What is ‘Hamster Kombat’? Telegram game HMSTR Token and ‘HamsterVerse’ schemes

Are the hamsters fighting now? Not exactly—but while Hamster Kombat's title might be a bit misleading, this Telegram-based tap game expands on Notcoin's winning model to become a major leader in the game-to-earn space.

Hamster Kombat gathered more than 300 million players before releasing the HMSTR token and weather to players. Open Network (tons) by the end of September 2024. It became one of the biggest gaming coin launches of the year based on its high price.

But Hamster Kombat doesn't stop there. The developers are now planning “HamsterVerse” games with more weather rewards and unique networking and expansion beyond the Telegram ecosystem. Here's everything you need to know.

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What is Hamster Kombat?

Similar to NotCoin, Hamster Kombat players tap to earn coins in the Telegram-native app (or “mini-app”)—which means playing the game, which opens up a chat on Telegram.

The core concept of Hamster Kombat is similar to Notcoin, with some slightly richer game mechanics layered on top of it. In short, it's a touch-based game mixed with a crypto exchange simulator.

In Hamster Combat, you are the CEO of an up-and-coming crypto exchange, and it's your job to take the exchange to new heights like never before. To do this, tap on the cartoon hamster image to get coins and use those coins to change the upgrades.

How to play Hamster Kombat

First, Hamster Kombat started the way Notcoin users know, with players tapping the screen in the Telegram app to earn in-game coins.

Once players have earned some coins, they can start using them to improve their exchange in the “My” tab of the game. This tab shows all kinds of upgrades that players can buy (in-game coins only) and exchange them, and include coins like fictional exchanges or adding new features or fake marketing efforts.

Every upgrade you buy for your change earns you more coins. For example, adding a bitcoin pair to your exchange costs 250 coins, but earns you 40 coins per hour. In other words, those extras paid off faster and helped drive your conversions even further.

Hamster Kombat completed the first season of the game in September before the demo was launched. Currently, as of this writing, the game features an “Interlude” season where players can earn in-game diamonds before the second season. It is said that the diamond will provide some benefits to the players next season.

What is HMSTR?

What is the benefit of earning in-game coins? Similarly to NotCoin, Hamster Kombat has incentivized players to airdrop tokens, drawing hundreds of millions of players in the process.

The Hamster Combat airdrop took place on the Open Network (TON) on September 26, the day the HMSTR token launched on major exchanges. The HMSTR token was originally targeted for July, but ultimately missed that ETA. The team attributed the delay to the temptation to drop tokens from a large player base.

HMSTR reached a market cap of around $646 million on its launch day, although the token's value has declined significantly since then. Given the huge size of the player base, many users have complained about the small allocations, which some players call “dust” and cost $10 or less. Fellow Telegram game Katzen, which launched the token a week ago, has seen similar complaints.

What's next?

Hamster Kombat has shared a long roadmap that stretches to 2025 and includes more rewards, more gameplay, and plans to expand outside of Telegram.

Hamster Kombat plans to launch a new full season 2 of gameplay following the season's “intervention season” which was expected to last only two weeks (but has been extended to months). . Instead of running a crypto exchange, Season 2 will shift the game's focus to a video game development company and platform.

The developers shared a teaser for the new season back in October and told Decrypt that it was slated to start at the end of October, but that speculation has since come and gone.

At the end of December, the Hamster Kombat team announced plans to launch a broader “HamsterVerse” initiative that will include three games, including the aforementioned Season 2 gameplay. All games use the HMSTR token. Hamster Kombat has since welcomed 30,000 players to the HamsterVerse closed beta test.

Also in December, Hamster Kombat launched a DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization—essentially a group that allows HMSTR token holders to vote on ideas that could benefit or enhance the ecosystem. One of the first things they voted on was a dedicated layer-2 Hamster blockchain to build on, which the developers are currently working on.

Hamster Kombat continues to integrate other third-party games as a platform for various titles. Hamster Kombat also plans to launch a progressive web app (PWA) for the game on iOS, Android, and desktop computers without running the Telegram mini app.

Beyond that, the developers plan to integrate with desktop games, bring NFTs to Hamster Kombat, and increase the value of HMSTR tokens by buying and burning (or effectively destroying) the token supply over time.

“Telegram will always be an important part of Hamster Kombat and its ecosystem of products. We're still looking to expand to reach audiences that aren't already on Telegram,” the team told Decrypt in September. We'll see.”

Additional reporting by Reza Jafery

Editor's note: This story was originally published on June 2, 2024 and was last updated with new details on January 2, 2025.