What Is ‘Hamster Kombat’? The Telegram Game’s HMSTR Token and ‘HamsterVerse’ Plans

Are hamsters combating now? Not precisely—however whereas Hamster Kombat’s title is perhaps a bit deceptive, this Telegram-based tapping recreation shortly grew to become a dominant chief within the play-to-earn area by increasing upon Notcoin’s successful mannequin.

Hamster Kombat racked up over 300 million whole gamers earlier than launching its HMSTR token and airdrop for gamers by way of The Open Community (TON) in late September 2024. It grew to become one of many 12 months’s greatest gaming token launches, primarily based on the height worth.

However Hamster Kombat is not stopping there. The builders at the moment are planning a “HamsterVerse” of video games with further airdrop rewards, plus a devoted community and growth past the Telegram ecosystem. Here is the whole lot it is advisable to know.

What’s Hamster Kombat?

Just like Notcoin, Hamster Kombat had gamers tapping away to earn cash in a Telegram-native software (or “mini app”)—which suggests to play the sport, you simply open a chat on Telegram.

Hamster Kombat’s core idea is just like Notcoin, with some barely richer recreation mechanics layered on high of it. Briefly: It’s a tap-to-earn recreation blended with a crypto trade simulator.

In Hamster Kombat, you’re the CEO of an up-and-coming crypto trade, and it’s your job to develop the trade to new heights by no means earlier than seen… on the earth of hamsters. So as to take action, you have to faucet a picture of a cartoon hamster to earn cash, after which use these cash to purchase upgrades in your trade.

The right way to play Hamster Kombat

Initially, Hamster Kombat began off in a way acquainted to Notcoin customers, with gamers tapping away on the display screen within the Telegram app to earn in-game cash.

As soon as gamers have earned some cash, they will begin utilizing them to improve their trade within the “Mine” tab of the sport. This tab exhibits all types of upgrades that gamers should buy (purely with in-game cash) for his or her trade, and embrace issues like including cash or new options to their fictional trade, or fake advertising and marketing efforts.

Each improve you bought in your trade earned you extra cash passively. For instance, including a Bitcoin pair to your trade value 250 cash, however then earned you 40 cash per hour. In different phrases, these additions shortly paid off and helped propel your trade additional alongside.

Hamster Kombat concluded its first season of gameplay in September earlier than the token launch. At the moment, as of this writing, the sport is holding an “Interlude” season by which gamers can earn in-game diamonds forward of the total second season forward. The diamonds will reportedly give gamers some type of benefit within the subsequent season.

What’s HMSTR?

What’s the purpose to incomes in-game cash? Equally to Notcoin, Hamster Kombat additionally incentivized gamers with a token airdrop, drawing lots of of tens of millions of gamers within the course of.

Hamster Kombat’s airdrop took place on September 26 on The Open Community (TON), the identical date that the HMSTR token was generated and launched on main exchanges. The HMSTR token was initially focused for July, however in the end missed that ETA. The staff attributed the delay to the problem of dropping a token to such an enormous participant base.

HMSTR reached a peak market cap of about $646 million on the launch date, although the worth of the token has fallen sharply since then. Given the immense measurement of the participant base, many customers complained about small allocations value $10 or much less, which some gamers known as “mud.” Fellow Telegram recreation Catizen, which launched its token the week earlier than, noticed comparable complaints.

What’s subsequent?

Hamster Kombat has shared a prolonged roadmap that extends into 2025 and contains extra rewards, extra gameplay, and plans to unfold exterior of Telegram.

Following the present “interlude season” that was solely anticipated to final a pair weeks (however has since stretched on for months), Hamster Kombat plans to launch a brand new full Season 2 of gameplay, with plans to pay that off with one other airdrop subsequent summer time. Season 2 will shift the main focus of the sport to that of operating a online game growth firm and platform, slightly than working a crypto trade.

The builders shared a teaser trailer for the brand new season in October and advised Decrypt that it was deliberate to launch by the tip of October, however that estimate got here and went.

In late December, Hamster Kombat’s staff unveiled plans to launch a broader “HamsterVerse” initiative that can span three video games, together with the Season 2 gameplay talked about above. All the video games will make the most of the HMSTR token. Hamster Kombat has since welcomed 30,000 gamers right into a closed beta check for HamsterVerse.

Additionally in December, Hamster Kombat launched a DAO, or decentralized autonomous group—basically a bunch that permits HMSTR token holders to vote on proposals to doubtlessly profit or broaden the ecosystem. One of many first issues they voted by means of was a devoted layer-2 Hamster blockchain to be constructed on TON, which the builders at the moment are working in direction of.

Hamster Kombat will even proceed to combine different third-party video games, evolving right into a platform for numerous titles. Moreover, Hamster Kombat plans to launch a progressive net app (PWA) for the sport that will probably be playable by way of iOS, Android, and desktop computer systems with out operating the Telegram mini app.

Past that, the builders plan to combine with desktop video games, convey NFTs into Hamster Kombat, and purchase and burn (or successfully destroy) HMSTR tokens over time in an effort to spice up the value by slicing the token provide.

“Telegram will all the time be a vital a part of Hamster Kombat and its ecosystem of merchandise. Nonetheless, we wish to broaden to be able to seize the viewers that is not on Telegram but,” the staff advised Decrypt in September. “In the end, we see it as a constructive growth each for Hamster Kombat and Telegram itself as a platform for mini apps, since it’ll convey further publicity.”

Further reporting by Reza Jafery

Editor’s notice: This story was initially revealed on June 2, 2024 and final up to date with new particulars on January 2, 2025.