How Bawls Brought Gamers And Energy Drinks Together

Energy drinks are a relatively recent invention in the food world, depending on how you define them. Obviously, stimulants go way back, and caffeinated drinks like Coca-Cola in the 1800s once blurred the line between what's medicine and what's an energy drink (via Thrillist). Then, in the mid-20th century, a beverage called Dr. Enuf, which was full of caffeine and vitamins, made some early strides in the field of energy drinks in the United States.

Yet, according to the New York Times, the first true energy drink emerged from Japan. Although once openly enjoyed, amphetamines were outlawed in Japan in the 1950s, and so, a company called Taisho invented Lipovitan D — a little bottle of caffeinated, vitamin-rich tonic — in the '60s to serve the same purpose. Two decades later, Red Bull was invented using the key ingredient — taurine — and shortly became popular internationally, per Thrillist. Soon, others like Monster and Rockstar followed suit, and energy drinks were essentially all over the place by the early 2000s.

Innovations like the concentrated 5-Hour Energy, similar to Japan's Lipovitan D, and the Four Loko, which mixes energy and alcohol, diversified the energy market even further. However, there was one energy drink that came and went around the turn of the millennium, now forgotten by all but the most nostalgic and hardcore gamers.

Does anybody remember Bawls Guarana? According to the Bawls Guarana website, the drink was invented in 1996 as part of a class project to give college kids a tasty morning pick-me-up that isn't coffee. "I cannot stand coffee ... but I love the effects of caffeine," Hoby Buppert, the inventor of Bawls, informs Bon Appétit. The result of his search, which was partially inspired by the success of Red Bull, was a beverage made with an energy-boosting food from overseas: the guarana berry native to the Amazon Basin. This berry can make you just as alert and energetic as coffee, for twice as long and without the negative side effects.

BBC Travel explains the guarana berry — which grows to look like a wide-open eyeball — has long been cultivated by the Sateré-Mawé indigenous people for thousands of years. The berry is well known and celebrated in their homeland for its energizing and medicinal properties, something they view as mystical. Such traits made the crop a perfect ingredient for Bawls' invigorating coffee substitute, packaged inside of a non-slip-grip glass bottle with an easy-twist-off cap. Per Bon Appétit, the beverage was made in six different flavors: cherry, cherry cola, cola, ginger, orange, and original, which had a flavor resembling cream soda. It's no wonder gamers were drawn to the stuff.

It may have been the original gamer juice! However, Bon Appétit reports that the drink wasn't always meant to appeal to videogame culture. One good review of Bawls on a computer gaming site helped uncover its potential in this arena. Soon enough, people at local area network (LAN) parties — where people join up to connect systems and play games in close proximity — were drinking the stuff like crazy. Bawls began endorsing these LAN parties and events to increase brand awareness. 

Eventually, the company sponsored things like the Cyberathlete Professional League and even appeared in games like "Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel" and "Run Like Hell." Unfortunately for Bawls, the success of newcomers soon crowded the market, and although its original gaming drink is still around, it's not what it once was in terms of widespread popularity.

Energy drinks in general are still inseparable from gaming culture today. The 2022 videogame sensation "Stray," where players guide a cat through a post-apocalyptic world, uses energy drink cans as a type of currency, honoring this consistent part of gamer culture (via the Takeout). Surprisingly, Bawls Guarana is still the official drink of QuakeCon — a massive, annual LAN party in a world where LAN parties are becoming less common in favor of online events. Bawls' time in the spotlight was brief, but at least its status as the original drink of gamers is not entirely forgotten.