Crypto: The Game Companion Podcast, Day 6: The Convergence, Whales Voted Out, and an interview with Dylan Abruscato, founder of Crypto: The Game

[00:00] We're Boys Club, and you're listening to the official Crypto the Game companion podcast, brought to you by Lens. For 10 days only, we'll be hitting on the biggest moments, juiciest gossip, and hottest takes from season two, Anon Island. Smash the subscribe. I don't know. It doesn't feel right. Perfect. No notes. [00:19] She took astray. I took astray. I'm hearing a man named Bill was responsible. Bill took me down. [00:26] Natasha's out. I'm out. I'm out. Natasha G. Hoskins. I saw your name on the list. I was looking the whole time. [00:35] So her name come up and I... [00:37] I couldn't believe it. I know. I knew I knew it in my bones. I knew it in my bones. I couldn't be as engaged today. I couldn't be on the chat. Every time I looked at my phone, there were 700 messages that I was behind on. Like, I'm not even joking. And I was just like, I want to know you all. I want to be friends. I want to be part of the plan. And I just can't. I couldn't. I don't I don't know that it was because of your lack of activity today. Engagement. I don't know. Sometimes then people see you in the chat and they just can't bring themselves to vote for you, you know? [01:04] Right. Okay. Night six. [01:07] The vote is complete. Natasha's out. I am still safe. [01:11] Today was the merge... [01:14] Convergence, I think it's being called officially. Tribes were merged. Tension was really high. [01:21] it was very much a social game this evening where it was like two foreign civilizations meeting each other for the first time. And like,

[01:31] trying to like suss each other out and figure out if they could trust each other. And then there were little micro cabals that were forming and there was mutually assured destruction that was looming in the background at all time. So a tense night. [01:43] a tense night the gossip story is that the whales are getting sniped three big jury whales were voted out as confirmed by the dune dashboard we're going to be talking about the dune dashboard it's the dune dashboard at this point we will be talking about how it became the dune dashboard later this evening um and we're going to talk about it all on the pod so first the vote results i feel like [02:13] 307 people eliminated 362 players remain what is crazy is the game started last time with basically this many players so like you have a long game left people you got a lot a lot more work ahead of you i have to say okay before we get into it big thanks to our partners uh for the series lens we love lens follow us follow crypto the game on lens our ads are at boys club [02:38] Dina is at Dina. I'm at Natasha. You can meet your lens profile at lens.xyz. You can post on hey.xyz or orb. [02:46] And let's get into the show. [02:52] Hello? [02:53] There he is. Ah, R.I.P. I know. Man. I knew it was going to happen. I knew it was going to happen. Yeah, as soon as you...

[03:03] Both, I don't know which one of you basically like tweeted the whale scoop. [03:07] I was like, man, this is, I've never seen a bigger target. [03:10] I had to. Journalistic integrity, dude. Oh, no. I mean, do it for the game. It's just, it's interesting to be a player and a scooper. I know. [03:21] I know. [03:22] - I know, I feel like we're playing this role of like, you said this earlier Dino, but I feel like I'm playing a role of like a midwife. [03:30] I feel like the information comes to us and we have to [03:33] I don't know. Maybe I've been, it's not the right, but like a, a shaman or something. And I'm like, I have to do this justice. It has to get out, but it puts me in a very, uh, yeah. Targeted position. [03:45] For sure. For sure. So we have Dylan Abruscato on the pod with us tonight. Dylan, welcome to the show. Second time. [03:54] Thanks for having me. Great to be back. [03:55] What a wild day. [03:57] Dylan, I want to talk to you about two things tonight. [04:01] Yeah. [04:02] So you were a real... [04:05] chaos agent in bringing the teams together. I will say I know you aren't in any of the chats or the tribes but my experience on my tribe was that [04:18] When we first merged in Sun Tribe, it was very icy at first. [04:23] Very, very icy. As in like no one knew who to make the first move? [04:27] Yeah, no one wants to make the first move. No one wanted to stick their neck out. No one knew who to trust. We were all side chatting in our

[04:35] Original group and saying like what's the what's the move? What's yeah? I? [04:39] Yeah, we started sharing means and it ended up loosening up. But was that was that your puppeteer master intention the whole time? Yeah, I mean, so season one for context for those listening that didn't play we shuffled the tribes around this point. So we kept the same 10 original tribe names, we just kind of, you know, redrew it or like reach reassign the tribe. So everyone got a new tribe, some [05:00] Folks from your original tribe and your original alliance made it through. [05:03] some didn't. And I think a big theme for this season is to just like not keep doing the same things, keep it fresh. So pretty early on, had this idea to essentially [05:13] consolidate the tribes down from 10 to 5 [05:17] Originally we were going to call it the halving. [05:19] which is like, I don't know, a nice crypto pun, but I don't know. Ty said that makes it sound like we're making it 20 tribes and cutting all the tribes in half. But yeah, I think it's like one of those things where it's the most insane social dilemma. [05:33] and such an interesting social experiment. And I knew there were kind of like [05:37] one of the few ways that it would go which is like [05:40] kind of like lowest hanging fruit is like, [05:43] basically whichever OG tribe like had more players would just pick off the other tribe. And that's why Natasha, you and you know, the OG purple tribe was like, you know, flexing your strategy of trimming the fat and knowing that this was coming in the back of my mind, I just kept thinking like, this is such a bold strategy for the eventual. [06:00] convergence because it would be so easy to just pick off the team with the fewer people.

[06:06] It was a purple bloodbath. Yeah. Is that what happened? Yeah. I'm still like running the numbers, but there were a lot of purple that got sniped in the end. She's still crunching the numbers. I'm crunching them to get my calculator off. Yeah. That's definitely like the easiest thing. Like as like a ruthless player, you think, okay, let's just take them all out. So that was kind of like option one. [06:27] Option two is like, [06:29] we're a new tribe, let's all band together and like, let's figure out who is [06:34] essentially like the weakest link of this new combined tribe. That's a little kumbaya. I'm not sure like how that [06:40] shook out and if anyone actually did that. [06:43] Our tribe did do that. We mostly like held the party line on boats. There were a few people who caught strays, but for the most part, like our strategy was [06:51] Let's. [06:51] combine, keep it nice, [06:53] Vodaf, the inactives or the whales. And I want to talk to you about that as well. Yeah, for sure. And... [07:00] it seemed to kind of hold a definitely a few people got hit but it was nice we all held hands and yeah no that's great that's great to see uh yeah and then option three is just complete silence and like everyone staying their original chats and like not knowing what to do and [07:16] I guess what I was concerned about was [07:18] Not concerned about, but like anxious to see if like all of a sudden someone casts the first vote. [07:23] And like after that, like I tweeted this, but like the office scene where like everyone's, you can't see me, so I'm cut off. Like everyone's holding up their guns. It seems like it was kind of like a combo option one, option two. [07:34] which is nice, but yeah, you never know what's going to happen when we're live. So bringing it on.

[07:40] Okay, now the second story of the night is the whales and the jury whales. You've been sending me voice messages today, which I've been loving about this Game of Thrones parallel that you've been seeing. Talk us through this. [07:56] So, huge Game of Thrones fan, like read the books, loved the show, and I think like [08:01] It was so cool to see that like the first half of the series and sorry if this is a spoiler, but I feel like we're now in a safe space. I think we're safe. The first half of the series, everyone assumed it was kind of a battle between the Lannisters and the Starks or like North versus South. And in the Crypto the Game season two comparison to me, it's like everyone assumed that this would be like humans versus Anons. You linked your Twitter and played as yourself. [08:23] where you played anonymously and like whoever, it was going to be a battle between the two. [08:26] But what happened in Game of Thrones is that like, [08:29] you know, the White Walkers came alive and there was all of a sudden, like, this greater threat to all of humanity. So all of the humans ended up batting together to, like, fight the greater good. [08:38] I'm seeing this now comparison with Crypto the Game Season 2 that like now the anons and the humans are [08:44] realizing that there are whales out there accumulating jury votes, and like those are the greater evil. Which is what we saw tonight. So like all of the like, [08:52] previously disclosed wells that had active NFTs were all taken out tonight. [08:56] That's not to say someone with a bunch of jury NFTs, they could hypothetically spin up a new wallet, grab a new active slot, come back in, we would never know. [09:05] It seems like if you're a whale, you're a threat. [09:09] Actually, that's the scenario that could play out. So I'm looking at the Dune dashboard right now, and we'll put the link in the show notes for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. But this is basically my Bible. It shows the top whale has 25 jury tokens.

[09:22] and then the second one has 17 jury tokens. All of their active player IDs I believe were [09:27] killed tonight oh wow they were two of those were on my team and it was very intentional so that was like a very much part of the plan [09:34] But you're saying that a scenario that could happen is that they could buy in [09:37] with a [09:38] another player ID and then transfer the tokens to that. [09:41] You don't even have to transfer the tokens. Like hypothetically, like a whale or whoever this holder is with a bunch of jury NFTs could buy in with a fresh wallet. [09:50] uh you could you know it could hypothetically be natasha it could be vitalik it could be brian armstrong it could be the the jury well we would never know and then on the finale like this jury whale could then cast all of their jury votes for this new anonymous player assuming it goes through to the end so we've seen that anonymous players are targets we've seen that known whales are targets like i don't [10:11] I don't think it's a great strategy at this point, but some people are, you know, this far in that like they might just want to do it. I personally... [10:20] really do not want a whale... [10:23] When... [10:24] At all. [10:25] Yeah. But I'm curious if you'll, how you feel. [10:29] If you're going to go on record about your preferences. Yeah, I mean, no, I mean, the honest answer is I don't have a preference. I think like we it's definitely like a heartwarming PR win if like one person wins a life changing amount of money and that person is public and like playing as themselves and the community rallies behind them, just like we saw with season one. But I think like what's made season two so fun is that there is this added kind of like deal or no deal game dynamic where you can like cash out, sell your spot, sell your vote.

[10:56] that's like so uniquely crypto and just like making this like essentially a 4D [11:01] reality show. So if that happens, then like that's because it's the spirit of crypto and kind of like the space in which we're building in. So definitely trying to like embrace the chaos in all aspects of the season, like [11:12] Sure, we could hypothetically like [11:14] halt all NFT transfers and like, but I think, you know, we kind of like publicly stated the rules of the season. Everyone bought in under those guidelines. And if no one likes the fact that a whale wins hypothetically, then like we can always change it up for season three. And you did tweet today that folks who hold on to their jury NFT will get an advantage in season three. So there is some incentivization. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I mean, at the end of [11:44] And [11:45] We essentially airdrop like non-transferable NFTs to everyone and that got them early access to season two when they can mint their spot before it sold out. [11:53] If you sell your NFT after you get voted out and you're not essentially like a holder of a season two token, like you'll miss out on all of the benefits essentially of what will happen after the season. [12:06] Do you think that in this... [12:07] stage of the game, and I guess maybe even Dina would have more context for this than maybe even you, but there is... [12:13] it's possible to stay in as an anonymous player. [12:18] I don't know. I mean, it seemed like Sun, which I think Dina is your tribe, very consciously took out anonymous players. [12:24] We took out inactive players. We didn't take out anonymous players. I'm literally like asking for a friend. If you come back in anonymously, do you think I'll be voted out? I think so. I think so. I think I do. I have one friend that like literally gets voted out every night and like comes in anonymous the next night. And just like every single night he's getting voted out. And like, just like can't catch a break. Oh, you hate to hear that. You hate to hear that.

[12:54] and would have connected my Twitter and played as myself at like, [12:57] at its core is a social game and you have to be social to win, in my opinion. [13:02] Yeah, I agree. Well, I also think it's just more... [13:05] Like part of you know the reality TV trope like I'm not here to make friends like that's actually not what it feels like in a lot of the chats that were Where it's like why people are like? [13:14] Want to make friends. And part of it is a big part of it is the social aspect of it. So I think that you totally could play it on and I think you could probably win it. But I think you'd be missing out on a big part of the game, which I personally have been really enjoying. [13:28] Yeah. Agreed. [13:29] Okay. [13:30] Dylan, thank you so much. [13:32] Yeah, thanks for having me. And Dina, good luck at tomorrow's challenge. [13:36] Thank you. [13:36] Okay, talk soon. [13:42] I have a funny story. I have a funny... [13:44] Gossip thing. Okay, great. So we're going to talk a little bit about my fallen... [13:49] experience tonight it's just gonna be about me losing and first of all let me just say ted not lasso did everything she possibly could she was rallying the troops like nobody i've ever seen she was in the chat i got home i opened my computer i saw i'm on the board and then the telegram chat was blowing up saying natasha natasha we're gonna save you and i have to say some really sweet [14:11] very kind, [14:13] sentiment from people. One of my friends in the chat, engineer, he goes by, had, you know, guy with the sign, you know, that meme format. And he had, [14:24] save natasha and he was he was putting posting that which was really really nice someone else made a song for me which was so sweet i don't even know how they did that but we're just gonna play we're gonna play a little bit for right here let's roll the track

[14:37] *music* [14:55] Very funny. Very kind. And the thing is, Ted also got sniped. So we lived together. We died together, you know, and it felt good to go down with one of my friends. I mean, I don't want her to die. Of course, I wanted her to stay in it, but it softened the blow. Yeah, it's like Bonnie and Clyde when you guys are going over the cliff together. Exactly. Exactly. It felt like, I don't know, I died with honor because somebody else was with me. I also have to say that I did send some [15:25] Not as bad as I, I kind of like had a peace about it. I was like almost someone who just knew it was, the end was near. And I let the waves of CryptoTheGame.com wash over me. And I just was in a peaceful meditative state, just being like this. And Ted was out going, trying to rallying the troops. And it just wasn't happening. Someone sent me a text and said, CryptoTheGame party round two, down to help if you want any. And I said, I'm fighting for my life right now. Cannot think about a party. And he said, how can I help? I will fight for your life too. [15:55] Thank you so much. He said, seriously, though, let me know. And I said, do you know these three handles? Trying to get in touch with them because they hadn't voted. And he said, are you fighting for your life on Crypt of the Game? And I said, yes, yes. And he said, oh, goddammit, I thought that this was something serious.

[16:08] like sorry it is i'm like excuse me could not be more serious um and i didn't go hard on threatening because i did we still have to do this podcast and we need people to be our friends but two things i said one the podcast is gonna be so bad from here on out i'm gonna have no intel and that's on you guys and then two i said i'm one to one going to personally outreach to all 68 people in this chat and figure out who voted me off i'm hearing a man named bill [16:33] So if anybody knows Bill, you are a marked man. I feel like now, though, you could act as like a, you know, death duelist. [16:40] where they sort of transition you into the next phase of... [16:44] existence yeah you could you could act as a death doula for for fallen players conrad's fallen conrad's i have another little um idea up my sleeve i'm hearing some chatter of buying you back in i might buy back in as a team anonymously so just watch your back everybody watch your back i want to talk about the post of the day today [17:09] we're going to do something we've never done before not only on this podcast but on our other podcast which is [17:15] to highlight three posts by a single person [17:19] It was a hat trick tonight. Riley Bean scored a hat trick on the post of the day, all on Lentz. [17:28] The first one. [17:29] is maybe the best post of the game. [17:33] that i've seen so far wow and it's my it happens to be my favorite meme which is the start the rapture photo of of what like a projesus character uh with the phone in his hand saying start the rapture and it says um at dylan abriscato tonight on at crypt of the key so good so good honestly is is a perfect is a perfect post perfect uh then she had a second banger which was the keeper of

[18:03] came out of, I believe it came out of a chat that I'm in with her, and it was about [18:08] talking about players who share a single brain cell and it's just it looks like a little um like a girl scout patch and it's an embroidered embroidered and it says every player in crypt of the game this season shares a single brain cell this one and i love it so much and then the last one i fear i don't fully understand because i think it's making a reference to a tv show that i do not know um but it's by our powers combined and it says earth fire wind water heart and weed [18:35] uh in the last corner i think this is i i i get the sense people really like this i get the sense that it's like an iconic it seems like a deep cut cartoon yes um but anyway just follow riley beans at riley beans on lens she's so good and she's also an angel so you get to bask in her glory [18:54] *music*