Smash Ultimate player Pokelam was left absolutely mortified after entering and winning a $100 tournament only to be trolled out of the grand prize.
Despite offline tournaments returning in the Smash scene, online events continue to attract competitors – especially when they’re free to enter and offer some sort of monetary reward to the winner.
That’s exactly what was going through Pokelam’s mind when he entered a tournament that promised a $100 cash prize to the winner on stream.
Unfortunately for the pro, his hopes of being a bit richer were dashed when the tournament organizer gave him a photo of a $100 bill as payment.
Wow. Just wow. pic.twitter.com/Rpio0vdJgR
— Pokelam (@iPokelam) March 23, 2022
Smash player wins photo of $100
Annoyed by the result, Pokelam posted what had happened to him on Twitter, screenshotting the tournament’s stream and Smash.gg page that promised a cash prize.
In the rules section, the organizer of the event, Rofire, promised that the $100 prize would be sent on Discord. After the event concluded, despite Pokelam agreeing to accept the money digitally, he was sent a photo of a $100 bill.
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I’m sorry but for anyone that watched the stream from start to finish should’ve know this was a red flag. He even says this at the start of the stream!!! pic.twitter.com/d0wVlAPsKc
— D(aniel).Danger (@DDanger12345) March 23, 2022
“He did mention CASH in his discord. The only people who knew this was a joke were the people who he talked to planning this in the first place,” the Smash player explained. “No, I did not get any money, what [did] you expect?”
In the comments, however, some users noted how the beginning of the stream was a red flag, as Rofire said he had the “cash prize ready” and had to be sure the winner didn’t “delete it.”
Was I supposed to expect this when signing up? I legit did not know who this dude was, and when I see “$100” advertised on the smash. gg and on the stream what else am I supposed to think it is
I wasted my whole evening on this man I actually played some hard sets too 😔
— Pokelam (@iPokelam) March 23, 2022
Still, Pokelam insisted he was scammed, saying that he believed the event was legitimate when he saw it advertised and was annoyed he wasted his night, especially considering he played some tough opponents.
Hopefully, this can serve as a lesson to any upcoming Smash players to check out an event’s history before entering, because you might just get trolled if you don’t do some research.