to play on this site with a month still to go. Do not be surprised to see that number swell quickly the closer we get to the World Cup. The site is also available in 14 languages which makes this a truly international site for the world’s most popular event.
• ESPN Soccernet’s Bracket Predictor – This free World Cup bracket game offers a swanky prize of $5,000 to the winner. All you have to do is predict the two teams from each group to advance and then complete your bracket. In addition to competing against all entrants across the site, you have the ability to compete just against family and friends.
• McDonald’s FIFA World Cup Fantasy – The official fantasy world cup site by the organization responsible for putting on the World Cup every four years. As publication, this site has not been updated with a game for the 2010 Cup, as it hosted a fantasy game leading up to the World Cup. But, do not be surprised to something appear here in the very near future.

Those are just a few of the places that you can check out a fantasy World Cup league. Check Fantasy Ethos regularly for new fantasy World Cup news as it happens.

If you know of any other leagues, please feel to comment in the comments section.

Just when I thought just about every possible combination of fantasy games had been invented, Roster Slots comes along and has a unique take on fantasy sports. The innovation in Roster Slots is that instead of you drafting your fantasy baseball team yourself, you spin the Roster Slot machine for your player. If you don’t like the players that come up, spin again. However, you only have a limited number of spins, so there is a little bit of strategy involved. Do you lock in a mediocre middle infield to give you more shots at an awesome outfield? The scoring system is pretty standard, although simplified.

What is interesting about Roster Slots is that while it is a new format for drafting and playing fantasy sports, slot machines are so ubiquitous that most people will understand how to play pretty quickly, and Roster Slots will not have to do as much education as most new fantasy sports games tend to have to do.

Currently, Roster Slots is a free game with daily, weekly, average-per-play, and yearly leagues fantasy players can play, so you can spend five minutes on it a day, or five minutes once a week if you so choose. Roster Slots is the kind of fantasy game you would play if you had the itch to field another fantasy team and did not want to spend too much money or go through an entire draft. It makes for a fun little diversion.

In terms of sign-up, Roster Slots has done something very simple and allow players to sign up using their Google, Facebook, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, or OpenID account. In other words, everyone should be able to play without having to create a new account, which is often a barrier that stops many people from signing up for new products. While this is common across much of the internet, easy sign-ups like this have not really seeped into the fantasy sports market.

My one complaint about the site is the fact that I had to sign up to play around with the slot machine. I think from a marketing perspective, if I could play around with the slot machine prior to signing up, it would give players a better feel for the game.

If you check out the site, you may want to check out the expert league in which I will be competing. I rarely consider myself a fantasy expert, but I am definitely capable of pulling a lever a few times.

With the races that lead to the Kentucky Derby, WinStar Farms announced the launch of its Fantasy Derby contest. Fantasy players create a stable of 15 horses and earn points as the horses earn money in the run-up to the Kentucky Derby. The games runs from February 13 to April 17, which is when the run-up to the Kentucky Derby occurs.

The winner of the fantasy derby receives roundtrip airfare and accommodations for two to the 2010 Kentucky Derby plus tickets to the Kentucky Derby itself (you’ll have to bring your own floppy hat, though). The top ten players will receive prizes from WinStar. This fantasy game is not likely to have a ton of entries, so even if you are not a horse racing expert, you may be able to get yourself up to speed and win some cool prizes.

One of the coolest prizes I have ever seen for a fantasy game is the ability to name one of WinStar’s horses. WinStar Farm is farm for horse racing and thoroughbred horses. I like it when fantasy games provide prizes that are unique to their sport or to the company sponsoring the game.

Congratulations to WinStar Farms on its new game and good luck on its launch.

Your fantasy season has been over since Michael Turner‘s sprained ankle ruined your season. You could not even persuade your friends to form a free playoff league at MyFantasyLeague. Well, there is still the NFL’s free fantasy football Playoff Challenge 2009. It’s a free game and offers some big prizes.

To play, all you have to do is select eight players for each round of the playoffs. Players accumulate fantasy points like any other fantasy football league. The team with the most points win. Win what you ask? An all-expense paid trip for two to Super Bowl XLV in 2011. Not too shabby. But, if you fall short of the top prize, you will have settle for one of ten NFL.com gift cards (5-$100 and 5-$50 for first and second place). Hey, it’s a free game, so something is always better than nothing.

By the way, if the playoffs are being played entirely in in 2009, why is this the 2009 Playoff Challenge? Just seems a bit backward thinking and a bit of poor marketing by the NFL.

Monster is the main sponsor for the game. The game is built by Sports Technologies, the guys who started FanNation a few years ago, which was subsequently purchased by Sports Illustrated a few years ago.

It comes just one time a year, and it is here now–Bowl season! That special season when you spend countless hours and days watching games involving teams that you have not even spoken of all season long. Just to make it a little bit interesting, why not enter a bowl contest? What, were you expecting to watch the game with zero fantasy interest? Fantasy college football is all the rage these days, and you need to get with it.

One way to go is with the 2009 College Fantasy Football Insider Bowl Challenge. Playing the Bowl Challenge is simple. All you have to do is select one player from each position tier. The team with the most fantasy points. This game has an advantage over traditional Bowl pick’ems which require you to make predictions of games in which you do not have the slightest clue. By focusing on the players, the Bowl Challenge narrows the amount of information you need to go through to make good selections (or at least ones in which you are confident).

The game is free to play and comes with a pretty cool top prize. Fantasy Trophies is offering its famed The Throwback as the top prize, in addition to a $250 Best Buy gift certificate. You could win a hundred other fantasy leagues, but I doubt your league trophy would be that cool as The Throwback. Not bad for zero investment on your part.

Sign-ups should start by tomorrow, if it is not already active now. Good luck to everyone who enters.

This just made me laugh. I love fantasy sports because you can have fun with just about anything. Fantasy SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) is for the legal buff or law student that takes an interest in the court system. This game allows users to act as the “Tenth Justice.” Surprisingly, the scoring for Fantasy SCOTUS is very intuitative and natural. Players need to determine how the court will side on a particular case and which justices will vote which way. Score points according to how close you are to the actual decision.

This game may actually take off as a niche fantasy game for law schools as a way of teaching constitutional law and understanding the dynamics of the Supreme Court.

As an aside, I think it’s hysterical that the Fantasy SCOTUS has to use a “.net” domain name, because someone actually already owns the “.com” domain name. In fact, the .com is available for $397, if you are really interested in purchasing it.

Congratulations to Fantasy SCOTUS on its launch, and good luck.

With the hype building in Australia at Tiger Woods playing the Australian Masters, now is your chance to get playing with the PGA Australia’s fantasy game.

While Tiger is guaranteed $3 million for just showing up to play the Australian Masters, you get the opportunity to compete for some lesser, but awesome prizes. Winning this free fantasy golf will net you a brand new set of Srixon clubs and golf bag. To play, select a roster of twelve golfers within a $6 million salary cap. The fantasy golf game is built around Australia’s summer of golf of November and December, which makes for a quick fantasy season.

If you have an itch for fantasy golf and cannot wait for the Sony Open, the traditional opening of the golf and fantasy golf season, you may want to check out this new fantasy golf game from the PGA. Entries are due Wednesday afternoon (Thursday morning if you are in Australia).

I told you previously about how FanDuel Launched Fast Head-To-Head Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball and how it scored with a twitter fantasy football game. Now, FanDuel expands its line of fast fantasy sports to include fantasy hockey and fantasy basketball.

In both of these new fantasy games, fantasy players build a roster of players within a predetermined salary cap. The fantasy team with the most points wins. FanDuel’s games are pay-to-play and offer fantasy fans the chance to draft a new team everyday and win prizes. One of the beauties of FanDuel’s game is that it only requires two people per league, so FanDuel can almost always ensure that its players play in a league, and FanDuel makes its profit off of that league. If FanDuel is able to get enough teams playing on regular basis, then it will mint money.

FanDuel is one of a number of sites that is focusing on the instant fantasy games market. There is a lot of potential for these fantasy games to grow as fantasy players tire of their under-performing teams during the season and do not want to wait until next season for a shot at drafting a winner.

No sport is too small or unimportant to have not its own fantasy league. ProMotoFan is offering its own fantasy supercross game for its readers centered around this weekend’s US Open. Remember, the point of fantasy sports is too have fun with your friends and/or increase your interest in a particular. ProMotoFan allows motorcross fans the opportunity to do both of these. To make things even more interesting, ProMotoFan is offering a $500 top prize.

While it is too late to enter this contest (it locked out last night), look for ProMotoFan to keep offering fantasy games for its readers, since it is a real simple way to keep users engaged. I love seeing small niche fantasy games like this one. It is just like the early day of fantasy, where fans of the sport cannot get enough, so they created a new way to enjoy it, and are willing to do the hardwork to make it happen. This is fantasy at its core.

While ESPN consistently promotes its free fantasy football games, it has not completely abandoned the pay model. Fanball and ESPN just unveiled their new $50,000 Fantasy Football game. It is a pay-to-play salary cap game with point-style scoring, where the winner will take home a cool $50,000. Not too shabby for a $39.95 entry fee.

More importantly, the fact that two of the major players in the fantasy industry are teaming together on a game should make you take note. ESPN has become the number two player (behind Yahoo!) by offering completely free fantasy games. Fanball is the leader in pay-to-play games under its own brand, and hosting white-label games, such as the Fantasy Football Open Championship. According to Ryan Houson, Fanball’s Vice-President of Business Development, that this game came about through, “Lots of discussions. We discussed this a lot and we are excited it finally got done.” It is a win-win deal for both sides. It allows ESPN to tap into the pay-to-play market, while giving Fanball another game to market to its existing customer base, and more importantly, the ability to market to the millions of fantasy players that play at ESPN.

Congratulations to both sides on the deal, and I look forward to see how this relationship develops. If this is successful, you better expect to see something come fantasy baseball season.