March Madness is set to get underway this week and as millions of Americans participate in a variety of bracket challenges, one is offering a trip to Mars as the reward for picking a perfect bracket.
The X Bracket Challenge Delivered by Uber Eats on social media platform X opened on Sunday when the NCAA tournament field was announced and participants can make their picks until 8 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, just before the round of 64 games tip off. X and Uber Eats partnered with SpaceX’s Starlink on one of the grand prize options for whomever defies the odds and picks a perfect bracket – a trip to Mars on SpaceX’s Starship at some future date.
The grand prize winner could alternatively choose between a $250,000 cash prize, a free year of residential Starlink service with the purchase of a kit, the chance to train like a SpaceX astronaut for a day, sending a personal item of choice to space on a Falcon 9 launch, or VIP viewing of a Starship launch.
Though millions of people submit brackets each year, no bracket has ever remained perfect throughout the entirety of March Madness as upsets and the volatility of college basketball have thus far spoiled every bracket at some point during the course of the tournament.
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There are 63 games in the NCAA basketball tournament – 32 games in the round of 64, plus 16 games in the round of 32, eight games in the Sweet 16, four games in the Elite 8, the two Final Four games and the national championship.
The X Bracket Challenge Delivered by Uber Eats is offering $100,000 as the first runner-up prize if there is no perfect bracket chosen. It will also offer four fantasy game prizes worth $10,000 each to the winners of those contests.
“We’re not just hosting a bracket challenge; we’re redefining how fans connect, compete, and dream big, all on a platform that’s already the heartbeat of real-time sports culture,” said Andrew Musk, lead product engineer. “With live leaderboards, fantasy games and a trip to Mars on the line, this is the ultimate playground for our global community.”
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The sheer improbability of picking a perfect bracket prompted billionaire Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett to offer a $1 billion grand prize for doing so. Unsurprisingly, the prize went uncollected and Buffett’s firm has since revised the challenge to offer company employees $1 million a year for a perfect bracket.
The NCAA analyzed the probability of making perfect picks for the 63 games in the March Madness bracket.
If a bracket picker guesses the outcome of each game, there is a 1 in 9.2 quintillion chance of picking a perfect bracket, per the NCAA. For reference, one quintillion is one billion billions.
The odds are slightly better for a bracket picker who is knowledgeable about college basketball, though they still face long odds of about 1 in 120.2 billion, according to the NCAA.
