PUBG's Monster Chicken Royale brought a giant fire-breathing chicken to Karakin for April Fools 2022. Fight it or survive limited loot and fast zones.
I still remember the first time I dropped into Karakin and heard that awful, earth-shaking cock-a-doodle-doo. It was April 2022, and PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS had just unleashed its LABS mode Monster Chicken Royale. In 2026, the event is long over, but let me tell you, that 50-meter-tall bird remains one of the wildest April Fools experiments the battle royale genre has ever seen. If you missed it, here is what went down. 🐔
The premise was simple: take normal battle royale rules and squeeze an extra enemy between you and your foes. The Monster Chicken spawned at the start of every match and roamed the map. Players could track its location through a chicken-shaped icon on the World Map. Every player also had the Monster Chicken's HP bar displayed on their screen, so you always knew how close you were to a Winner Winner Monster Chicken Dinner. The win conditions were either to reduce the Monster Chicken's HP to zero or to be the last player standing by eliminating every other foe. I tried both. One was terrifying. The other was also terrifying.
Let me tell you, that bird did not cluck around. Its giant beak delivered deadly pecks, its crowing was earsplitting, and yes, it breathed fire. I nearly jumped out of my chair the first time a stream of flames cut across the street I was looting. 🔥
Loot in this mode was intentionally limited. Only specific items spawned in the world. Here is the full list as I remember it:
| Category | Items |
|---|---|
| Weapons | LMG and ammo, M79 |
| Weapon attachments | 2x Scope, Canted Sight |
| Equipment | Helmet Lv.2, Backpack Lv.2, Vest Lv.2 |
| Items | Smoke Grenade, Heal and Boost items |
| Vehicle | UAZ |
That meant no assault rifles, no DMRs, no sniper rifles. You had to make do with an LMG and an M79, which honestly made every fight feel like a messy, loud, and oddly beautiful disaster. Smoke grenades became gold. Heals and boosts were life. And the UAZ was your only ride, so if you heard one coming, you knew exactly what kind of trouble was about to arrive.
The zones were also tweaked. The Blue Zone was faster and stronger than usual. Each phase's Safe Zone was set based on the Monster Chicken's current location, and it followed the chicken's movements. If you stayed outside, you got burned. The Black Zone exclusive to Karakin was active too, but the Monster Chicken did not receive damage from it. So while you were dodging artillery, the giant chicken was just stomping through the fire like it owned the place. Which, to be fair, it did.
The event ran from April 1 to April 11, 2022, on PC and Console. It was only on Karakin, only TPP, and only Squad mode. The minimum number of starting players was 12, and the maximum was 32. Because it was a LABS game, it did not provide XP or gameplay rewards. It did not reflect on the Career page or Match History, and it did not support replay. In 2026, that makes it feel like a fever dream. But the memories are real.
There was also a reward event for Monster Chicken hunters. If you entered LABS mode through the main lobby banner and won a single match of Monster Chicken Royale, you earned the Bawker Helmet Level 1. Squad wins counted for every teammate. Players could receive the reward only once per account. The reward was granted on PC starting from April 13 after the Live Server update, and on Console starting from April 21 after the Live Server update. If you changed your PUBG nickname during the event, you might not have received it. And matches won by abusing bugs or unfair methods did not count. Good grief, I still wonder how many players actually got that helmet. 🏆
There were Partner Drops too. PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Partners handed out amusing Monster Chicken sprays. You needed a KRAFTON ID linked to your gaming platform and Twitch or each region's streaming platform. Some platforms other than Twitch handed out redeem codes instead of Drops. Console rewards could be acquired after the Live Server update. I remember watching streams just for a spray, which sounds silly now, but at the time it was peak content.
So why am I writing about this in 2026? Because Monster Chicken Royale is still a benchmark for how to do a limited-time mode right. It changed the core loop without breaking it. It gave players a shared enemy, a shared objective, and a shared sense of panic. It was funny, but it was also genuinely challenging. The chicken was not just a joke. It was a threat. And the fact that the Safe Zone followed the chicken meant you could never ignore it for long.
Would I play it again if PUBG brought it back? Absolutely. I would drop into Karakin, grab an LMG, hop in a UAZ, and pray that the giant chicken saved its fiery breath for someone else. Until then, I will keep telling anyone who will listen about the April Fools match where a 50-meter chicken ruled the Battlegrounds. And I will keep hoping that one day, that monstrous beak comes back for another round. 💥