Well, we could use asyncronous libraries and an event queue to solve the realtime problem. Also, if scalability is an issue, we could update the game state to clients before saving on database and then queue actions. I had some asyncronous experiences with node.js, erlang and scala and I'm a experienced rails developer. (CTO of a Rio based Startup)
I can show you the app working before you pay the total ammount. Sure you will like. I'm ready to start next week.