From: thepipeline_xyz
Monad Games was conceived as a “first-of-its-kind content experiment” by The Pipeline, the Monad ecosystem, and the Monad community [00:04:32]. The primary goal was to create a fun and engaging event, bringing together original and contributing community members of the Monad ecosystem to compete in various challenges [00:04:49].
Key Production Personnel
The success of Monad Games was largely due to the efforts of several key individuals:
- Jessup: The brainchild behind Monad Games, Jessup was responsible for a significant amount of behind-the-scenes planning [00:04:58]. His duties included setting up all the games, ensuring supplies were available for filming in Denver during ETH Denver, and coordinating the entire filming and production process [00:05:16]. He specifically kept the challenges a secret from the contestants to ensure authentic reactions [00:15:16].
- Savant: Savant handled the “amazing job” of editing the entirety of Monad Games, which was a huge project requiring “several hundred hours” of work [00:11:48]. His editing incorporated “meme video style edits” that were well-received by the contestants [00:12:29].
- Monad Foundation Engineering Team: This team was instrumental in building the onchain components of Monad Games, particularly the cipher challenge [00:51:39]. They built a “really cool app” using ZK and other onchain features [00:51:44], making it impossible to simulate the cipher offchain [00:56:55]. Harpaul, Marcus, Box, and Mo were specifically mentioned for their contributions [00:51:50].
Filming Logistics and Challenges
The filming of Monad Games took place in Denver during ETH Denver [00:05:11]. The filming period was “pretty condensed, pretty action-packed” with “a lot of moving pieces” [00:13:11]. The host expressed being “pretty stressed behind the scenes” to ensure each challenge was filmed within the rented studio time [00:13:06].
Surprise Challenges
A key element of the production was keeping the challenges secret from the contestants [00:15:02]. This was done intentionally to elicit authentic reactions and prevent contestants from planning strategies in advance [00:15:26].
For instance, the psychic challenge was a complete surprise [00:15:40]. The host, Danny, expected a well-known crypto figure like Keone, Eunice, or Brian Armstrong, not a local Denver psychic [00:15:58]. Jessup initially planned for the psychic challenge to be the third game to allow contestants to warm up, but due to schedule changes, it became the first game [00:24:05]. The format of the psychic reading also surprised the production team, as the psychic did not engage in conversation, which was unexpected [00:24:26].
Onchain Elements and Community Engagement
Monad Games incorporated several onchain elements to engage the community:
- Prediction Markets: Prior to the premiere, prediction markets were live on the Monad testnet, powered by Opinion Labs, a product built on top of the Monad protocol [00:05:39]. This was intended to build community energy and speculation around the challenges [00:05:54].
- Cipher Challenge: A surprise onchain activation occurred at the premiere: a cipher hidden within the Monad Games video [00:06:06]. The community submitted over 30,000 guesses [00:06:09]. The cipher was intentionally designed to be “really really hard” to prevent quick resolution [00:54:40]. The engineering team built a secure application for submissions, making it impossible to simulate off-chain with bots [00:56:55]. Participants who submitted a guess received a testnet NFT as a commemorative token [00:54:27]. A recap video explaining the cipher’s creation and solution is planned [00:06:35].
Contestants’ Experience and Reactions
The contestants filmed the show months before seeing the final edited episode [00:10:40].
- KB: Expected it to be “less cringe” than feared, appreciating the editing that showed the fun they had [00:07:56]. Noted the existing relationships among contestants contributed positively [00:08:11].
- Pre-Ballin: Was “definitely nervous” and surprised at how great it turned out, even while feeling “a little hung over” during filming [00:11:21].
- Spam: Impressed by the “mememory” and “meme video style edits” that turned scenes “full meme” [00:12:42].
- Intern: Surprised by the 40-minute episode length despite only filming for 4-6 hours, crediting Savant’s editing [00:13:47]. Preferred the “fun, Squid Game-esque challenges” over typical conference interactions [00:14:35].
Future Plans
The team has ambitions to run Monad Games again [00:48:51], aiming to feature more Monad community members, contributors, and Monad Foundation team members [00:37:37]. There are “serious ambitions” to scale the event, involve more community members and ecosystem projects, possibly even in a “Mr. Beast style” with 100 players and eliminations [00:59:49]. This requires strong community engagement and positive reception to the existing content [00:58:48].
[[future_initiatives_and_events_for_monad | Future initiatives and events for Monad]] [[overview_of_monad_and_its_community | Overview of Monad and its community]]