How to Create Self-Funded Onchain Contests with JokeRace

I was out on vacation last week, though amid the R&R one onchain thing did catch my eye: JokeRace's new Vote and Earn v1.

If you're not familiar with JokeRace, it's a platform for running onchain contests.

The big idea is to let communities "run, grow, and monetize" with DIY contests that can be deployed in minutes on basically any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain.

What makes JokeRace interesting compared to offchain contest platforms is that it offers things they can't, like programmatic rewards, open composability with 3rd-party apps, onchain reputation, etc.

All that said, now things are even more interesting here thanks to JokeRace's new Vote and Earn system.

Long story short, this system is underpinned by the platform's new self-funded contests mechanism. In other words, after you create a contest on JokeRace, you can now optionally toggle on self-funded voter rewards.

Doing this routes 70% of all the payments from votes into a prize pool. Voters buy votes for entries they like, and once the contest closes, the people who picked the winners (e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) split the rewards pro-rata.

Why this system, then? It lets you create fun and automated contests with prizes around community decisions without needing starter funds.

That's great! And it's a resource now available to any project, big or small, in the Ethereum ecosystem, with the use cases ranging across bounties, hackathons, grants, polls, and beyond.

If you want to learn more about the intricacies of JokeRace, I recommend diving into the platform's FAQ. But this self-funding tech is simple to try even as a newcomer. I'll show you what I mean with a quick walkthrough.

First, on jokerace.io you can either connect an existing wallet to get started or automatically create one through Para and fund it via card, Apple Pay, or Coinbase.

At this point, click the "Create a Contest" button, which will bring you to this starter page:

Here, you can opt to create a contest from scratch if you want more customization, or you can choose from a series of templates—e.g. art contest, debate, demo day, leaderboard, etc.

For instance, I'm testing a "What should I write on next?" contest, so I chose the leaderboard template. Whichever route you go, the ensuing interface will prompt you to finalize your contest details.

For my contest, I uploaded a preview image, set my title, summarized my contest and voter info, and then added my Farcaster profile as a point of contact for participants. You can also toggle into the "Advanced Settings" if you want to customize the total entries and entries per player allowed.

After this, the final screen in this template flow will display all your contest details, which you can review to double check. For reference, my basic parameters looked like so:

If everything looks good to go, press the "Create Contest" button. If your wallet is connected to Ethereum, you'll then be asked if you want to switch to a different, cheaper Ethereum L2.

Either way, carry out the deployment transaction and then your contest will be live!

Now you'll immediately be greeted with the "My Rewards" dashboard where you can toggle on self-funding for your contest—just choose the "Send all charges to the rewards pool" option and press "Next."

At this point, you'll be asked to configure your winner and rewards settings. I've set my contest up with 4 placement ranks and with 40% of accrued funding slated for the 1st place entry, but you have total flexibility here to customize your settings however you want.

Now, you'd press "Next," then "Create Pool," and complete the three ensuing deployment transactions as prompted, and voila! That's how simple it is to make a contest on JokeRace that has rewards without needing any money upfront.

You can check out my test contest and enter yourself if you want to see the system in action, or you can set up your own self-funded contests as you wish.

My bottom line, then? JokeRace's Vote and Earn infra is an interesting new resource for your onchain toolbox, so keep an eye out here and consider experimenting with it as its possibilities unfold. It's one-of-a-kind in crypto right now!