The Winners.
Empty for now. Fills the moment the August Finals settle. ZABAL Gamez Season 1: the $500 USDC pool is split evenly between the six finalists, two per track. Allocation is confirmed before Finals.
Season 1 has no vote and no market. Zaal picks six finalists; three win, one per track. Allocation across a 72h trade window. Sam shipped the Base contracts in June, mainnet in July, real Finals in August.
Prize pool sponsor: The ZAO festivals team. Want to grow v1 or support v0? info@thezao.com
Top 3 Champions
An equal share of the $500 USDC pool, and the recurring mentor slot in Season 2.
TBD
Awaiting Finals.
TBD
Awaiting Finals.
TBD
Awaiting Finals.
Finishers (4th - 8th)
An equal share of the $500 USDC pool. Allocation confirmed before Finals.
Ranks 9-16
Everyone who entered is on the board at /leaderboard, in the track they entered.
How the Finals Decide
WaveWarZ-Base market + Respect governance
Each Finalist becomes a tradable battle entry on WaveWarZ-Base. The market trades for 72h on real signal (live demo + repo + cast quality). Final ranking = market price weighted with judge-agent rubric scores. Live settlement readout fires at T+72h on /finals/live.
Respect (soulbound, non-transferable governance signal) has a voice in the settlement. The specific Respect-weight mechanism is being designed with the WaveWarZ-Base contracts and locked before the August Finals.
About Respect
Respect is illiquid. Cannot be sold, transferred, or traded. It is The ZAO's governance signal - you earn it by participating in the ecosystem.
During ZABAL Gamez: up to 1000 Respect points earnable per active participant. Current ZAO holders determine who counts as active (workshop attendance, July submissions, August Finals participation, ecosystem contribution).
Voter eligibility: 1000+ Respect points = eligible to vote in Finals settlement. Threshold may shift as the event unfolds. The 1000+ cohort can also vote (66%+ majority) to change the governance system itself.
Season 2 mentor invite
The top 3 carry forward
Top-3 champions get an open invitation to mentor in Season 2. The format compounds - the people who win one Season become the teachers in the next. That is how the body of work grows year over year.
Want to be on this list? Apply as a workshop lead for June, or submit a build in July. Every spot on this page started as one of those two paths.