Once the game officially started, all 60 jellybean-shaped characters sprinted forward like lunatics.
Every round had a time or player limit.
Anyone who didn't make it to the finish in time would be eliminated.
So everyone tried to reach the end as fast as possible.
In this stage—Gate Rush—the path was lined with rows of doors, some real and some fake.
It was basically a luck-based stage.
Some players smashed into fake doors, while others found the right ones.
Once someone broke through, everyone else would charge toward the open door.
Plus, the game had a grab function...
…which only made things more chaotic.
Outside the demo area, a bunch of players watching the livestream were yelling while holding their phones.
"Bro, stop pulling me! Let go!"
"Who's this pineapple head? You're about to rip my pants off!"
"Why is everyone trying to get through the same door?!"
"Move it! Let me through already!"
On screen, a huge pile of colorful Fall Guys were crammed together, all trying to squeeze through one door, scared to fall behind.
A lot of players watching couldn't help but think of their own college days.
Back in their freshman year, before they figured out tricks like ordering food from back entrances, they all had to go to the cafeteria.
Every time the last class ended, swarms of students poured out of every building, all heading to the dining hall.
It really did look a lot like this.
Whether you made it into the match or were just standing in front of the Nebula Games booth watching—it was nothing but laughs all around.
"Ha! That was hilarious! That hotdog guy just got flung off the stage!"
"This game looks so fun!"
"The physics in Fall Guys makes them bounce around like rubber balls!"
"Yeah, and that wall-climbing move is just too funny."
"I can't take it anymore, I need to try it myself."
"Let's team up and play together!"
"Teaming up doesn't seem all that useful, though. Everyone's on their own."
"It actually helps a bit. Later rounds have team matches, and if your friends make it that far, you'll be on the same side."
"Oh, really? That's pretty cool."
People around the Nebula Games booth, watching the big screen showing Fall Guys, couldn't resist any longer—many of them started pulling out their phones to try the game themselves. They were itching to play.
Meanwhile, people near other booths also started glancing over curiously because of all the noise.
Some even gave up on their own booth's games, found an open spot nearby, and just started playing Fall Guys on their phones—Nebula's booth was simply too packed.
This, of course, made staff from other game companies look a bit sour.
At the same time, the first round of Fall Guys at the Nebula booth had reached a very intense moment.
There were less than ten spots left—any more eliminations and people would start getting kicked out.
"Zack! Go! I'll hold the others back!" shouted Ben, who had managed to match into the same round. He looked at the two burger-headed Fall Guys next to him, and the number showing just one qualifying spot left—he made his move.
"Let go! Let go! You're grabbing me, not them!" Zack yelled in despair, seeing Ben's hand latch onto his character. That cry drew attention from nearby players, who started watching out of curiosity.
Some of them quickly recognized Zack and Ben. After all, not long ago, they'd been over at the Legends of the Three Kingdoms area, where Zack's crazy Zhuge Liang play had left a strong impression.
At the same time, Lucas, who was watching the game closely, caught all of this and had it shown live on the big screen.
"Clearly, what we just witnessed was true brotherly love. With one spot left, the teammate decided to take down the opponent so his friend could cross the finish line."
"He looked determined, as if to say: 'Live on, for the both of us!'"
"But… the sad part is, he grabbed his own teammate."
Lucas gave this recap after the round ended and the results screen revealed who was actually on which team.
The crowd burst into laughter.
This was a perfect example of that saying: The only thing worse than a strong enemy is a teammate who acts like a fool.
But for some of the players, that moment was a revelation.
What just happened gave them new ideas.
Maybe Fall Guys could be played with a whole new strategy…
Meanwhile, Hannah, who was standing next to Zack and Ben, looked at the two of them speechlessly.
"Wow. You two are something else." She was clearly done.
Zack didn't say a word, just gave Ben a long, resentful look.
"My bad, man!" Ben scratched his head and took the blame.
As the game moved on,
The Nebula booth was filled with groans, screams, and laughter.
Even those who couldn't get into a match were still swept up in the excitement and let loose.
Normally, people might be too shy to yell in front of a crowd.
But when everyone's doing it, it becomes something totally different.
Especially once players got into the special stages like Jump Club and Block Party.
That's when the noise really ramped up.
In those two rounds, players had to jump over moving obstacles and dodge a spinning wheel that kept getting faster, all while the safe area kept getting smaller.
Naturally, a lot of players got wiped out.
Some who figured out little tricks would even try to grab others if they knew they were about to fall themselves.
In an instant, Fall Guys turned into a chaos simulator.
"Awesome!"
"That's crazy!"
Next to Hannah, Ben and Zack had turned into her personal cheer squad.
Right now, Hannah had just barely made it to the final round — a stage called "Honeycomb Maze."
She couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
This round wasn't too hard to understand based on the description.
The tiles would disappear after a player stepped on them, making you fall to the layer below.
There were eight layers total, not counting the one where everyone started.
If you fell through the eighth layer, you'd land in the slime and get knocked out.
So the goal was to stay on the tiles as long as you could.
Once everyone else was eliminated, you'd win the game.
In simple terms: outlast everyone else and the win is yours.
"I can't stay too close to the others, or they'll step on my tiles and I'll fall!" Hannah summed up.
This round was basically proof of that saying — walk the path others take, and you'll end up with nowhere to go.
But pretty soon, Hannah discovered a small trick: walking made the floor vanish too fast.
But if she jumped and hung in the air just a bit, wasn't that like turning one step into two?
Lucas, who was commentating at the time, noticed this little detail.
"Looks like this hotdog Fall Guys is up to no good! Yup! He's moving toward the pineapple Fall Guys! Look at those sneaky little hands!"
"They're grappling with each other—down they go! Ah! Both eliminated!"
"Let's check on the others. Hmm, this pink Fall Guys has a pretty clever idea!"
"She's jumping to slow down her fall. Because jumping gives you hang time, it's a slower way to move compared to walking."
"But it seems like she's not that skilled yet—oh no! She messed up! Faceplanted and dropped straight to the bottom layer!"
Lucas kept commentating.
Nearby, Joey — who had just taken off her headset after finishing a match — happened to hear Lucas's commentary.
Right as the screen showed a pink little character leaping and totally missing the platform, falling three levels in a row into the honey slime, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Haha, that pink one is such a noob! Who jumps like that? Eh? What are you two looking at?" Joey froze, seeing Ben staring up at the ceiling and Zack staring at the floor.
"That pink noob you're laughing at? That was me," Hannah said flatly.
Joey: ......
Meanwhile on stage, Lucas didn't plan to keep commentating the whole time.
For the first day of the expo, he just wanted to hype things up with the first two rounds and get the crowd going — that was more than enough.
He handed the mic to the actual host and looked down at the excited players in the audience, a satisfied smile on his face.
The way players responded to Fall Guys and Legends of the Three Kingdoms really impressed him.
These two games might not be groundbreaking masterpieces…
But at the very least, they'd already managed to grab tons of attention.
And this was only the beginning of the event!
(End of the Chapter)
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