Fortnite Esports Star Wins Bored Ape Yacht Club Challenge

Yuga Labs, the company behind the hugely popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, announced the winner of its “Dookey Dash” endless runner game challenge on Wednesday.

“Many have run away, more have left, but one person arrived,” tweeted the Bored Ape Yacht Club account. “Congratulations to @Mongraal, the key is yours!”

Kyle “Mongraal” Jackson is an English esports player known for playing the battle royale game “Fortnite”. Last September, “Fortnite” creator Epic Games added the NFT-powered online creation game “Blankos Block Party” to the Epic Games Store, making the game the first Web3 title published on the popular PC gaming market.

Over 25,000 players participated in the “Dookey Dash” challenge, open only to Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT holders. Members could create exclusive “Sewer Pass” NFTs used as a power source in the race.

Secondary sales of the Sewer Pass NFTs topped 36,000 ETH, around $60 million, since their launch on January 18, when the creators of the Ethereum NFTs launched the gaming challenge with the promise that the player with the highest score would receive a mysterious reward.

The challenge was plagued by allegations of cheating and “boosters” – for-hire players paid to play the game for the JPEG holder – who inflated their scores on the leaderboard.

Boosters charged between 0.25 ETH, around $420 at the time for a score of 250,000 or higher, and 2.5 ETH, around $4,200 for a score of 700,000 or higher.

Others claimed that the cheaters used exploits that allowed them to bypass Yuga Labs’ anti-cheat measures.

“And a quick pat on the back to all our players who played fair,” Bored Ape Yacht Club wrote. “Only 2% of all scores were reset based on the score review process.”

“Congratulations, King!” wrote Satvik Sethi, former Mastercard product manager for NFTs, responded to Mongraal’s win. “Can’t be underestimated. Please take extra precautions with your wallet security now,” he said. “Don’t click on any random links, verify every URL and type things in yourself, don’t do any OTC trades and exchanges, and lots of threads and spaces out there to learn more.”