Chapter 89: Prizes for the Competition
After more than a month of development, "Thunder Chess & Cards" officially launched on the official app store and the Imperial Dynasty gaming platform!
On the Imperial Dynasty gaming platform, the top banner for "This Month's Strongly Recommended" prominently displayed the banner for "Thunder Chess & Cards." Besides the usual game name and icon, there was also a tagline.
"Who is the Poker King? The competition arena gives away a virtual gaming pod every week!"
The Imperial Dynasty gaming platform had tens of millions of active users, with peak concurrent users reaching over two million. This promotional slot would be on the Imperial Dynasty gaming platform's homepage for a full month, and its effect was self-evident.
In addition to this promotional slot, Chen Mo also promoted it simultaneously on his Weibo and the Thunder Games platform, basically using every promotional method available.
Many players who had been following this matter already knew that Chen Mo was going to release a new game, but what they never expected was that Chen Mo would spend over a month making a chess and card game?
What a waste of this promotional slot!
The players were buzzing with discussion.
"Unbelievable, Chen Mo didn't continue making money-grabbing games? That's just not scientific! Has his integrity returned?"
"Damn, why are you making chess and card games? Chess and card games have no future! You might as well keep making money-grabbing games!"
"Such a good promotional slot wasted. This slot used to be for promoting large-scale VR games, and now Chen Mo is using it to promote chess and cards! Oh my god!"
"It only took him a month to make this. Can it even be any good?"
"Not focusing on the main business! Why don't you go back and develop a sequel to 'Plants vs. Zombies'!"
"Chess and card games have been done to death! Imperial Dynasty's chess and card games have been running for so long. It's too late for you to make one now!"
"One gaming pod per week? He's really willing to spend big, but I have a feeling you're going to lose everything..."
"It's three per week, one for each type of chess and card game!"
"Forget it, I'll go check it out. I happen to be short a gaming pod."
"...The guy above, haven't you figured out Thunder Games' style yet? People with bad luck shouldn't even think about this kind of thing!"
"But... this is a competition!"
People were saying all sorts of things.
However, most people were attracted by the gimmick of "one gaming pod per week."
And Chen Mo also announced the relevant competition rules on his Weibo.
"Thunder Poker," "Fight the Landlord," and "Mahjong"—each of these three chess and card games would have a competition arena.
From Monday to Saturday, starting at 10 AM and ending at 10 PM, a competition would be held every 2 hours. The competition would be divided into N tables (depending on the number of registered players), with each table limited to 50-60 people. Players who hadn't played in the competition arena that day would get priority entry.
Among these, the 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM, and 4 PM sessions were free-entry arenas, requiring advance registration and free entry. The 6 PM and 8 PM sessions were paid-entry arenas, allowing registration up to 30 minutes late, and entry required bidding a certain amount of Joy Beans.
All competitions awarded prizes to the top three, with the prize distribution being 60% for first place, 30% for second, and 10% for third.
Free-entry arenas awarded a large number of Joy Beans and a small number of points. Paid-entry arenas awarded a large number of points.
On Sunday, based on the week's points, the top 50 players would be determined to enter the final table. The final table would then determine the top three, who would receive physical prizes.
First place: One VR gaming pod, worth about 80,000.
Second place: One high-end desktop computer, worth about 10,000.
Third place: One high-end mobile phone, worth about 7,000.
Each of the three types of chess and card games had its own competition, meaning Chen Mo would be giving away nearly 300,000 worth of prizes every week.
Moreover, this was different from a lottery. In a lottery, you could rig it and give the prizes to internal staff. But Chen Mo was running a competition arena. First place was first place. People with real skill were guaranteed to get a ranking; it couldn't be rigged.
In this world, VR gaming pods generally cost between 50,000 and 200,000. Chen Mo chose a gaming pod worth about 80,000, which was mid-range, but that was more than enough, especially with the high-end computers and phones as well.
As soon as this news spread, it immediately circulated within the chess and card player community. Through continuous dissemination on Weibo and forums, more and more players learned about it, and even many non-core chess and card game players were tempted.
After all, this wasn't a lottery; it was a competition, and a chess and card game competition at that.
Most players felt that in games like Fight the Landlord, luck played a significant role. If you were lucky, you could keep winning all the way. Furthermore, Chen Mo's chess and card game was completely free, and the competition arena was absolutely fair, so everyone wanted to try their luck.
Even if they couldn't win a gaming pod, winning a computer or a phone would be great too!
...
On the day of its launch, the downloads for "Thunder Chess & Cards" directly soared to 280,000, and it was still showing a rising trend!
Free chess and card game, small installation package, comprehensive newbie tutorial, promotion on the Imperial Dynasty gaming platform, the incentive of competition prizes... All these factors combined caused the downloads for "Thunder Chess & Cards" to explode in a short period of time.
Of course, about eighty to ninety percent of the players were just there for the excitement, holding onto the hope that they would be the lucky one to take away the gaming pod.
"Ugh, why are there so many tutorials? Oh well, at least I can skip them. Do you really need a tutorial for such simple poker rules?"
"It's pretty friendly to newbies. I was always a bit fuzzy on the rules before, but now I finally understand..."
"Seriously, there's a competition arena too. Keep eliminating until the first place is decided? Feels more interesting than the lobby tables."
"'Thunder Poker'? A new type of game?"
"I feel like the competition for Fight the Landlord and Mahjong is too fierce. Does this new poker also give away gaming pods? I'll go check it out."
After studying the rules, these players realized that they had to make it into Sunday's final table to have a chance at the top three and win the prizes. But to get into the final table, they had to earn as many points as possible in the regular tables from Monday to Saturday.
The evening competition sessions awarded more points, but they required a certain amount of Joy Beans to enter, so these players had to play in the regular arenas or simply spend their own money to buy Joy Beans.
And many players had already realized that "Thunder Poker" might be a good breakthrough point.
Games like Fight the Landlord and Mahjong had many players, so the competition would definitely be fierce. But "Thunder Poker" also gave away gaming pods, and since everyone was learning from scratch, the competition would be much weaker.
As a result, a large number of players flocked to "Thunder Poker," intending to focus on this new type of poker to win the prizes.
The massive influx of players on the first day caused the lobby tables and competition arenas in "Thunder Chess & Cards" to be completely full, further boosting the game's popularity.
On various game charts and trending topics, the popularity of "Thunder Chess & Cards" remained high. It was predicted that over the next month, the game's user base would continue to grow explosively!
Genius remembers this site's address in one second: