WELCOME TO THE CLUB
On 23 April 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club began the release of its 10,000-piece NFT collection. BAYC's own founding history marks that date as the arrival of the Bored Apes. The project paired a set of distinct digital characters with the idea of belonging to a shared club.
The founders' retrospective makes the launch sequence clearer. A week-long presale began on 23 April at 0.08 ETH per ape. Only about 500 were minted during that first week; the collection sold out on 1 May. The card therefore marks the start of the presale, rather than the later sellout. Network gas fees were separate from the mint price.
Membership was central to the premise. Yuga describes each NFT as a pass to a digital club, with identity and community built around the characters. The founders imagined crypto traders who had become wealthy and were now bored, gathering at a secret clubhouse in a swamp. That fictional setting gave the collection its deliberately unglamorous sense of humour.
This illustration turns that idea into a humid evening at a wooden doorway. Three original, fictional apes occupy the porch, and one presents a portrait card to a glowing reader. The scene is an interpretation of membership culture: it depicts neither a documented launch-day gathering nor specific official Bored Ape tokens.
The tag rack and mint-price sign carry the launch's numerical clues. A small postcard reproduces the approved pixel portrait from HISTROVE card 038, linking this scene to the earlier CryptoPunks chapter. WELCOME TO THE CLUB is approved editorial wording for this card, not a quotation from the founders or a historical launch announcement.
Sources & the artist’s interpretation
Sources: BAYC's founding history ; Yuga Labs' founders' retrospective ; Yuga Labs on NFT membership ; Ethereum's explanation of gas fees . The apes, gathering and access hardware are illustrative fiction. The postcard reuses approved HISTROVE 038 artwork; it is not an official CryptoPunk token image. The phrase is approved editorial copy. The founders' retrospective was checked in indexed primary-source text; its original URL now redirects to Yuga's home page. Artwork approval does not establish rights clearance.
