Elden Ring eSports is my new obsession

As an avid viewer of Games Done Quick for many years, like plenty of others, I was tuned into the AGDQ week-long marathon in aid of Prevent Cancer Foundation. Lots of amazing games were showcased, speedrunners broke open those games and by the end of the week, over $2.5 million was raised for charity.

My personal highlight was the Elden Ring Bingo Brawlers match and since then, I’ve binge-watched the latest season which is archived on YouTube. Arranged by streamer Captain_Domo, the format is simple. Bingo Brawlers puts two Elden Ring players against each other with a five by five bingo card to complete on a lockout format. Each square is filled with a particular task in the game.

Bingo Brawlers is focusing on Shadow of the Erdtree in the fifth season.

The idea, which may seem obvious, is to secure a ‘bingo’ by either filling a line, or nabbing a majority of 13 squares if no lines are available. The lockout rules mean that once one player achieves a task and blocks a square, the other cannot try for that square.

To give you an idea of the tasks the players have to complete for squares, they range from simple pick-ups that are in out of the way areas, like ‘acquire the Golden Braid’, to vanquishing bosses with flair, as seen in square ‘Kill a Remembrance Boss after parrying six times’.

With this being a challenge for a group of professional speedrunners, the tech and strategies on display completely open up the game in ways that a casual playthrough wouldn’t show. The fourth season of Bingo Brawlers, and the AGDQ showcase, focused on the DLC of Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree. This keeps the play within a smaller area, making dashes across the map to snipe another player’s set up an exciting prospect.

It’s an incredibly niche challenge, but one that brings up a wealth of exciting moments as players try to outwit each other, setting up possible plays, and coincidentally battle the same bosses. During the AGDQ showcase between Captain_Domo and Adef, both were fighting a Red Bear at the same time to mark off a square, and it came down to one single hit, sending the crowd onto their feet in applause.

According to Captain_Domo, the plan going forward is to introduce other games to the format, but so far, with four seasons based on Elden Ring, there’s plenty for fans of the game to see it played in a new way. Watching each match reminded me of watching a close sports game where the lead passes back and forth. Moments stick out where one player will suddenly pivot to a new task, switching their tactics to block the other’s progress on the bingo board.

Community creators taking chances, and setting up new ways to play will always be interesting, but this has the potential to be a very popular format for other games, creating a more relaxed, and perhaps more accessible, form of eSports. You’ve got all the game knowledge, the skill has to be there, viewers can get behind their favourite players. As someone who watched a lot of Apex Legends eSports, it can sometimes feel a little overwhelming while this Bingo Brawlers format pulls from a single player adventure, something many of us can sit and play right after a match is over.

If you want to watch a bunch of talented players with vast game knowledge competing for swag, using speedrun tactics to move through the world, and taking down bosses with haste, this is a thoroughly entertaining way to do it.