A bride in China is going viral for giving her husband-to-be a wild challenge: making him beat her at Valorant before they could officially marry.
A video showing the couple facing off in Riot’s tactical first person shooter has racked up nearly three million views in just one day. In the clip, the bride — decked out in her wedding finery and delicate hair ornaments — takes virtual shots at her soon-to-be lawfully wedded opponent, who sits across from her while a group of friends and family look on in amusement.
While this is certainly a unique way to celebrate one’s nuptials, it isn’t totally out of the ordinary. In fact, pre-wedding challenges like these are actually part of Chinese culture. They’re called ‘door games,’ and they’re a playful, lighthearted way to prepare for the actual ceremony and following reception.
Traditionally, these are silly tasks organized by bridesmaids that the groom must successfully complete in order to ‘earn’ the right to actually marry his bride. They usually take place the morning before the wedding at the home of the bride’s family, and his groomsmen are often enlisted to help. It’s a symbolic way of making the groom ‘prove his worth’ before he takes the bride’s hand in marriage.
Door games can be anything the bridesmaids choose, really; according to China Insider, these generally involve tasks like eating unusual foods, athletic challenges like doing push-ups, or testing their knowledge with trivia. In this case, the bridesmaids decided to put his elite gaming skills to the test — and it went so viral that even the official Valorant Instagram account took notice.
“Wait, the wife is lowkey locked in,” it said in a comment.
“The problem is if he wins, she will remember it for life, and he would not hear the end of it, but if he doesn’t, it would be near impossible to find another gem like her,” one viewer joked, while another called it the true definition of “skill-based matchmaking.”
Even the CEO of pro esports team GAM commented, saying, “How do we sign her?”
This is the latest gamer wedding to go viral after a Pokémon fan was able to fund his wedding by selling a trio of rare Charizard cards that had been stored in his attic for a mind-boggling $44,000.
And in 2024, a streamer couple took social media by storm for their Black Ops 6-themed wedding that they held at the Call of Duty Next event in Washington, D.C. Now, that’s true love.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.