Can Banana Game Become the Next Hottest Tap2Earn Project?

Recently, a Tap2Earn project called "Banana Game" has attracted widespread attention. This article will delve into the gameplay, success factors, and potential market performance of this game, exploring its innovations and future development prospects.

Last weekend, a game frequently appeared on social media - the Banana Game. It is a Tap2Earn mini-game based on an instant messaging platform, where the main task for players is to collect and trade bananas every day. The Tap2Earn model, which allows users to earn cryptocurrency or other digital assets by simple clicks or completing specific tasks, was first proposed by NotCoin at the beginning of this year.

The Banana Game attracted over 100,000 followers on its official account on social media platforms within just 3 days of its launch, and the number of subscribers to its official channel on instant messaging platforms also surpassed 400,000. Reportedly, within 72 hours of its launch, the user base of the Banana Game exceeded 1 million. In contrast, during the same period, the number of community users of NotCoin on instant messaging platforms was far less than that of the Banana Game. These data indicate that, as a GameFi project, the Banana Game performs excellently in terms of user numbers and community engagement, demonstrating enormous potential.

This amazing market response inevitably raises the question: Can Banana Game replicate or even surpass the success of NotCoin and become a new legend in the GameFi field?

Game Mechanics Analysis

The core mechanism of the Banana Game is to obtain bananas by clicking. Players can randomly harvest one banana each day, and these bananas are divided into three levels: Unripe (Common), Fully Ripe (Rare), and Overripe (Super Rare). Each type of banana can generate PEELs, which are the in-game reward tokens. Players collect these PEELs by clicking on the bananas.

Rarity is crucial in the game. The higher the rarity, the greater the value of the bananas. Players with high rarity bananas can not only earn more PEELs but also sell these bananas at higher prices through the trading system, thus earning extra PEELs or USDT, making every click and harvest full of surprises.

According to the public banana guide, the most valuable banana - Matrixnana - is worth up to 500 USDT, while slightly lower quality bananas are also worth a few USDT. These valuable bananas can be sold directly from the backpack, and the earnings can be deposited into the linked wallet by clicking the withdrawal button. Therefore, finding and collecting unique bananas has become the main goal for players.

In addition to collecting and clicking on bananas, players can also earn extra banana rewards by completing various social tasks. These tasks include binding IDs, following and sharing content on social media platforms, and more. Inviting friends to join the game also grants extra banana rewards, which not only encourages players to expand their social circles but also gives the game certain SocialFi attributes.

Extra Earnings Outside of Games

In addition to in-game rewards, players can also earn extra rewards by completing tasks on certain gaming platforms. This platform is a cross-platform game certification system, which can be understood as an aggregation platform for blockchain game tasks, or a game store within the blockchain.

The tasks on this platform are similar to those within the Banana Game, mainly involving participation in games or sharing game-related information on social media. However, there are significant differences in terms of rewards. Players have the opportunity to receive GEM rewards worth up to 1800 USDT (used for redeeming rewards on the platform), or SBTs that are exclusive to their account, making the rewards very generous.

According to official data, the platform has provided an enhanced gaming experience for 2.5 million registered players, with daily active users exceeding 500,000, and has supported over 780 Web2 and Web3 games and ecosystems. With the platform's powerful integration capabilities, it previously secured $50 million in financing from top funds and ecosystems. Therefore, it is not surprising that Banana Games was able to generate such a huge impact just a few days after its launch.

Comparison with NotCoin: Challenges and Opportunities

From a gameplay perspective, the "tap-tap-tap" mechanism of the Banana Game is very similar to NotCoin. The core gameplay of NotCoin is simple and straightforward; players only need to continuously tap the screen when they have stamina to earn in-game coins. NotCoin's success lies in the innovative introduction and promotion of the Tap2Earn concept, while its large user base and simple operation method lower the entry barrier for players. Features such as team collaboration and inviting new users have further facilitated the rapid spread of the game and player expansion.

In terms of tokenomics design, NotCoin has shown great sincerity. The project team only retained 5% of the tokens, with the remaining 78% airdropped to all game users, without reserving any for venture capital. This generous distribution has won widespread praise from the community, even though there are critical voices calling it a Meme, NotCoin still successfully conducted its IEO, reaching a peak market value of $3 billion.

Although Banana Game has not disclosed its tokenomics design, it is crucial for replicating the success of NotCoin. However, Banana Game has the support of a platform, so it is necessary to consider how to reasonably allocate a portion of the shares to the platform side after the token is launched. An obvious example is Catizen, which is also a popular Tap2Earn game, but because the airdrop only allocated 35% to users while the team and VCs held 28%, even after subsequently raising the airdrop ratio to 43%, it still drew considerable criticism.

For banana games, if the platform and project parties hold too high a proportion of tokens, players may worry about the risk of a price crash, leading to dissatisfaction; conversely, if the token holding amount is too low, it may not meet the expectations of investors. Therefore, designing a token distribution plan that satisfies both parties will become the key challenge for the next step.

Market Advantages of Simple Play

In addition to token design, gameplay also plays a crucial role in game promotion. This March, a Tap2Earn game called Hamster Kombat attracted a lot of attention, and by the end of July, the game had over 300 million users. Compared to the simple gameplay of NotCoin, Hamster Kombat's background setting and gameplay are more complex, and the content is richer. Players manage an exchange in the game, earning points by consuming energy to click on the screen, and using these points to upgrade the exchange, enhancing its functions and influence, etc.

According to the data, Hamster Kombat has performed quite successfully: the announcement in June showed that there are already 47.6 million valid users. It was recently announced that there will be "the largest airdrop in cryptocurrency history," in which 60% of the HMSTR tokens will be specifically allocated to players, while the remaining portion will be used to provide market liquidity, ecosystem partnerships, grants, rewards teams, and other projects.

However, why did Hamster Kombat fail to gain widespread attention like NotCoin? Aside from being a copycat project of NotCoin and lacking a novel narrative, the main reason lies in its overly complex gameplay. For example, as a nurturing game, players need to frequently log in and click the screen to earn coins; clicking once earns one coin, and with an energy of 1000, you need to click 1000 times. Although there is passive income from idle play, it is only effective for three hours after logging out, after which players must re-enter the game. Despite Hamster Kombat's carefully designed game background and gameplay, this also means that players need to invest more effort. Therefore, although Hamster Kombat has strong design and a large user base, its complex gameplay limits broader user participation.

In Web2 games, players primarily come for the enjoyment of the game. Even if the operations are complex, as long as there are attractive points, players are willing to invest time to study. For example, games like "World of Warcraft" can attract a large number of players to spend time and energy, even with complex operations. However, in Web3 games, most GameFi projects attract users through huge airdrops and point rewards, and players' original intention is more about "making money". In this case, overly complex gameplay becomes a burden for "zero-cost" players. In the current turbulent crypto market, players pay more attention to the input-output ratio, and low-cost, straightforward airdrop projects are more attractive. Therefore, perhaps in Web2, Hamster Kombat can attract a certain number of players with its interesting design and gameplay, but in the Web3 market, such complex gameplay instead becomes a burden, making it difficult to further surpass NotCoin.

Similar situations have occurred multiple times in the Web3 field. Around this time last year, the explosive popularity of a social platform attracted a lot of attention, leading many to believe that SocialFi was about to support another bull market. But what is the reality? Even a year later, even with clear airdrops, that platform is still lukewarm. The underlying reasons are similarly complex gameplay and high thresholds that limit widespread participation by users. In contrast, Tip Coin, launched in September last year, gained a lot of attention due to its simple gameplay. Users only need to bind their social accounts and interact with relevant topics daily to earn points, which is easy to get started with and quickly became a hit. The project team launched three rounds of airdrop activities within a month. Although the returns for latecomers decreased as the number of participants increased, many still made a small profit, and the project team received positive reviews.

It must be acknowledged that Hamster Kombat is a well-designed game project, but in the current cryptocurrency market, "low cost" may be more important to most players. With market fluctuations, many people only hope to make a small profit and recover their losses. The Banana Game has precisely recognized this and clearly informs players of the value of each banana; players only need to click every few hours to earn rewards, making it more competitive.

Summary

Several key points for the potential success of Banana Game:

1. Retained the core of the Tap2Earn narrative, with rewards being open and transparent: The game continues the core of the Tap2Earn model, allowing players to earn rewards through simple clicks, and the rewards are transparent and public, enhancing players' trust and engagement.

2. Official support ensures dissemination and influence: Thanks to official support, Banana Game has a strong backing in promotion and dissemination, ensuring its visibility and influence within the community.

3. Simple gameplay, extremely low entry threshold, relatively high input-output ratio: The game is designed to be simple and easy to get started, players only need to spend a small amount of time to participate, and have the opportunity to receive high-value rewards. This low-cost, high-return characteristic has attracted a large number of players.

4. The token economy is likely to favor players: Although the specific token economy design has not been disclosed, if it leans towards players like other successful Tap2Earn projects, with fair token distribution, it will further enhance player engagement and loyalty.

5. Community Interaction and Social Attributes: Banana Game encourages players to participate through social media interactions and inviting new users, which not only increases user engagement but also promotes communication and interaction among players, reinforcing the game's social attributes.

However, the success of the game depends not only on the initial popularity and appeal but also on whether it can continuously attract players and maintain activity levels. As of now, apart from the airdrop of the clear cards, the official has not announced the next update plan for the game. Considering that the game has just