Ready to Rumble

Preview image of “Ready to Rumble”
  • The playable Kongs are distributed as NFTs
  • Rumble Kong

In Rumble Kong League, playable NFT avatars compete in a three-on-three basketball competition.

The 2021 hype surrounding NFTs (non-fungible tokens) has quietened down in recent months. The gold-digger mentality of providers, mediocre products, plus the collapse of cryptocurrencies have all ensured that investor and brand interest has dwindled for the time being.

Nevertheless, blockchain-based technology offers a vision for the future if developed beyond merely possessing and trading NFTs, and instead endowing them with their own properties, such as keys. Tokens would then become digital access points for communities, fan platforms and even games. Rumble Kong League is pursuing the latter concept.

Marcus Bläsche (“direkkt”) and Nicholas Vale (“Nickev”) are two esports and gaming experts among the founding team who, over the course of their careers, have been involved in projects such as World of Warcraft, Starcraft II or Total Miner. Rumble Kong League provides the framework for a virtual three-on-three basketball game.

Player avatars are generated from 10,000 NFTs (Kongs), which become playable characters on a digital basketball court. Each Kong offers different playing characteristics that must be skilfully combined to form a team. Certain playable NFTs are already being traded, and the public test phase for the Rumble Kong League is scheduled to start in the next six months.

Three different game modes are aimed at a user’s ability: Casual, Ranked and Club. Casual play is intended to familiarise the player with the different features of Kongs. Ranked is a play-and-earn game mode where players can earn rank points and in-game rewards. To access Ranked play, players must form a three-Kong team, either by owning or renting Kongs. Club league will consist of ten divisions, each division containing 30 clubs. Matches will last five minutes, with an additional 24-second shot clock to keep things dynamic.

Rumble League Studios from Arizona is financing the game’s development with 4.5 million US dollars in venture capital. Talent and sports agency Creative Artists Agency from Los Angeles is among the investors.