Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author: Golem ( @web3_golem )

After Notcoin broke the circle, similar "click games" on Telegram quickly gained attention. Later, Hamster Kombat became the leader in this field. However, due to the highly homogeneous gameplay and invitation incentive mechanism, as well as the undetermined airdrop time, click games on Telegram are no longer easy to gain the favor of players (PUA is no longer active).

Even so, on July 26, Banana, an idle game that was once popular on the traditional game platform Steam, was moved to TON. Just three days after its launch, the number of registered users exceeded 1 million , the game connected to more than 580,000 social accounts, and the number of TG channel subscribers currently exceeded 560,000. So, does such a large number of attention mean that Banana has the opportunity to become the next Telegram click game track upstart?

Odaily Planet Daily will interpret the core gameplay of Banana Game and analyze its potential below.

Project and gameplay introduction

Banana Game was developed by CARV, a modular data layer company for games and AI. CARV has raised a total of over US$49 million. The investors in its previous strategic and Series A rounds include HashKey Capital, Alibaba, IOSG Ventures, Consensys Mesh and OKX Ventures, which has a pretty luxurious lineup (data source: Rootdata ).

Basic gameplay: Click to collect banana peels

The basic gameplay of Banana Game is also quite simple, similar to the traditional Telegram click game. After registering , you only need to click on the screen to collect points banana peels (Peels). However, the number of banana peels that can be collected by clicking every day is limited, and the upper limit depends on the rarity of the selected bananas. However, the official has not yet disclosed whether this score will be one of the airdrop vouchers (or other uses).

Core gameplay: Collect and trade rare bananas

The original attribute of bananas in Banana Game is "basic shovel in the game". The rarer the banana, the more points you can collect by clicking it every day. However, since the official has set prices for bananas of different rarities, with the highest rarity banana priced at 500 USDT, collecting and trading rare bananas has become the core gameplay of the game and the main means of attracting players when the function of points is unclear.

In addition to the bananas that are refreshed daily, players can also obtain bananas by completing tasks and inviting friends. One banana can be obtained randomly for every 3 tasks completed. The upper limit for the number of friends invited is 5,000.

In the Bag, you can view the collected bananas and trade and withdraw them. A withdrawal fee of 0.5 USDT is required. However, the price difference between rare bananas is also large. The price difference between the highest rarity banana and other rarity bananas is cliff-like.

The shorter monetization path hits the spot for zero-cost players

By breaking down the core gameplay of Banana Game, we can easily understand why it can stand out among highly homogenized click games and accumulate 1 million registered users within three days.

One of the pain points of click-based games on Telegram is that the path to monetization is too long. The boring gameplay and the long waiting time for airdrops will wear out the interest of most players. The difference between Banana Game and most other click-based games is that its monetization path is shorter. Click the game - collect rare bananas - trade them into USDT - withdraw cash , without having to continue to earn coins and wait for the project's airdrop release indefinitely. This simple and crude money-making model greatly pokes the pleasure points of zero-cost players.

Even though obtaining rare bananas is a low-probability event controlled by the project, as long as someone obtains the rarest bananas through random transactions and successfully cashes out 500 USDT immediately, it can be widely spread on social media. This is also a very cost-effective marketing for the project itself.

A post about a player getting the rarest banana has been viewed over 270,000 times

How much potential is there in the future?

Banana Game's model of clicking and trading rare bananas is not original. There was once a popular banana-clicking game on the traditional game platform Steam. At its peak, there were 1 million people online at the same time. However, it was unable to maintain sustainable growth due to boring gameplay, the drop rate of rare bananas, and the low price of ordinary bananas.

Steam Players' Reviews on Banana

Will Banana on Telegram suffer the same fate? The difference between Banana Game and the banana clicking game on Steam is that the Web3 economic model can give meaning to points. The banana clicks on Steam are actually "useless", while Banana Game, which combines the "Tap to earn" model, has the hope of retaining players in the later stage through point empowerment or a good airdrop model.

However, given the high degree of homogeneity of “Tap to earn” games and the fact that users have exhausted their patience for such games, there will be challenges to future growth if the subsequent gameplay is not upgraded or the points airdrop mechanism is not innovative.