Q&A with gamer & content creator Alpharad

Best known as a content creator, musician, and esports personality, Alpharad – aka Jacob Alpharad – brings his signature brand of humor to Nintendo games like Super Smash Bros on his YouTube channel. We chatted with him about his favorite games and more.

Alpharad: “I grew up making home videos with my friends, but really wasn't much of a gamer outside of casually playing multiplayer games. I was like 18 and my friend showed me a highly-edited gaming video on YouTube. I said, man, this looks awful. I can do so much better. So I immediately went and recorded some footage, made a gaming video and suddenly I had a whole career in it.”

Alpharad: “I think my favorites are the ones that get me out of the house. Like I am a huge fan of Pokémon GO. Especially when any game tracks like, oh, you've played it seven days in a row – here's a reward. That arbitrary number really hits the little fixation in my head so I'm like, oh, I need to go outside. I need to walk and get my groceries. I need to go walk and get dinner.”

Alpharad: “I'd love to show Beethoven what's in any video game under the sun. I mean, I don't think I'm super like starry eyes with other streamers or celebrities, but I think defying the odds and resurrecting a great from the dead to show 'em Call of Duty – that'd be fun.”

Alpharad: “I wouldn’t necessarily choose games I like best but games I could replay. So I feel like Tetris has to be one of 'em. It might also be some roguelikes. I'm assuming there’s no internet connection on this deserted island, so I’d choose solo games. It'd probably be Tetris, Spelunky, and Neon White. I could grind at those for the rest of my life and die on this island, but happily.”

Alpharad: “I've hit a lot of milestones in my career, but I think the one I cared about most was the first 100,000 followers. YouTube sends you the silver play button and everything. I was in college and could barely pay rent because I was skipping class and work shifts to upload YouTube videos. My grandfather asked me what was going on. So, I came clean and told him what I was doing.”

“I didn't expect anyone in my family to support it, but he saw the vision and even offered to pay half my rent just to see where it went. And it worked out. When I got the silver play button, I gave it to my grandfather and he displayed it in his office at work, which is really funny because his clients would come in and just assume this 70-year-old man has a side hustle on YouTube.”