Tap-to-earn games became one of crypto's biggest retail trends in early 2024 after Notcoin introduced a simple Telegram game where users repeatedly tapped a virtual coin to collect in-game points ahead of a planned token distribution. The concept spread rapidly across Telegram, with projects such as Hamster Kombat, Catizen, DOGS, TapSwap, and X Empire attracting millions of users through combinations of tapping, daily tasks, referrals, and community challenges. The trend helped demonstrate how Telegram Mini Apps and The Open Network (TON) could bring blockchain-based games to a much broader audience than traditional Web3 applications.
The tap-to-earn boom also changed how crypto projects attracted users. Rather than asking people to buy tokens or connect to complex decentralized applications from the start, many projects encouraged players to earn in-game points while gradually introducing crypto wallets, token claims, and other blockchain features. Some games eventually launched tradable cryptocurrencies, while others remained reward-based experiences or evolved beyond simple tapping into broader Telegram gaming ecosystems.
What Are Tap-to-Earn Games?
Tap-to-earn games are simple clicker or incremental games where players earn in-game points by tapping the screen and completing activities such as tasks, referrals, and daily challenges. While most tap-to-earn games launched as Telegram Mini Apps, the term describes a gameplay model rather than a specific platform.
Common Characteristics of Tap-to-Earn Games
Tapping and Energy Limits
Players usually tap an object or button to collect points until an energy meter is depleted. Energy replenishes over time or can be restored through boosters.
Tasks and Referrals
Games award additional points for daily check-ins, social-media tasks, wallet connections, watching content, and inviting other users. These systems help projects increase activity and expand their communities.
Upgrades and Passive Earnings
Players can spend in-game points on upgrades that increase earnings per tap or generate points automatically. Some games gradually make upgrades and idle earnings more important than manual tapping.
Boosters and Limited-Time Events
Temporary multipliers, energy refills, daily combinations, and special events provide additional ways to earn points. Their availability and reward values can change during a campaign.
Progression and Social Competition
Levels, leagues, leaderboards, achievements, squads, and clans encourage regular participation. Rankings may provide extra rewards, but they do not necessarily determine a future token allocation.
In-App Purchases
Some games sell upgrades, items, subscriptions, or other digital features. Telegram Mini Apps generally process purchases of digital goods through Telegram Stars, while many core activities remain free.
Potential Token Distributions
A project may launch a cryptocurrency and distribute part of its supply to eligible players. Point totals can influence allocations, but projects may also consider referrals, completed tasks, wallet activity, anti-bot checks, or other criteria.
Telegram Mini App Access
Many tap-to-earn games launch directly inside Telegram without requiring a separate game installation. A wallet is not always needed to begin playing, but it may be required for wallet-based tasks, purchases, token claims, or transfers.
How Tap-to-Earn Games Work
Most tap-to-earn games run as web applications inside Telegram or another platform. The developer’s servers generally record taps, completed tasks, upgrades, referrals, and point balances. These everyday actions are usually off-chain and do not create individual blockchain transactions.
Earning and Spending In-Game Points
Players collect points through the game’s available activities and may spend them on upgrades, boosters, or other features. Some games also offer paid digital items. Points remain part of the game’s internal system unless the project establishes a separate reward or token-distribution process.
Calculating Reward Allocations
A project may close a campaign or record player activity at a specified time before calculating rewards. Point balances can influence the result, but projects may also consider passive earning rates, completed tasks, referrals, achievements, wallet activity, and anti-bot checks.
Eligibility and allocation rules vary between games. Qualifying for a distribution does not mean that each point converts directly into one token.
Distributing Tokens or Other Rewards
When a project launches a cryptocurrency, eligible players may receive an allocation through a connected wallet, an on-chain claim, a participating crypto exchange, or another method chosen by the project. Some allocations may also be subject to claim deadlines, vesting schedules, fees, or regional restrictions.
Many tap-to-earn games never launch a token. In-game points are not cryptocurrency, do not have a guaranteed conversion rate, and may ultimately have no cash value.
TON Blockchain and Tap-to-Earn
TON blockchain played a central role in the growth of tap-to-earn games by providing blockchain infrastructure that integrated closely with Telegram. Combined with Telegram Mini Apps, TON enabled developers to introduce blockchain features to millions of users without requiring them to install separate applications or navigate complex Web3 interfaces.
Most gameplay does not take place on the blockchain. Tapping, tasks, upgrades, and point balances are typically handled on the developer's servers, while TON is mainly used for wallet connections, token distributions, digital asset ownership, and other on-chain transactions.
Today, Telegram requires Mini Apps that issue or distribute blockchain assets to use TON and TON Connect, making TON the platform's primary blockchain infrastructure for these features.
TON's high throughput, low transaction costs, and developer tools have made it well suited for Telegram-based Web3 applications. As the ecosystem has expanded, the same infrastructure now supports a wider range of Mini Apps beyond tap-to-earn, including games, marketplaces, decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, and social platforms.
Popular Tap-to-Earn Games
Several Telegram projects shaped the tap-to-earn boom that began in 2024. Their reported user figures were generally published by the projects and were not independently audited, so they should be treated as historical claims rather than current active-player totals.
Notcoin
Notcoin opened to the public in January 2024 and helped popularize the tap-to-earn model. Players tapped a virtual coin, completed tasks, and joined squads to accumulate an in-game balance before the original mining phase ended.
The project said it attracted more than 35 million players. Its NOT token launched on TON on May 16, 2024, after which Notcoin expanded beyond its original clicker game into a broader Telegram gaming and rewards ecosystem.
Hamster Kombat
Hamster Kombat launched in March 2024 and asked players to manage a fictional cryptocurrency exchange as a hamster chief executive. Players initially earned coins by tapping but could spend them on upgrades that increased the exchange’s passive hourly income.
The team said the game attracted more than 300 million users. HMSTR launched on September 26, 2024, with player activity and other eligibility criteria used to determine token allocations.
TapSwap
TapSwap followed the classic tapping-and-energy format, allowing players to collect points, complete tasks, invite friends, and purchase upgrades. The project said it attracted more than 50 million users during its original reward campaign.
TapSwap later announced plans for a TAPS token and changed its proposed launch arrangements several times. Reports about the token’s eventual launch have been inconsistent, demonstrating why prospective rewards should not be treated as confirmed until a project publishes verifiable distribution details.
X Empire
X Empire, originally called Musk Empire, combined tapping with avatar upgrades, quests, and passive-income mechanics. The project said it attracted more than 50 million players before ending its initial mining phase.
Its X token launched on TON on October 24, 2024. X Empire subsequently continued developing its Telegram game beyond the original tapping campaign.
Catizen
Catizen is often grouped with tap-to-earn games, although its main gameplay focused on merging cats and managing a virtual cat café rather than repeatedly tapping a single object. It also developed a wider Telegram ecosystem containing additional games, tasks, and token-based features.
Catizen’s open beta launched in March 2024, followed by the CATI token on September 20, 2024. The project’s evolution showed how Telegram crypto games could use more developed gameplay while retaining the reward campaigns and social features associated with tap-to-earn.
