And rent it is! The total prize pool for ASUS Cup Spring 2006 is a nice round number of 1’000’000 Russian Rubles (or ~37’000 U.S. Dollars), which surely will be enough to secure the immediate future of the victors in every discipline. But lets for a second focus on the game in question.

Total Prize Pool	150’000 RUB	(~5’500 USD)
1st	45’000 RUB	(~1’700 USD)
2nd	35’000 RUB	(~1’300 USD)
3rd	25’000 RUB	(~930 USD)
4th	15’000 RUB	(~560 USD)
5th-6th	10’000 RUB	(~370 USD)
7th-8th	5’000 RUB	(~185 USD)

The money is five (yes, 5) times more then the last WarCraft 3 ASUS, which managed to raise only a puny 30’000 RUB prize pool, less than what a second place winner will take home this time.

Another thing that makes this ASUS special is how deep the money go, and how little the difference is from place to place. As opposed to tournaments such as WCG or WEG, where money usually cover only top 3 places, and the prize pool is distributed using the principle of multiplication by two, ASUS uses a model similar to ESWC, with 8 paid places and an as little as 23% difference between first and second prize money. Wondering why is that? Word to the manager of ASUS Cup series, Dmitriy 'c58’d1monn' Kuznetsov:

Very few are capable of placing in Top 3, but when it comes to Top 8 a lot of people stand a chance to get their money’s worth. This is completely different concept (then WEG): we either feed a selected few gosus, or give the taste of glory for amateurs striving for recognition... We also try to encourage people from other regions who spent money on traveling here to come.