Perfect Balance: EdBoi Gaming Meets Intel Gaming Access

At Intel Gaming Access, we’re always on the lookout for ways to maxx your fun, from the hottest recommendations, to top tier giveaways and unique developer insights. But we slept on one very important addition to the world of gaming, one joyful essential accessory, one dopamine-raising bit of kit, and we’re here to make up for that now. It’s not new, but it might just be a revolution in the making. It’s… the unicycle.

No, we’re fine, thanks for asking. And yes, you did read that right. The unicycle is here to transform your gaming enjoyment in ways you never thought possible, and it’s thanks to a content creator called EdBoi Gaming—an unassuming Midwesterner who’s the pioneer, possible inventor, and almost certainly the master of the extreme sport of gaming while unicycling. We hopped on the Intel office unicycle (we do so have one) and pedalled over in a totally straight line to ask a few questions.

So how does a unique endeavor like this even begin? “My childhood friend Peter got one for Christmas,” EdBoi began, “and my friend Jake had one rusting in his yard so he let me have it and we started a pack of unicyclists in my home town.” An interest in gaming was evolving parallel to this. “The first game I ever played was Pokemon Yellow on my Gameboy, then the James Bond series on PS1, then Super Smash Bros on GameCube, then Call of Duty on PS3.” It took a while, however, for the activities to merge and result in perhaps the most excitement you can have on one wheel. “Funnily enough, my unicycle broke during my Call of Duty year, and I sold my PS3 to fix it. When I enrolled in college, I got back into gaming and was a big COD Modern Warfare III fan. In between classes, I made it my goal to drop a nuke while on my unicycle. People on my dorm-room floor would watch me try. My ‘first viewers’ if you will!”

And now he has up to 21 million of them. “YouTube started off providing me the most love,” EdBoi explains. “They loved the interactions from random people finding out I’m riding a unicycle while playing. One video doing 21+ million views and that one video getting over 100K subs because of it…” For anyone out there trying to find a unique angle from which to share their gaming journey, this may seem impossible to replicate (even without the unicycle) but Edboi Gaming has some pretty straightforward advice to share, and a level-headed approach.

“I run a small exterior cleaning business with my close friend Joe. I stream every morning 7:00am–9:30am on the unicycle Monday through Friday before work. I stream about 13 hours a week and edit about 21 hours a week. Over the past three-to-four years, I’ve made over 1,200 videos before I’ve made any money from it. I tried many different types of challenges and videos before this one stuck. Gosh, I can’t know exactly, but it had to take me at least 2,200 hours before getting my first paycheck.”

Now the perseverance is paying off, what’s the wildest thing that has happened since then? “Someone reaching out to me with an opportunity to work with Intel,” EdBoi says. “Sometimes when you are working on something for so long without a payoff you question if you are good enough, skilled enough, or funny enough to be considered an ‘entertainer’ in the space. When you make videos that do well, you eventually get a hate comment every hour—so when you get a company or a person who likes your stuff enough to have an opportunity to have work, it can seem wild that it actually worked.”

We think the reason it works is the sincere marriage of skill and enjoyment—you can’t fake either, and keep viewers. It wasn’t EdBoi’s first attempt to find something that clicked but it had to work for him, first. “I was a college wrestler and mixed martial artist,” EdBoi explains. “When I game on a unicycle, the physicality and challenge it provides give me a similar feeling.” And the emotional side? “I play Battle Royales, mostly. The thrill of being the last one alive of 50-150 people is such a payoff. To face people who sit down inches from their screen while I am constantly moving six feet from my screen, while also trying my best to aim correctly with physical limitations I chose to give myself, and being the best out of all those real people is exhilarating.”

What truly keeps us as viewers coming back for more is what’s at the heart of this crazy endeavor: connection. “My best videos aren’t from an amazing clip or the mechanics of the game,” EdBoi says. “The unicycle doesn’t matter. The game doesn’t matter. Our best memories are usually from how we experienced this game with other people. Figure out how to show that and you will do well.”

It sounds like EdBoi has got it figured, in his own unique way. But what does the future hold for a unicycling FPS player in the ever-changing world of gaming? “I want to share it with the world,” EdBoi enthuses. “I want to find people while unicycling up to them on the streets at random. Challenging them to a 1v1 on the spot. Risk losing to a unicycling gamer or win a product or a cash prize! Possibly challenging athletes in their world and then challenging them in my world. Trying other physical challenges while gaming with painful stakes. Something the world hasn’t seen before but something that could captivate an audience, and maybe make them laugh more than they have before.”

He’s done it once, so we’re certainly not betting against EdBoi Gaming doing it again. But, whether or not we ever get on a unicycle ourselves, what can gamers of all levels learn from EdBoi’s journey? We’ll leave the last words to EdBoi himself. “Everyone starts from zero,” he affirms. And who knows where (or on how many wheels) you’ll end up.

Follow EdBoi Gaming on YouTube.