The wildly popular Telegram game 'Hamster Kombat' announced on Friday that it has now amassed a player base exceeding 150 million, which is larger than the population of Russia. This represents a remarkable 50% increase from the previous week, when the game's developers reported crossing the 100 million user mark. To put this into perspective, nearly one in five Telegram users have joined the game, which incentivizes players to grow a hamster's imaginary crypto exchange with real crypto rewards.
These rewards will be distributed via an upcoming token airdrop to players who have accumulated points in the game. 'Hamster Kombat' operates as a mini-app within Telegram, requiring no additional downloads. Last week, a team member hinted that the airdrop is scheduled for July.
The game's popularity within Telegram is undeniable. Its announcements channel has become the app's most popular channel, boasting over 35 million subscribers. Additionally, its YouTube channel has 23 million subscribers, and its Twitter account has 7.7 million followers, all of which have seen substantial growth in the past week.
'Hamster Kombat's' success follows that of its predecessor, 'Notcoin,' another crypto-backed Telegram game that gained a loyal following through a lucrative token airdrop. The 'Notcoin' airdrop launched on May 16 and the token, NOT, has since increased in value, recently surpassing a $2 billion market capitalization. NOT is now among the top 60 cryptocurrencies by market cap according to CoinGecko.
Toncoin, the native token of The Open Network (TON), Telegram's preferred blockchain, has also benefited from 'Hamster Kombat's' success. The token reached an all-time high price of $8.13 on Friday and has risen over 26% in the last two weeks.
The success stories of 'Notcoin' and 'Hamster Kombat' have inspired more Telegram-based games. Recently, 'Tapswap' and 'Yescoin' announced their upcoming launches on TON, both with plans for token airdrops.
