ZkArcade

The ZkArcade Platform
A screenshot of the Futoshiki Zero-knowledge game
A screenshot of the Skyscrapers Zero-knowledge game
A screenshot of the Sudoku Zero-knowledge game
The home page of the ZkArcade platform

Inspiration

The counter-intuitive cryptographic concept that is zero-knowledge proofs, takes privacy to a whole new level. The transparent nature of blockchain means that privacy at times is jeopardized. This inspired us to create this platform to apply ZKPs in gaming. In short, on a decentralized, transparent and trustless data layer, there is actually a notion of private information.

What it does

Players of the 3 games on the platform are able to submit valid, publicly verifiable actions, while maintaining their privacy. The verifier contracts check whether the proof is valid for the action/ input. This discourages things such as, conditional coordination, deception and large-scale emergent player behavior.

How we built it

This was built using zkSNARKS. For the 3 games present, we built 3 circuits which set the constraints. We ran a powers-of-Tau ceremony to generate the wasm and the z-key files. Snarkjs generates the verifier contracts for the games and it accepts the parameters set in the game logic contracts to prove the zkproof. The platforms frontend was built using nextjs and is hosted on vercel.

Challenges we ran into

During the development of the project, it was pretty clear that this being a relatively novel concept in the Blockchain sphere, there was scant reading materials and papers to help grasp some concepts.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We take pride in the fact that we are able to be part of the group that pushes for widespread adoption of privacy through the use of zero-knowledge proofs. With these games, users will be able to learn more about zkps and that we are proud of.

What we learned

Although the zero-knowledge space is still infant, its growth is tremendous and there are numerous applications to this counter-intuitive concept, from DeFi, NFTs, security, reputation etc.