What Happened to My Brawlers in 'Brawl Stars'? The #RandomBS Events Explained

Brawl Stars is no stranger to limited-time modes and experimental events, but even longtime players were caught off guard when they opened the game and noticed something was off. Entire groups of brawlers appeared to be gone, leaving players wondering whether the game had glitched or their accounts were broken.

The same question started spreading across Reddit and X. What happened to my brawlers in Brawl Stars?

The answer points to a multi-day community event that was designed to create chaos and entertainment but delivered much more (or less?) than most players were expecting. Here's what we know.

Brawl Stars announced the #RandomBS community event on Jan. 13, 2026. The event promised daily random changes designed to “break the game,” including rotating modifiers, shifting community goals, and unpredictable rewards revealed through daily social media videos.

At first, the changes focused on gameplay modifiers, such as Instagib applied across trophy modes, without making any major changes to the game.

As the event continued, the randomness increased. On Jan. 17, Brawl Stars announced a one-day restriction banning all Assassin-class brawlers as part of a community challenge tied to global win goals and exclusive rewards.

Although the restriction was intentional, some players reported that they did not get the in-game pop-up explaining the change. For others, they simply didn't pay attention. So when they opened their brawler selection screen, it looked as if 76 characters had simply vanished.

One Reddit user said, "I haven’t opened the game all week until after seeing this post, but this just didn’t pop up for me. Possibly could have happened to some of these people."

To complicate things further, the game creators clarified that several brawlers, including Shelly, Nita, El Primo, Jessie, Rico, and Dynamike, remained playable due to technical constraints, even though they would normally fall under the restricted class.

This only added to the confusion and chaos.

The Assassin restriction was not the end of it.

As part of the #RandomBS event, Brawl Stars continued rotating class-based limitations across multiple days. On Jan. 21, the game launched a Throwers-only event tied to a massive five-trillion-damage community goal, with randomized rewards and temporary access to Finx.

In the comments of a YouTube commentary video, one user noted that on Jan. 21, there were only 16 brawlers left.

Because these changes rolled out daily and were revealed through social posts and glitchy pop-ups, not every player received the explanation before seeing the effects.

For many, the first sign of the event was opening the game and realizing favorite brawlers were suddenly unavailable. That disconnect fueled frustration, even among players who understood the concept after the fact.

The #RandomBS experiment showed how quickly surprise can turn into confusion. While the rotating restrictions were intentional and clearly announced in some channels, missing pop-ups left many players feeling blindsided.

Events like this highlight how important timing and visibility are when changing core gameplay. Randomness can be fun, but only if players understand what they’re walking into before their brawlers disappear.