Alchemy Stars Lottery Gives Away Criminal Law Books & Romance Novel Currency — The Most Absurd Game Prizes Ever?

What's the weirdest prize you've ever seen in a game lottery? Merch? Figures? Stockings? Alchemy Stars' official team said: amateurs. We're giving our players — criminal law books. Yes, you read that right.

Here's what happened. Alchemy Stars (白夜极光) is about to release a new 5-star character named Bitaman (彼亚塔曼), whose in-game persona is a judge. So the dev team launched a lottery event to celebrate, and the prize is a full five-volume set of "Luo Xiang on Criminal Law" — a famous Chinese legal education book series by a celebrity law professor. That's right: pull for a judge, win criminal law.

But wait, there's more. Another character releasing at the same time is a romance novelist — and her lottery prize is even more on the nose: 20,000 Jinjiang Coins (virtual currency for China's biggest female-oriented romance fiction platform) or a one-year WeChat Reading membership. The synergy between character lore and prize theme is almost uncanny.

The post instantly blew up on NGA forums. One commenter quipped: "Why not just give away the actual criminal code instead of this guy's books?" — a dig at the author's controversial reputation in legal circles. Others compared it to another game's stocking giveaway, sarcastically calling it "Tencent trying to copy someone else's homework."

However, veteran players were quick to point out that Alchemy Stars has been doing this for a long time — well before any stocking promotions became trendy. The game has a well-established tradition of giving away absurd prizes tied to character lore: wheelchairs (for a wheelchair-bound character), cat teaser toys (for a cat-girl character), rainbow wigs (matching a character's hair color), a repeating crossbow (a character's weapon of choice), and even insect specimen art (a bug-loving character). One player noted: "Alchemy Stars has been doing themed weird prizes way before other games even launched."

The Jinjiang Coins prize especially resonated with the community. One user observed: "Giving away Jinjiang Coins means they know their core audience really well" — a nod to the game's surprisingly large female player base, which once caused drama on the international server over insufficient male character releases. Others were more practical: "Five volumes?! By the time you finish reading those, the event will be ancient history."

All in all, Alchemy Stars has carved out a unique niche with this "character-themed prize" marketing approach. Rather than generic merch, these meme-worthy, lore-relevant giveaways generate way more buzz in the gaming community. Whether it's criminal law or romance fiction — you have to admit, the marketing team truly understands their characters.