An online application promised to be a virtual “fight club,” but after 300,000 tried to sign up, it turned out to be just like the movie—a mirage.
The app, which was set to launch on November 9, was called Rumblr, and billed itself as “the Tinder for fighting.” Its creators claimed it was “100 percent serious,” with a tag line reading “Meet. Fight. Conquer.”
Like Tinder, Rumblr set itself up as an app to help people with similar interests meet. But instead of dinner and a movie, the object would be knuckle sandwiches and pummeling.
Now we know it was just a hoax.
But it was a pretty good hoax; even the Daily News fell for it, reporting on Sunday that over 78,000 had signed up.
The app comes with a chat feature to talk trash and an interactive map, for users to find fights happening near them. It also has a filter system, with “RumblrHER” to find women fighting, and “RumblrGROUP” for crew brawls.
Fighters can also set up a profile for themselves, where they describe their age, height, weight, skill level and list their wins and losses.
It had to be too good to be true: the first rule of “fight club” is “don’t talk about fight club,” and for good reason.
In its mea culpa, the Daily News reported Monday that a lawyer told them such an app would have gotten users into a world of legal hurt.
“Outside the ring, it would just be assault,” said attorney Judd Burstein, who specializes in boxing cases. “It doesn’t matter that they’re consenting. Suppose two people agree to stab each other with knives, you’re still not allowed to do that.”
“The possibilities of disaster are endless,” he said.
The people behind the hoax did it for a marketing agency called von Hughes, according to the newspaper. Its creators, Jack Kim and Matt Henderson, are basking in the attention.
The Daily News reported that Kim’s LinkedIn profile claims he is a junior at Stanford, studying computer science, and that Henderson is an “award-winning marketing professional” studying business at Baruch College, according to his Facebook page.
What could be next? Perhaps “Robbr” to help thieves meet up; or “Scammr,” an app to connect all those rich royals in Nigeria who need to move millions to America, if you would just give them your bank account.
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