If you’re desperate to pre-order a new video game but you’ve spent all your money on beer and soft drinks, there could be a solution.
The post-apocalyptic Fallout series, for those who are unaware, uses bottle caps as currency. So when a fan of the franchise wanted to pre-order its fourth installment, he sent more than 2,000 of the things to the game’s developer Bethesda Game Studios.
The fan, known only as Seth, enclosed a letter in which he explained: “I only saw prices listed in pre-war dollars, and I wasn’t exactly sure what the exchange rate is these days, so I went ahead and sent everything I’ve been able to save since I played Fallout 3 for the first time.”
Incredibly, Bethesda honoured the alternative currency, with the company’s global community lead Matt Grandstaff confirming the payment on Twitter.
Yes, my office smells like beer #Fallout4 pic.twitter.com/0VSGMV7NNF
— Matt Grandstaff (@gstaffinfection) June 24, 2015
Seth claims to have arrived at the figure of 2,240 bottle caps by “using my bathroom scale and a number I found on Wikipedia”.
Unfortunately for other fans with a surplus of bottle caps, it looks like copycat Seths won’t be quite as lucky, as Bethesda seem to have capped the giveaway at one copy.
@IronMonger5150 we’re rewarding the first guy. Bank is closed 🙂
— Matt Grandstaff (@gstaffinfection) June 26, 2015
Fallout 4 will be released on November 10, with a collector’s edition including a real-life version of the game’s trademark Pip-Boy smartwatch.
It is not yet clear whether Seth sent enough bottle caps to qualify for the collector’s edition.