What is Tap-to-Earn (Tap-to-Earn) games?
“Tap-to-Earn” is a recently popular type of crypto game that has caused a sensation on the messaging app Telegram. The concept of these games is very simple,
players can start the game directly on Telegram and then click madly on the coins or icons in the center of the screen to earn points or in-game currency.
Notcoin is one of the early Tap-to-Earn games, and it conducted a large-scale token airdrop in May 2024. Another super popular click game is Hamster Kombat, which officially broke through the 200 million user mark in June.
Core elements and gameplay of Tap-to-Earn games
Of course, this is just the core idea of Tap-to-Earn, and many similar games have developed other interesting gameplay. In addition to clicking, most games also include missions and upgrades. Missions refer to actions designated by the game that allow players to earn a large number of points or coins at once, such as joining the game’s Telegram group or following the game on Twitter.
Upgrades involve improving certain skills or item levels to earn additional points, and some Tap-to-Earn games with “hourly passive income” mechanisms, such as Hamster Kombat or Musk Empire, can also increase earnings through upgrade channels.
What Tap-to-Earn projects are there?
Notcoin
Notcoin is easy to play, simply click on the coins on the screen to start mining coins, and completing tasks can increase rewards, making it easy to start “Tap-to-Earn” without any threshold.
Click here to see a detailed introduction to Notcoin
Hamster Kombat
In Hamster Kombat, players play as a hamster CEO managing their own exchange. In addition to earning game points by clicking on the hamsters on the screen, players can also earn more rewards by completing daily tasks, unlocking skills, and more.
Click here to see a detailed introduction to Hamster Kombat
Musk Empire
Players in Musk Empire can earn game money by clicking and can also increase passive income by upgrading virtual Musk’s skills or traits to increase the accumulation speed of money. The skills and traits in Musk Empire are very humanized, including upgrades for sleep, nutrition, exercise, mental skills, personal and social skills, and many detailed options such as critical thinking ability, empathy, and charity.
Click here to see a detailed introduction to Musk Empire
What makes the games attractive?
The gameplay of Tap-to-Earn games is very simple, and for Telegram users, there is no need to download another app. These games are popular in the crypto community mainly because the game points accumulated by players make them eligible for future crypto airdrops, exchanging them for real cash, which means earning money by clicking.
A common feature of these Tap-to-Earn games on Telegram is that they have already launched or are expected to launch tokens on The Open Network (TON) chain.
What is the TON chain?
TON is a blockchain network integrated with Telegram.
Initially, Telegram was the driving force behind TON coins. In 2018, Telegram decided to issue its own token Gram and develop the blockchain network “Telegram Open Network (TON)” to support the token. Telegram at the time launched two rounds of private placements, raising $1.7 billion, which then sparked a buying frenzy.
However, it was precisely because of the enthusiastic response from the public that regulatory authorities became concerned. In October 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considered the private placement to be a securities offering and required compliance with SEC regulations. After the SEC filed a lawsuit, Telegram struggled for several months and eventually abandoned the project to avoid the uncertainty brought by regulation.
In 2021, community members decided to take over the project and established the TON Foundation for continued development, allowing users to transfer cryptocurrency directly through Telegram.
Why are games interested in the TON ecosystem?
By launching tokens on TON, these games can reach Telegram’s massive user base of over 900 million. Compared to most crypto games or applications, the user experience is much simpler, as these games mostly conduct token airdrops in the later stages, so users do not need to set up a crypto wallet before playing. As long as you have Telegram, you can start playing by clicking.
How do operators and KOL view the Tap-to-Earn trend?
Sébastien Borget, co-founder of the metaverse platform The Sandbox, stated in an interview with the foreign media “Cointelegraph” that games like Hamster Kombat on the Telegram platform are growing rapidly, demonstrating the speed of innovation and how these games are changing the way players earn income. This also shows how Web3 is rapidly expanding industries to an incredible scale in a short period of time.
Senior cryptocurrency trader “Mr. Wang” shared that the ecosystem on the TON chain relies heavily on users on Telegram, as it has the advantage of being the communication software with the largest number of global users. The game mode of “Tap-to-Earn” is very easy for both traditional users and players in the crypto circle to get started, with almost no entry barrier, the only barrier being whether you know about the existence of these games.
He added that in the last bull market, the big brawl game Thetan Arena and the Tap-to-Earn game STEPN successfully gained popularity,
and now it seems that mini-applications on Telegram are leading the way, successfully driving the heat of the TON ecosystem.
Alvin, founder of the self-media brand “Daily Coin Research”, analyzed that some large Tap-to-Earn games like Notcoin and Pixelverse have received funding support.
However, competition is more intense for other similar small game teams, and most of the revenue may not be as expected.
Furthermore, many players use bots to operate Tap-to-Earn games, making it difficult for ordinary players to surpass or earn high profits. Nevertheless, in a situation where no investment is required to play, it still attracts users to participate enthusiastically.
Sources:
Decrypt,
Transak,
CoinGecko