Motley Fool stock picking "game"

Motley Fool has a new web feature. It's called CAPS . It's hard to tell if this is a game, or a way to make money.

How does CAPS work?

Motley Fool CAPS operates from a simple premise: Working together, we can improve our investing results. This revolutionary new service pools the resources of the Motley Fool Community to help you identify the best stocks at the best times to buy them -- and which stocks to avoid, too!

Step 1. Players rate stocks.

At the heart of CAPS are thousands of predictions. Players predict whether stocks will outperform or underperform the S&P 500 and over what time frame this will happen.

We compile the data, showing all the picks you have made and all the picks for individual stocks.

Step 2. We keep score.

As stocks change in value, we evaluate players' predictions. Players receive an accuracy percentage, indicating how often they make correct predictions and a score, which is the percentage by which their picks beat the S&P 500.

Step 3. Players receive CAPS ratings.

Based on the performance of their picks, CAPS players receive a percentile rating (from 1 to 100). This rating indicates the percentage of people that player is outperforming. The higher the rating, the better!