1. A method of conducting a pictorial game with directed advertising using a game computing system, comprising: associating a plurality of game images related to particular topics with one or more concepts using the game computing system; associating the plurality of game images with individual advertisements based on the particular topics, the plurality of game images and the individual advertisements being stored in a database or databases accessible to the game computing system; providing a rule set for a user to use to give a prediction of an identity of the one or more concepts; automatically selecting a first game image in response to a user request presented to the game computing system, which first game image is associated with a selected concept of the one or more concepts; generating different degraded versions of the first game image automatically for the user with the game computing system by performing image processing on the first game image, including at least one of altering a pixelation, noise, or resolution of the first game image such that the selected concept is less detectable in the different degraded versions of the first game image; automatically selecting a first game advertisement from the individual advertisements based on an association with the first game image; presenting the first game image using the game computing system in a visual sequence that varies using the different degraded versions of the first game image so that content is gradually revealed for the first game image to a user for a first time period; presenting the first game advertisement to the user; and automatically processing responses from the user in compliance with the rule set using the game computing system to determine if the user has accurately determined the selected concept associated with the first game image; wherein the first game image is presented to the user during at least an initial portion of the first time period substantially without explicit information describing the selected concept.