Hamster Kombat picked up the baton from Notcoin , leading the next generation of Telegram crypto games while apparently amassing huge droves of players— more than 300 million , the developers said in late July, just weeks after Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov claimed that the game had topped 239 million players earlier in the month.

What’s driving players to the game, which pairs simple tapping gameplay with lightly strategic moves as you take the role of a hamster CEO of a crypto exchange? An upcoming token airdrop, of course, providing an incentive for all of that tapping and more.

We’ve been tuned into the Hamster Kombat hype over the last couple months here at Decrypt ’s GG, and we have both hard details and clear teases about what to expect from the launch—where, when, and how to put yourself in the best position to earn a bigger bag of tokens.

Here’s everything we know so far. Check back, as we plan to update this story as more details firm up ahead.

What is the Hamster Kombat token?

Hamster Kombat announced in late May that it will launch a token on The Open Network (TON), a layer-1 blockchain that was originally created by Telegram years back before development was continued externally by the community.

It’s the same chain that Notcoin launched its NOT token on, and that’s gone on to become this year’s biggest gaming token launch with a peak market cap of nearly $3 billion . Amid Notcoin hype and growing excitement over Hamster Kombat and other games on Telegram, Toncoin (TON) itself has surged into the top 10 overall cryptocurrencies by market cap.

When is it coming?

The Hamster Kombat website previously noted a July target for the token generation event (TGE), which is typically when a token airdrop opens up for eligible players. Previously, the team had said during a Twitter Spaces in early June that it was aiming for July, which the team then confirmed to Decrypt via a TON representative.

However, July came and went without an airdrop. Near the end of the month, the team said that it was still working on technical details around the drop, given the vast size of the player base, and now the TGE and airdrop are listed as vague "upcoming" events on the official website.

In the meantime, crypto exchanges including OKX, ByBit, Gate.io, Bitget, and KuCoin have launched pre-market trading for the Hamster Kombat token, which they’re referring to by the token name HMSTR. OKX is the latest to offer the feature as of August 1.

While players are understandably excited about the token launch and airdrop, it won't be the only batch of crypto rewards coming from Hamster Kombat. The team has confirmed plans for a second in-game season of rewards alongside continued evolution and expansion for the game—so worry not, Hamster Kombat isn't calling it quits after the token drops.

How many tokens will players get?

It’s not yet known how many tokens players will be able to claim. Notcoin, which set the standard for this kind of Telegram game airdrop, gave players one on-chain NOT token for every 1,000 in-game coins they mined in the game.

Hamster Kombat appears to be taking a different approach, however. Early in June, the team tweeted that airdrop allocations will not be handled simply based on how many coins you stack up in the game before some deadline ahead.

"Airdrop will depend on the profit per hour and some other [activity] parameters that we will reveal later, NOT the coin balance," the official game account tweeted on June 6 , adding that users should "play wisely." And on June 18, the team again tweeted “profit per hour over coin balance,” attempting to reinforce the notion after plenty of questions on the matter.

What does this mean? While Hamster Kombat puts a big, round number of earned coins in clear view, simply building the biggest pile doesn’t mean you’ll wind up with the best possible bag. Instead, it appears that you’ll be better off reinvesting those coins into upgrades to boost your profit-per-hour mark, which determines your level of passive earning.

In late July, the team also clarified: "Participation in various activities will impact the amount of tokens received in the upcoming airdrop, not the fact of distribution itself—all players (but not bots) will receive the tokens." And furthermore, "No section of the game is mandatory to play."

That explanation came following the launch of new features, which some players had complained about, thinking it would be required to earn their token allotment.

"The game’s philosophy does not enforce participation in any activity," the team said. "The goal of introducing new features like the Playground is to even out the chances for real players, new players, and players with different gaming styles to earn their share of tokens. The only mandatory part to receive your tokens is to connect your TON wallet to your profile."

Check out our Hamster Kombat tips guide , along with specific, dedicated guides on the daily combo , daily cipher code , and puzzle mini-game to boost your in-game earnings ahead of the airdrop.

Editor's note: This story was originally posted on June 20, 2024 and last updated with new details on August 2.