''TierZoo'' is an educational web series and

YouTube channel YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San B ...

created and hosted by Patrick "Patch" Lacey. The series discusses animal-related topics such as wildlife ecology and evolutionary biology through a

video gaming Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

lens. It utilizes terminology and visuals that are prominent in

video game culture Video game culture or gaming culture a worldwide subculture formed by video game enthusiasts. As video games have grown more sophisticated, accessible, and popular over time, they have significantly influenced popular culture, particularly among a ...

and presents topics as if animals are players and the environments they live in are servers of the game "Outside". The series launched on its eponymous

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel in 2017, and also now streams on

Nebula A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...

. As of July 2025, the channel has amassed over 3.8 million subscribers and 470 million views.

Format

Many of Lacey's videos borrow terminology and visual themes found in

. An example of this includes Lacey referring to animals as " builds". ''

RuneScape ''RuneScape'' is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Jagex, released in January 2001. ''RuneScape'' was originally a browser game built with the Java (programming language), Java progr ...

'', ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

'', and ''

Dark Souls is a dark fantasy action role-playing game series developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the series began with the release of ''Dark Souls (video game), Dark Souls'' (2011) and has ...

'' are specific games which Lacey borrows text from, which he overlays on his videos. He also utilizes music and visual effects from ''

Super Smash Bros. is a series of platform fighting video games published by Nintendo. Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series is a crossover featuring many characters from other video game series created by Nintendo and other develope ...

'', the ''

Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

'' franchise, and '' Darkest Dungeon'' in his videos. The core structure of Lacey's videos has him place animals in a " tier list", a concept designed to subjectively rank in-game elements (such as characters) based on their viability respective to the list.

Fighting games The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

are particularly associated with tier lists, and Lacey credits the fighting game series ''Super Smash Bros.'' and its community with introducing him to the concept. Tier lists became a phenomenon on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

and

in the mid- and late-2010s. He also uses visuals from animal documentaries in his videos.

History

Lacey attended the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, where he studied

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

. He graduated in 2017 and shortly thereafter launched ''TierZoo'' on July 1. Lacey initially ran ''TierZoo'' as a side project while working as a food scientist for about a year before fully committing to ''TierZoo'' due to the channel's early success. In April 2018, ''

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'' covered ''TierZoo''s "Earth's Worst Balance Patch" video which discussed

dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

and their extinction. Later that year, Lacey and many other science and education YouTube creators attended ThinkerCon in Alabama. In 2019, Lacey was featured in a

PBS Eons PBS Digital Studios is a non-profit organization through which PBS distributes original educational web video content. Based in Arlington, Virginia, it comprises both original series and partnerships with existing YouTube channels. Most of the ...

video titled "Why Male Mammoths Lost the Game". The following year, he narrated an episode of '' Did You Know Gaming?''. In October 2021, Lacey participated in the

Team Seas Team Seas (stylized as #TEAMSEAS) was an international collaborative fundraiser that was started by YouTubers MrBeast and Mark Rober as a follow-up to Team Trees. The fundraiser succeeded in raising over 33 million United States dollar, U.S. doll ...

fundraiser organized by

MrBeast James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), commonly known by his online alias MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, media personality, and businessman. His YouTube videos, where he often hosts elaborate challenges and philanthropic effor ...

and

Mark Rober Mark Rober is an American YouTuber, engineer, inventor, and educator. He is known for his YouTube videos on popular science and do it yourself, do-it-yourself gadgets. Before he became a YouTuber, Rober was an engineer with NASA for nine years, ...

. Despite finding success with his pivot to full-time content creation, Lacey was denied the ability to rent an apartment as the landlord did not see his ''TierZoo'' venture as legitimate. However, his online success with ''TierZoo'' allowed him to have a sponsorship deal with the Karat, a

fintech Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...

credit card company, which issues credit cards exclusive to content creators. ''TierZoo'' won the

Streamy Award The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are an awards show presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and wri ...

in the "Learning and Education" category in 2023.

References

{{Streamy Awards Winners CSS 2010s YouTube series 2017 web series debuts 2020s YouTube series American non-fiction web series Education-related YouTube channels English-language YouTube channels Nebula content creators Science-related YouTube channels Science education in the United States Streamy Award-winning channels, series or shows YouTube channels launched in 2017