Twitch is great for plenty of things. Yes, it started out with gaming, but now you'll find people streaming music, arts and crafts, or just chatting. There are still plenty of gaming streams too, so don't worry about missing out on that.
As great as Twitch is, you might find yourself wishing it was more interactive. Yes, you can chat, but the actual outcome of the game you're watching doesn't really mean anything to you. What if that wasn't the case?
What Is Salty Bet?
Salty Bet is a combination of two things. On one hand, it's a Twitch stream that shows the M.U.G.E.N. fighting game engine. This particular instance is packed with characters you'll recognize and some you won't. You'll see characters from fighting games like the Street Fighter series, but also random characters from, well, anywhere.
That's only part of it. If you've only seen the Twitch stream, you may wonder why the name of the stream is Salty's Dream Cast Casino. The answer is that the "bet" part of the name is true: you bet on the outcome of the A.I.-powered fights.
Do You Gamble With Real Money?
Salty Bet is only for fun, so no real money is involved. Instead of cash or cash-equivalent tokens, you bet with "Salty Bucks." The only thing you can do with these Salty Bucks is bet with them, and the only point of betting is to win more Salty Bucks.
There is a leader board, so banking the most Salty Bucks earns you slightly more than simple bragging rights, but not much, and never for long. If you run out of Salty Bucks (and if you're a beginner, you're almost guaranteed to), don't worry. When you run out, you're given a small sum to start over.
How Do You Get Started?
You can't bet on the Twitch website, so you'll need to go to the official Salty Bet website. This is also where you'll need to go to see the leaderboards. All you need to do is sign up to get started.
In the middle of the screen you'll see the main fights happening, with the betting screen below. You'll see how many Salty Bucks you have available and between fights you can pick the red or blue fighter to bet on. Once the fight begins, you'll see the odds each opponent has of winning.
In the top right, you'll see your username. Next to this are two numbers. The one in green is your current winning or losing streak. Next to that is your place on the leaderboard.
Strategies for Beginners
Because you only see the odds after the fight starts, you can't rely on odds unless you write them down for every character or have an extremely good memory.
You can try reading the chat to figure out who to bet on, but you'll find plenty of misinformation here. Once you've either watched or bet on a few fights, you'll have a better idea of who to bet on.
One strategy that often works is to bet on the smaller character. Because of their size, smaller characters have smaller hitboxes. This means they have a smaller chance of getting hit. This isn't a guarantee, but it's one of the few strategies that has a history of working.
One final strategy: You'll see plenty of people in the chat talking about going all-in, but this is rarely a good idea.
Need Some Variety in Your Twitch Streams?
Of course, Salty Bet isn't the only way you can find variety in your Twitch streams. As mentioned at the top, you can find plenty of people streaming various different activities. Even if you stick to games, you'll find a ton of varieties in what people are playing.
Anyone who has watched Twitch streams for a while likely has a few favorite streamers. If you're new to Twitch or just looking to add some more variety, try following some new streamers!