fdawg

[fdawg @_fdawg]

Just placed a $120.00 Pick3 bet on PREMIER Road to the Artemis Gallop R23!

Tail me?

🎯 Picks: 1,6 / 3,4 / 1,3

@betvibewin #betvibe #finishstrongfriday

🔗 https://t.co/OJesDZxMvJ

[Jeff Opdyke (jeffo) @DigitalRoamad]

32nd running of the @photofinishgame Kentucky Derby ran yesterday. I put it though my PFL Derby Think-o-Lator, and it told me:

Elyra Splynt is the 2nd consecutive SS- winner. She follows Season 31 SS- winner Texas heat. 4 of top 6 yesterday were SS-, for what that's worth.

[fdawg @_fdawg]

It's Derby Day in @photofinishgame. $500 for the winner of the Pick 3 🌹🏇

Just placed a $180.00 Pick3 bet on Twin Spires Sprint!

Tail me?

🎯 Picks: 8,18,20 / 2,12,14 / 1,5,10,12

@betvibewin #betvibe

🔗 https://t.co/cnwCd7qJM3

[fdawg @_fdawg]

@Joopiefarms @ThirdTimeIan @ColdPlungeCap @photofinishgame What’s your deadlift max gotta do with them repping sets?

[fdawg @_fdawg]

@ThirdTimeIan @ColdPlungeCap @Joopiefarms @photofinishgame 0 posts and 5.1k replies is diabolical work 😂

[fdawg @_fdawg]

Just placed a $90.00 Exacta bet on Graded Road to the Harbor Sprint R67!

🎯 Picks: 1, 5, 9 (Boxed)

@betvibewin #betvibe #FinishStrong

🔗 https://t.co/mqgvUjdsti

[fdawg @_fdawg]

Just placed a $60.00 Exacta bet on Juvy Kingmaker LT Mid R12!

🎯 Picks: 2, 3, 5 (Boxed)

@betvibewin #betvibe #FinishStrong

🔗 https://t.co/m9RvXngESw

[fdawg @_fdawg]

Just placed a $30.00 Exacta bet on Celestial Rush Stakes Juvy!

🎯 Picks: 5, 6, 11 (Boxed)

@betvibewin #betvibe #FinishStrong

🔗 https://t.co/2Vd2P5Xfwc

[Photo Finish™ LIVE 🐎 Virtual Horse Racing @photofinishgame]

Announcing: Photo Finish™ LIVE x BetVibe

We are thrilled to announce a multi-dimensional strategic partnership with @betvibewin – a next-gen, fully decentralized parimutuel betting platform built on Solana, aiming to revolutionize the future of wagering.

But this isn’t just any partnership.

As part of the long-term agreement, BetVibe will integrate Photo Finish™ LIVE directly into its platform and allocate 50% of all platform revenue toward $CROWN token buybacks, reinforcing long-term value for the ecosystem.
🧵

[DeStables @DeStables_]

🏇👑🥇 @photofinishgame

"When $DERBY hits mainnet, Photo Finish will undeniably be the #1 game on Solana, and depending on the day, number 1 - 10 in ALL of crypto."

[fdawg @_fdawg]

@KryptoHry @StudTutbury @photofinishgame Good luck @KryptoHry

[Photo Finish™ LIVE 🐎 Virtual Horse Racing @photofinishgame]

A major step forward in the timeline of the Photo Finish franchise is almost upon us.

And this time, it's all about @solana.

Officially announcing the release of the "OpenTote Protocol".

Read more below... 👇

[David Chapman ⛏️ @dchapman]

The biggest paragraph in the article:

"This release marks a major shift from product to platform, offering rails for anyone to build simple or complex systems on top of a composable, secure, and audited next-generation parimutuel system, and the start of a major step function of innovation in the sometimes archaic world of wagering and tote technology."

@solana is now for wagering. And it flows to $CROWN.

[ItWasAllADream @AllADream3]

Just hit 1,000 paid wins in @photofinishgame 🏇💥

Didn’t get in early.
Didn’t have to spend big.
Didn’t live in Discord.

Just a regular player with a modest bankroll, a competitive spirit, and a love for the game.

17 straight seasons of being profitable EVERY racing season.

This is the best Web3 game right now by far, and here’s a thread on why 👇

2. Why PFL Is Special

Photo Finish Live isn’t just a race sim. It’s a brilliant blend of:
• DFS-style roster building
• Poker-level decision-making
• Gambling + game theory
• Traditional sports strategy
• Breeding + asset management

You build. You manage. You evolve. And every season, you get smarter. No two seasons are the same. And your edge can come from anywhere.

3. Joined Late. No Problem.

Season 13 (a little over a year ago) was my rookie season.

I missed the gold rush.
Horses were silly expensive. OGs had god-tier stables. The rest of us were just happy to get a three-legged donkey on the track.

Competing at the highest level isn’t cheap and it’s not easy. But I found an edge that works for me—and I firmly believe it’s easier than ever to start now.

I might not be at the top yet, but I’m working my way there, one underrated horse at a time.

4. The Track Record (Stable: It Was All A Dream)

• 1,000 paid wins
• 21% win rate (3rd stable to reach 1K wins with +20% win rate)
• 51% podium rate
• 17 straight seasons of being DERBY profitable
• $15k+ USD in racing profits
• $5k+ USD in fully loaded net profits after factoring breeding, buying, claiming and building a competitive stable
• 100% crown staked, zero extraction, continual reinvestment
• Built entirely from one stable: It Was All A Dream
• No Majors. No monsters. Just moisturized, staying in my lane, focused, flourishing.

5. My Strategy: Race First, Ask Questions Later

Early on, I focused on one thing: learn by racing.

• Bought a few low-priced horses
• Got crushed and studied why
• Sniped a few gems via claimers
• Negotiated quiet deals for unloved grinders

No splashy buys. Just testing and learning.
Over time, I built a profitable stable brick by brick.

6. Where I Hunt

I don’t chase the big Majors or god-tier glory (yet).

Instead, I’ve found success in less competitive segments:
• Lower-grade stakes (A through S-)
• Allowance races + Leaderboard
• Claimer circuit + Leaderboard
• Off-archetype distances
• The Senior Circuit (vets still have gas in the tank)

👉 Go where the whales aren’t to find an edge.

Caveat: That’s been my strategy to date.
PFL is special because there’s room to win your way:
Grinder or whale. Breeder or racer.
Chasing podiums or zagging while others zig—
the evolving game design supports it all.

7. Bootstrapped Everything

My studs have never been the popular guys in the barn.

So I fund all breeding + purchases from racing profits.

Every $CROWN stimmy I’ve ever received?
→ Reinvested into track staking
→ Which earns passive yield
→ Which goes into more racing + breeding
$CROWN is the real alpha.

8. Dad First, Degen Second

I’ve got young kids. I run a business. I don’t live in Discord and I don’t grind for hours a day.

And that’s fine.

If you want to go full degen, the game allows it.
But for me, it fits into stolen moments—often in the bathroom, the only quiet place I have. 💀

9. My Favorite Horses

Every season I’ve picked up $10–$20 horses that earned $100–$1K+ in profits.

Favorites:
• Spot (S-)
• Warzone (A)
• Jack’s Pink Lemonade (A+)
• Born to be Frisky (A+)
• Alexa (A)
• I Like Waffles (S)
• Lady Snickerdoodle (S-)

You can still find these if you're willing to:
• Scout claimers
• Dig through listings
• DM owners with fair offers
• Take calculated risks

Not every horse works out. Many don’t.
Sometimes you need to:
• Cut losses
• Shift distance/surface
• Wait for peak age
• Pivot to breeding

Every horse is a puzzle. Don’t force it.

This isn’t a lottery. It’s a game of data, edges, and experimentation.

10. Breeding? Still Trying.

I started breeding thinking my horse acquisition edge would dry up (it didn’t).

Candidly, I haven’t bred any killers yet…

But I’m having fun and I’m determined to crack it in a scalable way.

11. No Majors. No Problem.

Never won a Major.
Never entered a top-tier qualifier.
Never owned a god-tier monster.
Usually racing 2 grades below the big names.

But I’ve been quietly stacking wins and profits. Would I love to eventually take a crack at the top? No doubt.

Because It Was All A Dream...
Soon, it’ll be a dynasty.

12. Why Now Is THE Time to Join
• Prices are sane
• Game loop is smoother and improving
• Off-track betting is coming
• Staking rewards are real
• Daily hidden gems
• No Discord grind required

Low barrier. High upside. Still early.

13. Tips for New Stables
• Start small. Test distances, surfaces, race types.
• Claimers = secret weapon. Underrated runners are everywhere.
• Buy low. Race smart. Reinvest profits.
• Protect your mental bankroll—this game rewards long-term play.
• Study what’s working.
👉 @AIPaddock’s blogs (https://t.co/5Tm5oKbeV4) are pure gold.
👉 Community lead @sangudostables = elite onboarding + answers + vibes.

14. Final Thoughts

If you’ve been watching from the sidelines, this is your sign.

You don’t need a massive bankroll or god-tier bloodline to win in PFL.

What you do need is curiosity, consistency, and a willingness to learn.

I joined late. Built a consistently profitable stable. And I’m just getting started.
The edge is still out there.
The game is only getting better.

What starts as a dream…
Can become a dynasty. 🐴💭🔥

[fdawg @_fdawg]

@photofinishgame @ChickfilA Just FYI this leaderboard is from a couple days ago

Should be 1) absHP 2) Tomb 3) GVG

[fdawg @_fdawg]

What a smooth process!

1 - Baeza
2 - Journalism

🏇 Just placed a $50.00 Exacta bet on 2025 Belmont Stakes Virtual Simulation!!

Tail me?

- Picks: 6 / 7

@photofinishgame #otb

🔗 https://t.co/Mac8i5ZA4d

[DeStables @DeStables_]

Happy Foal's Day @photofinishgame !

Today we got an absolute beauty for our first Left Turf SS- horse with a 7.5⭐Filly

[ian c @ThirdTimeIan]

WHAT'S NEXT FOR $CROWN?

Photo Finish™ LIVE has quietly validated the crypto gaming thesis after tens of millions in organic platform volume and has positioned itself to deliver a complete revolution in accessible ownership and entertainment at the nexus of gambling, sports and video games.

TL;DR:

1. Photo Finish has proven itself as the premier digital racing platform after 2 years of successful operation in the hostile frontier of crypto gaming.

2. It’s authentic horse racing style afforded by our former EA SPORTS and FanDuel pedigree has produced the most legitimizing real-life partnership in crypto gaming - the Kentucky Derby / Churchill partnership

3. Horse racing is an underserved giant of an industry. Photo Finish is positioned as the undisputed contender to adapt it digitally, including wagering.

4. The $CROWN token is fully distributed, an economic advantage Photo Finish has over other gaming tokens.

5. Photo Finish is the top game by metrics on the most widely used chain in all of crypto, yet remains ultimately crypto agnostic to its great advantage.

6. Photo Finish Simulcast and ‘Off-Track Betting’ functionality are rapidly approaching and will redefine accessibility in horse racing.

7. The Off-Track Betting system will rebuy $CROWN off the market and inject it directly into race purses, adding a demand converter to the token from a large new source of capital.

INTRO

Let's get the harsh truth out of the way first. Legitimate offerings in crypto gaming are not just rare, but also near-universally unsuccessful. Whether it's due to a lack of experience, incentive to overpromise, attacking crowded genres with outsized competition, or simply because the "crypto" part of the game closes doors rather than opens them - across the board capital outflows demonstrate that the market has seemingly digested the results of the years chasing the staggering yet unsustainable heights of Axie Infinity, and decided that the crypto gaming thesis is null.

Despite this grim landscape, Photo Finish has emerged as a bastion of quality, with a proven gameplay core that has stayed sustainable and weathered the industry storm. With the impending launch of a multi-tiered viewing and wagering layer designed for mass casual accessibility, built atop a battle-tested competitive ownership economy,

Photo Finish now stands ready at the nexus of multiple rapidly expanding, billion-dollar industries. The pedigree of developers on our team includes veterans from nearly every well-known sports video game in existence, as well as multiple successful horse racing titles on mobile, all feeding into the authenticity which has secured one of the most groundbreaking partnerships in crypto gaming: Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby.

For these reasons, Photo Finish has consistently served as a legitimizing example for the crypto gaming thesis at large, and currently reigns as the top gaming application on the Solana blockchain by a wide margin. After years of galvanizing its core through rigorous gameplay refinement, it is uniquely positioned to flank a vastly underserved 400 billion dollar market.

Thus, Photo Finish LIVE stands as the undeniable vanguard of post-Axie crypto gaming, torch in hand, blazing a trail toward the market it seeks to ignite.

LORE

Imagine you dropped 0.2 SOL on an unassuming cartoon horse in September 2021, right at the fever pitch of NFT mania. Good for you, because you minted the only NFT project that managed to deliver a world-class consumer application out of thousands and thousands of deceased animal-themed NFTs, now smoldering in piles across marketplaces like Magic Eden or Tensor.

Photo Finish™ LIVE is the game that blossomed out of the explosive Stylish Studs mint, a 15k collection that was promptly sold out after being highlighted by Solana’s godfather and most generous patron, @solbigbrain. Big Brain Holdings would eventually become not only an investor but also a major player and believer in the Photo Finish ecosystem, now owning a virtual empire that has achieved the game’s highest rewards, including Kentucky Derby champion.

But he was not alone, the project attracted the attention and capital of familiar crypto gaming investors like @Coinbase and @recvcx to the tune of a modest $3.5 million dollar round. Notably, a substantially smaller sum raise than nearly every promising crypto game that has come and gone in the years since.

Fast forward and somewhat unbelievably, the trustfall orchestrated by Third Time with hopeful investors and a bootstrapped community of Stylish Studs yielded a fully operational real money gaming application. The conversion from hodgepodge NFT community to diehard gamers that has fueled over a hundred million dollars in platform volume was set into motion.

From two years ago to now,

- 268,571 races have been run
- $39.22M in prize money has been awarded
- $18.11M in breeding fees
- $23.25M in marketplace sales

To put that in perspective, a real money race has been run every 3 minutes and 55 seconds for over 2 years.

And these numbers will never be lower than they are today.

POWER IN PERFECTLY ALIGNED INCENTIVES

Taking wisdom from the icarian wreckages of Axie Infinity and Zed Run, we resolved to architect a more resilient economic foundation. Unlike many crypto gaming projects that rushed to market with unsustainable tokenomics, Photo Finish began with a crystal-clear vision: build an economic model where success comes from alignment rather than extraction.

The bedrock of this approach is $CROWN, a fixed-supply token capped at 250 million units. The distribution speaks volumes about the team's intentions with over 180,000,000 $CROWN of the allocated directly to the community via racing and staking rewards over a 2 year period, with team and early investor unlocks occurring on the same 2 year period.

$CROWN is part of a mechanism that turns players into virtual track owners who receive a percentage of all entry fees collected at their venues, creating a flywheel effect: increased racing activity generates more fees, driving higher yields to track owners, elevating $CROWN's value, while on the other side $CROWN is also offered as a reward incentive to participate in races. But the alignment is layered - the player who stakes the most $CROWN on a particular track becomes its majority owner, gaining control over track branding, custom event organization, and recently, token sponsorship deals. This latter feature allows external tokens to be distributed specifically at that track's races, driving additional racing through community-led coordination of external partnerships.

Yet, Photo Finish remains somewhat crypto agnostic. The game can be enjoyed using simple credit card payments via its virtual currency called “DERBY”, (much like Fortnite’s V-Bucks or Microsoft Points), while simultaneously offering full wallet integration for crypto-native users across multiple chains. A simple choice which immediately overcomes the lethal hamstring of crypto onboarding and opens the game to a vastly wider userbase while still benefitting its natives.

THE FATE OF $CROWN

As of today, April 7th, 2025 $CROWN has achieved complete distribution – 2 years of generous community allocation has finally concluded. $CROWN now enters territory where market dynamics are driven purely by utility and organic demand rather than distribution mechanics.

The market may be in tariff-driven shambles right now, but for us, the timing is perfect. The ecosystem has now weathered its initial volatility cycle – a period of explosive growth triggered by early reward generosity paired with unexpected token appreciation. The gradual tapering of $CROWN rewards has been a painful but necessary weaning process, without which a ponzi-implosion would have claimed the game’s economy permanently. Yet, metrics continue to be stable - still producing millions of dollars in volume every season. After its initial meteoric rise and inevitable slowdown, the flywheel is slowly beginning to turn again, and with the lack of supply overhang, $CROWN sits pure and poised alongside Photo Finish as it prepares for its next step towards mass accessibility as an integral ownership incentive framework that is threaded delicately through the game’s economy.

Over time there will only be more uses for $CROWN, but there will never be more $CROWN. Even ultra-simple in-game sinks like renaming a horse have siphoned over 500k $CROWN back into the treasury, while premium in-game services that pull in significantly higher sums like “PFL Pro” and API access are still in beta testing. The recent token integration with online casino https://t.co/B5qDOjajgl hints at further possibilities. This partnership serves as just one auxiliary example of how a token tied to a product with worldwide scope can evolve beyond its initial purpose. But perhaps most significant is the approaching OTB platform, which will introduce a buy-back mechanism that is sure to churn a fully distributed token supply favorably.

How?

A portion of every wager placed through OTB will purchase $CROWN directly from the open market, which will then flow into race purses, adding another gear to the flywheel.

THE SIZE OF THE WHALE

Ask someone to name their favorite horse racing video game, and you'll likely be met with a blank stare. The niche appears minuscule, but this framing fundamentally misunderstands what Photo Finish actually represents. Consider poker - merely a card game which undoubtedly has niche videogame adaptations of its own. However, when you add real money and an internet connection you get the enormously popular online poker world that exists today. Photo Finish is a most faithful horse racing simulation in this sense, because like real horse racing it is a money game, and the entertainment that fuels $100 billion dollars in wagering every year is built on exactly this. In this way it is unlike any other horse racing game on offer, and is virtually incomparable in its potential scope.

While the racing simulation forms the technical core, the wagering element is the crucial decider in determining this scope. Traditional horse racing faces significant barriers to entry – minimal technology and visual fidelity, aging infrastructure, and limited accessibility all contribute to its declining popularity especially in younger demographics despite massive latent interest. Photo Finish elegantly provides solutions to these issues through two revolutionary new products: Simulcast and OTB.

Simulcast transforms your local bar or restaurant into a virtual racing venue, with Photo Finish races displayed alongside traditional sports, introducing the excitement of the game and wagering to entirely new audiences. Meanwhile, OTB (Off-Track Betting) provides a frictionless digital interface for casual bettors – completely settled on-chain while remaining crypto-agnostic and significantly smoother and cheaper than any platform built to date. These innovations dramatically expand the addressable market beyond the relatively small pool of dedicated horse owners to the vastly larger audience of potential bettors.

With a core game that has undergone years of meticulous refinement, a fully distributed token primed for market buybacks through this new wide-appeal layer of OTB/Simulcast, the outlook isn't just exciting for Photo Finish – it represents a watershed moment for crypto gaming as a whole, just not from the direction many have come to expect. For the first time, a blockchain-enabled product is poised to capture significant market share in an established multi-billion dollar industry, not by emphasizing its crypto elements, but by simply offering a superior experience to existing alternatives.

APPLICATIONS PROVE CRYPTO CORRECT

The Photo Finish ecosystem and brand now stands at the precipice of a transformative shift that has the potential to greatly rewrite expectations in this space. For many observers, this breakthrough will seem sudden, but for its developers and dedicated community, the coming phase represents the culmination of years of focused building and refinement. The broader crypto gaming ecosystem benefits when projects like Photo Finish and Off The Grid demonstrate what's possible with an exacting development team.

As the regulatory environment in the United States continues to evolve, we're optimistic that other talented builders will bring their vision to life, collectively advancing the entire blockchain gaming ecosystem. The truth is that it was always going to take time for legitimate projects to emerge, but the hour soon approaches when real applications will define the success of crypto as a whole.

Now it’s Derby season, and the eyes of the racing world will turn toward Churchill Downs, and alongside it, Photo Finish™ LIVE will take its place as the definitive digital expression of horse racing's future. For those looking to witness this transformation firsthand, follow @photofinishgame and @thecrowntoken on Twitter for updates.

Just how big is the opportunity in front of us? (See the attached market sizing study below)

Want to learn more about how it works? (See the linked Youtube video below)

[ian c @ThirdTimeIan]

Did you know that @photofinishgame has been live for 2 years? What a long strange trip its been!

I was curious on the total number of races run, and as of this second, 268,571 real money races have run.

That's 1 real money race every 3 minutes and 55 seconds.

For 2 years.

[DeStables @DeStables_]

Leyton Orient won our 6th Major last night in the Third Time Championship Sprint with an amazing push from the back of the pack 🏆

This is our 1st Sprint Major victory and 2nd season in a row with a Major Winner from our stud - Upper 90 🧬