Skullcoin: Treasure Hunt

Skullcoin

Inspiration

Our game is inspired by the power of games to unite people through simple interactions. Games are among the most honest startups because when people enjoy a game, they willingly engage and invest in it. The rapid growth of projects like Axie Infinity and Stepn has attracted numerous newcomers to the world of cryptocurrency. By analyzing their experiences and learning from their mistakes, we're developing a new genre of game Find2Earn with a sustainable economy model to draw many people to the Bitcoin ecosystem. One could argue that Bitcoin itself started as a game among cypherpunks.

How to play

The goal of the game is to find a specific location on Google Maps, be the first to enter the correct coordinates, and win a reward in cryptocurrency or NFT. Given the vast size of our planet and the numerous potential locations, additional text and visual hints will be provided to help players narrow down the search area. Players should follow the storyline to more easily find the location. The player who enters the correct coordinates wins the episode and receives a Ordinals NFT reward.

Paralles with Bitcoin

The coordinates that players need to find is like target hash in Bitcoin but only for human minds. Coordinates found by a player unlock a new episode for all players, like Bitcoin miners creating a new block when one miner finds the target hash.

Goodwill for Humankind

By engaging with the storyline, players learn about the history of electricity, the emergence of Bitcoin, and the game's educational aspect. This provides a positive impact in the TikTok era, encouraging people to read, learn, and have fun simultaneously.

How we built it

We built a simple concept using Discord and crafted a narrative storyline, which allows players from any part of the world to participate in the game and experience it firsthand. By visiting channels like storyline, coordinates, and conquerors, anyone can see how the game unfolded. We developed this game concept in just five days during the Hackathon.

Challenges we ran into

We spent considerable time and effort crafting a narrative storyline, incorporating historical facts such as Michael Faraday's discoveries in electromagnetism, his inventions' influence on the development of hydroelectric power stations, and the subsequent contribution of electricity to the operation of Bitcoin. Our main challenge was explaining how to play this new game genre. It's quite simple, as players just need to read and find the coordinates, and people quickly grasped the concept.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of crafting a compelling and educational narrative storyline that has successfully attracted attention to our game and effectively taught numerous players its simplicity. Players enjoyed the game and expressed a desire to return. Our community has experienced significant growth, with our Discord user base increasing from 650 to 2100 users, and our Twitter posts reaching up to 17k views.

We have 40 unique players actively guessing locations in the coordinates channel.

Team

The team is based in Thailand and boasts experience in both gaming and blockchain. Founder Ivan Totskiy has a background in managing an eSports team, while Anton Bogachev, a Clarity Holiday Hackathon winner, brings over 2 years of experience in smart contract development and more than 5 years of experience in the fintech industry to the table.

What we learned

We received a lot of feedback on the game and realized that we need to create longer storylines, avoid making the puzzles too complex, and ensure the game is dynamic.

The game has immense potential and is ready to scale; the main goal is to reach as many players as possible and fully transition it to on-chain.

What's next for Skullcoin

We plan to attract more and more people and create a "word of mouth" effect so that everyone invites their friends. The game can be played in teams or with family, and we'll teach everyone how to play. The prizes in the game are Ordinals NFT, which will gain value as the game develops, and can be exchanged for skullcoins - the only way to get this cryptocurrency is to play and use your mental and creative abilities. Our goal is to scale the game and move it completely on-chain.