getrumblr.com

Rumblr, an app that helps people find and engage in recreational fighting, is set for a test release Monday.

A beta trial version will go to the first 2,000 individuals who registered to use the app, and more than 78,000 people had shown an initial interest, per Alfred Ng of the New York Daily News.

While this might sound like a bit of a joke, the creators insist it's a serious proposition and that they have "substantial funding" to make a "Tinder for fighting" happen.

Per Ng:

"We have raised relatively substantial funding from private American investors and the app is fully developed," the Rumblr team told the Daily News in an email. The beta for the fighting app will be launched on Nov. 9, at 5 p.m. EST, the team said. "Rumblr is an app for recreational fighters to find, meet and fight other brawl enthusiasts nearby," according the app's website. It encourages users to insult their matched opponents with this pro-tip: "tell your match what you don't like about their picture."

If a fight is agreed, the location is made public so others can go watch, while there are filter systems for women (RumblrHER) and groups (RumblrGROUP).

The Daily News added, "The team was directly working with the iOS store to hash out legal issues preventing Rumblr's approval."

This all seems a little familiar...

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The new No. 1 rule of fight club is that you download the app.

Update

It turns out the app was actually a hoax by a creative consulting agency called von Hughes.

The agency released the following statement:

Rumblr started as a portfolio project to help us launch our creative consulting agency, von Hughes. We’re a team of college dropouts with backgrounds in marketing, design, and engineering. Rumblr came about organically as a funny idea amongst a group of friends, but quickly budded into an opportunity to showcase our branding skills. Within a day or two, VentureBeat picked it up as a news story and, within another day or two, it spread to over two hundred news outlets globally. We saw it as an opportunity to show the world our ability to produce a brand and market a product, and that’s what we did. This is our attempt to turn this entire story into something positive. We’ve collectively slept for twenty hours the last three days producing the web application, managing social media marketing efforts, and pursuing news coverage. Rumblr became a relevant topic in multiple countries, cultures, and languages.



We understand that some of you were genuinely looking forward to using an app like Rumblr, and we’re sorry to disappoint. However, if you still are truly wishing to release some built-up angst, consider fighting more pressing issues such as gang violence, domestic abuse, and at-risk youth culture.

Well played guys.

[New York Daily News]