This has actually been an obsession of mine for a few weeks now. Unfortunately, those who aren’t entirely aware of it are super confused by the concept. So what exactly is Salty Bet?

It’s the name that was given to a continuous livestream of MUGEN fighting game coverage. MUGEN itself is a program where players can bring in their own characters, levels, and basically design everything as they see fit. For the most part, people just rip sprites (sometimes polygons) to inject favorite characters from other games into massive series-spanning battles.

By itself, playing (or just watching) a MUGEN match is a lot of fun. However, Salty Bet isn’t just a stream. They have also fashioned a way to allow viewers to “bet” on each match. Do you think Cloud is better than Terry? Bet away! If you know to always/never vote on DBZ, then make your choice that way. On the official page all that’s required is to log in before betting Salty Bucks.

Here’s where the confusing bit comes in: No real money is ever being transferred by betting. You can run out of your initial Salty Bucks or become a billionaire but it’s purely fictional currency. The main point of betting is just to have fun and make the stream slightly more interactive. I’ve had fun watching copious amounts of ridiculous match-ups and frittering away my fake money.