Verified Actual Gamer Program Information [See Best Answer / 2021-10-08 update]

[b3bis]

2 minutes ago, Junction Runner said:

It was a live stream, they gave away 20 3080s to random super chats.

 

 

Nah, it was a repeat of the last wan show title for some reason, someone must have hit the wrong button somewhere.

Read half the first sentence and almost got a heart attack 'cause I was in front of my pc XD .

[minibois]

6 minutes ago, b3bis said:

Was a video ~30 ago a drop? Just saw the notification but then I cannot open it, it says it was removed...

It was a test for their livestream tomorrow, which they accidentally set to public it seems:

 

[United AIM]

How do i sign up for the program? I just built my 5800x setup. I'm using my old 9800GT currently. I really want to play Warzone, Zombies, PUBG. 

[Nexxus]

We should really sticky a message on "how to join" 

[United AIM]

Link me buuuuddddddy lol

 

[Junction Runner]

5 minutes ago, Nexxus said:

We should really sticky a message on "how to join" 

And also a message on when the next drop will be!

sigh

[Nexxus]

4 minutes ago, United AIM said:

Link me buuuuddddddy lol

 

There is nothing to link. 

Look in the recent pages of the thread, its been covered a thousand times.

[United AIM]

oh man. Alright. So its random. Darn. I wish I was able to keep a constant watch on LTT to get one. I don't even want one given to me. I'd pay MSRP straight up. I only have time to game around 10pm for a few hours. When the kids are sleeping. Am I still a gamer and qualify? lol

[Alcarin]

Dang, too bad I work all day and am not able to check my phone until lunch/break. Cell reception is basically zero throughout most of the area of the facility I work in.

 

Around what time during the day are these drops announced, and how much of a grace period is there? Hoping to get a decent 3070 at this point.

[United AIM]

Yeah I hear ya. Some people have lives, kids, jobs. Can't pay attention all the time. I guess team no life's will take this one lol. btw I do have alerts on.

[Nexxus]

3 minutes ago, Alcarin said:

Dang, too bad I work all day and am not able to check my phone until lunch/break. Cell reception is basically zero throughout most of the area of the facility I work in.

 

Around what time during the day are these drops announced, and how much of a grace period is there? Hoping to get a decent 3070 at this point.

Thus far they have been between 12ish and 130pm est. This doesnt mean future ones will be.

There is no grace period. You have if you are lucky a few minutes to get the url and do whatever they ask and get in queue. They tend to sell out in about 20-30 min but that is after the whole check out process/ manual verification ect ect ect. In reality you probably have...2 minutes if that to get in queue to have a hope of getting one.

[Alcarin]

1 minute ago, Nexxus said:

Thus far they have been between 12ish and 130pm est. This doesnt mean future ones will be.

There is no grace period. You have if you are lucky a few minutes to get the url and do whatever they ask and get in cue. They tend to sell out in about 20-30 min but that is after the whole check out process/ manual verification ect ect ect. In reality you probably have...2 minutes if that to get in cue to have a hope of getting one.

I assume this is only during weekdays? Yea I agree with the poster before you... RIP if you work/have kids. Fortunately no kids, but work is from 7:30AM clear through to 4PM PST. And I'm on mandatory overtime for the next couple weeks.

[United AIM]

Where do they post to have a chance to get a card? Youtube? Just a live video?

 

[Nexxus]

7 minutes ago, United AIM said:

Yeah I hear ya. Some people have lives, kids, jobs. Can't pay attention all the time. I guess team no life's will take this one lol. btw I do have alerts on.

Way to be condescending. 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Alcarin said:

I assume this is only during weekdays? Yea I agree with the poster before you... RIP if you work/have kids. Fortunately no kids, but work is from 7:30AM clear through to 4PM PST. And I'm on mandatory overtime for the next couple weeks.

Its whenever they feel like, as its been mentioned there is 0 way to make it fair for everyone. They are going to be mixing up times for people in the EU but there it hasnt happened yet. All you can do is watch LTT videos ASAP if you can. if not oh well.

[Alcarin]

2 minutes ago, Nexxus said:

Way to be condescending. 

 

 

Its whenever they feel like, as its been mentioned there is 0 way to make it fair for everyone. They are going to be mixing up times for people in the EU but there it hasnt happened yet. All you can do is watch LTT videos ASAP if you can. if not oh well.

Yea I understand what you're saying, just feeling bummed out I guess. Thanks for helping though.

 

Too bad I live 5-7 hours (depending on traffic) away from the nearest Microcenter (LA).

[United AIM]

Yeah. Only place that sells GPU are local shops. Which they scalp too! 

LINUS! IF YOU HEAR US! HELP THE PEOPLE WHO CANT GET ON BECAUSE WE'RE EITHER WORKING OR DEALING WITH KIDS! lol

[AlexP11223]

3 hours ago, Nexxus said:

They are going to be mixing up times for people in the EU

For EU current time is fine, it's 6-8 pm.

[LogicalDrm]

10 hours ago, Locke_d said:

Wondering, has anyone who got lucky in the first drop and lives in the US received detailed shipping info? I got the tracking number on 3/25, but the FedEx tracking has just said "Shipment information sent to FedEx" with no further updates.

That means that the work order has been made to system (= the tracking number assigned), but the shipment hasn't been picked up from warehouse or delivered to drop-off. This is quite common, the stores here do it all the time. They might not send things after every drop, maybe as bigger batches so it might take bit longer to process.

 

5 hours ago, United AIM said:

How do i sign up for the program? I just built my 5800x setup. I'm using my old 9800GT currently. I really want to play Warzone, Zombies, PUBG. 

5 hours ago, Nexxus said:

We should really sticky a message on "how to join" 

Yeah... I'll handle that. it might not help overall, but at least we have single post I can edit, update and link to.

 

[LogicalDrm]

*** IMPORTANT *** LATEST INFO ***

***

Latest drop was made 2021-09-28 17:11 UTC

The drop is over, we have no info about when, what or where the next will be. Follow LinusTechTips on Youtube for any new drops.

***

EXPECTED TO DROP NEXT:

• Intel Arc GPUs (hinted at Dec 24th WAN Show)

***

About shipping and handling

• Handling times seem to be 1 week from drop to shipping label created.
• Shipping times depend on carrier. For outside of NA, the carrier is FedEx and shipping times seem to be regular 5-14 days. For US and Canada, the shipping times might be same, or even longer.
• Any additional charges, like customs fees and local VAT are paid on entry to country. There has been variation between countries to whom payments are made (FedEx on delivery, FedEx to their office, custom directly), so contact your local FedEx or customs offices for more details on those.

***

Known drops:

1. Asus 3070, 3080 and 3090, 2021-03-20 17:40 UTC

Spoiler

 

2. MSI 3080 SeaHawk, 2021-03-30 16:59 UTC

Spoiler

3. AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 2021-04-09 00:59 UTC

Spoiler

 

4. Asus TUF 6800XT, 2021-04-24 01:57 UTC / During WAN Show

Spoiler

 

5. Asus TUF 6800XT, 2021-04-26 17:05 UTC

Spoiler

 

6. EVGA RTX 3060 XC Gaming / RTX 3070 FTW3 Ultra, 2021-05-06 20:29 UTC

Spoiler

 

7. MSI RTX 3080 Ti VENTUS 3X OC, 2021-09-28 17:11 UTC

Quote

$1589.99

***
 

Spoiler

 

PARTICIPATION ENDED! If you are local to LMG (Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada), you can participate to this https://gleam.io/nntHg/verified-actual-gamer-program-can-you-beat-linus

Announced in WAN Show https://youtu.be/-qj6hkLkdYg?t=2450

The even video (also 6th drop video)

 

***

FAQ

 

How do I enter? Can I enter? Where to signup?

You don't. All information about the drops are posted to Youtube and are hidden in videos. So far all drops have been on LinusTechTips main channel.

 

UPDATE: One of the drops was made live, during the WAN Show on Fridays. Until now there has been no drops on Friday or weekends.

 

UPDATE: For limited time, you can participate with local event https://gleam.io/nntHg/verified-actual-gamer-program-can-you-beat-linus

 

I watched the video, but there were no information. Where do I find this?

The information about the drop is removed from video after the drop is over.

 

When are videos posted?

At the moment LMG is using their regular timeslot which is 10-11AM PST (17-18 UTC).

UPDATE: LMG has posted in different timeslot to allow those in school or working chance.

 

How does this work?

So far the known information is following:

• Video is posted on Youtube and Floatplane at the same time.
• There's segment in video where Linus gives a hint about what link you need to use in order to enter. The hints are words and Linus uses his fingers to state what parts of the link they are. The links start with http://www.lttstore.com/. Link is temporary and will only show note about drop ending afterwards.
  • UPDATE: Previously there was actual cut-scene, latest drop had just voice-over during b-roll.
• There will be challenge on store page.
  • The first two drops had 15 question quiz about video games. You have 3 lives and 3-4 options to choose from. Fastest to finish will get their chance to buy items.
    • Besides 3 lives, you can skip 2 questions.
    • The latest drop had questions in video format with some answers shown as "A/B/C/D" and some as written normally.
  • UPDATE: Latest drop had small flash game in style of Jump King / Icy Tower.
• Item of the drop is shown on store page before taking the quiz. You will see the price and other details too.
• UPDATE: After completing challenge, you are put onto queue with AFK meter to prevent idling. Forgetting to re-charge bar will drop you at the tail end of the line
• Prices are before VAT, tariffs etc. and shown in USD. Price after tariffs (US only) are shown on page.
• You are allowed to buy one CPU and one GPU from this event. (Source)
  • Confirmed by Linus

 

Can you tell me when the next drop is?

No, because we don't know.

 

I'm at school/sleeping/working/have other reasons and can't watch at current time slot.

Linus has said that they will at some point use different time slot. What it is, we don't know. UPDATE: The time slot for later time was 12PM-1AM UTC.

 

Why can't they have link or more information somewhere?

Because the whole point is make this as hard as possible for anyone but the absolute most dedicated fans.

 

Why they don't collect list of people? Why aren't forum members, Floatplane subscribers etc. prioritized?

List wouldn't do anything. There would still need to be draw of sort needed, and the list would consist more of non-gamers the longer it was left open. Prioritizing forum members would discriminate towards other parts of audience.

 

Having payment as requirement to join or as something making "winning" more likely is classified as lottery under laws. This would require permit, it would exclude several regions which require local permits or don't allow any lottery, and it would put age limit of 19 years in place.

 

Can I try quiz afterwards?

At the moment, no. But there might be site at some point after event ends.

 

***

Posts made by Luke and Linus.

Spoiler

 

***

WAN Show segments

Spoiler

WAN Show Jun 4, 2021

26:25 - 27:10 "We currently have no stock, but the program is still on"

1:23:00 - 1:23:30 One board partner with some 3080Ti's coming

 

WAN Show April 23, 2021

17:43 - 34:43 VAG Drop live on stream

43:15 - 44:50 VAG drop is over, hinted about 270 more cards

1:16:40 - 1:17:44 Some last minute info

***

WAN Show April 16, 2021

1:36:30 Super-chats

***

WAN Show April 9, 2021

13:20 - 13:40 The latest drop info
40:50 - 43:55 The local event info
1:15:35 - 1:17:34 Super-chats #1
1:24:25 - 1:24:47 Super-chats #2
1:25:47 - 1:26:07 Super-chats #3

***

WAN Show August 27, 2021

1:05:40 - Super-chats

***

WAN Show October 8, 2021

2:06:20 - Super-chats

Here Linus says that Verified Actual Gamer program would be suspended until further notice. Reason given was that retail prices are about same as so-called "scalper prices". Making the program pointless.

***

 WAN Show December 24, 2021

1:09:10 onward

***

 

To be updated

***

Misc:

Spoiler

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14584314

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14584685

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14584833

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14590605

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14599356

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14599549

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14629352

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=14677960

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information/?do=findComment&comment=15015997

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1312490-verified-actual-gamer-program-information-see-best-answer-2021-10-08-update/?do=findComment&comment=15171174

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by LogicalDrm
Updated with latest info

[gloop]

38 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

*** IMPORTANT *** LATEST INFO ***

Latest drop was made 2021-03-29 16:59 UTC

The drop is over, we have no info about when, what or where the next will be. Follow LinusTechTips on Youtube for any new drops.

***

Known drops:

1. Asus 3070, 3080 and 3090, 2021-03-20 17:40 UTC

  Reveal hidden contents

 

2. MSI 3080 SeaHawk, 2021-03-30 16:59 UTC

  Reveal hidden contents

***

FAQ

 

How do I enter? Can I enter? Where to signup?

You don't. All information about the drops are posted to Youtube and are hidden in videos. So far all drops have been on LinusTechTips main channel.

 

I watched the video, but there were no information. Where do I find this?

The information about the drop is removed from video after the drop is over.

 

When are videos posted?

At the moment LMG is using their regular timeslot which is 10-11AM PST (17-18 UTC).

 

How does this work?

So far the known information is following:

• Video is posted on Youtube and Floatplane at the same time.
• There's segment in video where Linus gives a hint about what link you need to use in order to enter. The links start with http://www.lttstore.com/. Link is temporary and will only show note about drop ending afterwards.
• There will be challenge on store page. The first two drops had 15 question quiz about video games. You have 3 lives and 3-4 options to choose from. Fastest to finish will get their chance to buy items.
• You don't know what item is on sale or at what price before completing the quiz (yet to be confirmed).
• Prices are before VAT, tariffs etc. and shown in USD. Price after tariffs (US only) are shown on page.

 

Can you tell me when the next drop is?

No, because we don't know.

 

I'm at school/sleeping/working/have other reasons and can't watch at current time slot.

Linus has said that they will at some point use different time slot. What it is, we don't know.

 

Why can't they have link or more information somewhere?

Because the whole point is make this as hard as possible for anyone but the absolute most dedicated fans.

 

Why they don't collect list of people? Why aren't forum members, Floatplane subscribers etc. prioritized?

List wouldn't do anything. There would still need to be draw of sort needed, and the list would consist more of non-gamers the longer it was left open. Prioritizing forum members would discriminate towards other parts of audience.

 

Having payment as requirement to join or as something making "winning" more likely is classified as lottery under laws. This would require permit, it would exclude several regions which require local permits or don't allow any lottery, and it would put age limit of 19 years in place.

 

***

Posts made by Luke and Linus.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

***

WAN Show segments

  Reveal hidden contents

To be updated

***

Misc:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Thank you, that’s extremely well put together. But sadly, a large amount of people will probably just skip that and ask the questions clearly answered. 

[LogicalDrm]

26 minutes ago, gloop said:

Thank you, that’s extremely well put together. But sadly, a large amount of people will probably just skip that and ask the questions clearly answered. 

I'm aware. But at least now it's easier to tell where to look since thread has 10 pages worth of information.

[Junction Runner]

HeY gUyS hOw Do I sIgN uP?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully that post does help reduce how much that happens.

[AlexP11223]

40 minutes ago, EcJx said:

hoping to find a rx5700xt

hm, I think developers are usually interested in Nvidia/CUDA.

 

For previous gen GPUs it is not so bad, you can usually find used on ebay or whatever is your local alternative, though price will be higher than normal.

40 minutes ago, EcJx said:

we need a *verified developer program* 

Yeah, and then verified video editor, verified 3D modeler, verified architect, ..., verified miner (scalpers hurt them too!)

[LordPoopGreen]

50 minutes ago, AlexP11223 said:

Yeah, and then verified video editor, verified 3D modeler, verified architect, ..., verified miner (scalpers hurt them too!)

Hey don't forget us engineers

[Drea]

17 hours ago, Locke_d said:

Wondering, has anyone who got lucky in the first drop and lives in the US received detailed shipping info? I got the tracking number on 3/25, but the FedEx tracking has just said "Shipment information sent to FedEx" with no further updates.

I'm in the exact same situation, would you care to tell me if you find something else out?