Hamster Kombat, a cartoon tapping game that runs inside Telegram, said on June 5, 2024 that it had reached 100 million players. The team posted the figure on its official X account, only days after claiming 60 million, and added a new target: "Our next goal is 1 billion users playing Hamster Kombat," the account said, as Decrypt reported the following day.
Historical news event: 2024-06-05. Retrospective report prepared November 2026.
The number came from the game's own team, not from an independent audit. It counted accounts that had opened the game, not 100 million people playing every day. Decrypt cited estimates of 40 million to 45 million daily active users at the time, many of them first-timers. Even with those caveats, the speed of growth was unusual for an app with no download, no store listing and no up-front payment.
A game that lives inside a chat app
Players start with a hamster portrait and earn in-game coins by tapping the screen. The theme is a fictional crypto exchange run by a hamster CEO. Coins buy upgrade cards for areas such as markets, operations and marketing, and better cards raise an hourly "profit" score that keeps ticking while the player is away. Daily tasks, combo puzzles and referral bonuses give people reasons to come back and to invite friends.
There's nothing to install. The game is a Telegram mini-app, so a link shared in a group chat can turn a reader into a player in a few seconds. Telegram handles discovery, sign-in and sharing, which removed most of the friction that usually slows down crypto games.
The bright, simple art helped too. A chubby hamster in a suit, steady rewards and short sessions made crypto vocabulary feel less intimidating than order books and block explorers. Critics, including reporting by The Record later in June, showed that the game's popularity also drew warnings from officials in Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, over promises of easy money, children's screen time and, in Ukraine's case, user data.
The token question
In June 2024 the in-game coins weren't cryptocurrency. The team had said it planned to launch a token on The Open Network (TON), the blockchain closely tied to Telegram, and Decrypt reported that a listing was then targeted for July 2024. The conversion rules, eligibility and value were all unknown, and the date slipped.
The HMSTR token eventually launched on September 26, 2024. According to Decrypt's report on the allocations, 60 billion of the 100 billion total supply went to the first airdrop, with about 129 million accounts eligible after the team removed roughly 2.3 million it said were cheating. Players could claim 88.75% of their allocation on day one, with the rest vesting over 10 months. Many players who had expected more called their shares "dust", and a large group of accounts got nothing at all.
What happened next
The drop-off was steep. By early November 2024, reports such as ForkLog's said monthly players had fallen to about 41 million from a peak near 300 million. The team said a decline was expected because the project ran in seasons and that it had kept a core of active players. By late 2026, the game's official web address pointed visitors to a Hamsterverse page advertising a second season.
A falling player count after an airdrop isn't proof of fraud, and no regulator or court has found that Hamster Kombat was a rug pull. It does show the gap between a crowd chasing a possible payout and a crowd that plays because the game is fun. The same pattern showed up across other Telegram tap games and points programs, and in later token airdrops such as Magic Eden's ME launch, where claim problems overshadowed the token itself.
A lesson in distribution
Hamster Kombat's biggest achievement wasn't its token. It was reach. A game with very simple mechanics found an enormous audience because it lived inside an app people already opened every day. Other studios took note, and Telegram mini-games became a standard launch channel for Web3 projects, from sports collectibles such as Football Rivals' NFL game to dozens of clicker clones.
Its harder lesson came later. Daily rewards and referral loops can fill a game quickly, but they don't keep it full once the payout question is settled. For anyone tracking game-based cryptocurrencies or comparing how airdrop projects reward users, Hamster Kombat's June 2024 milestone is a clear marker of how far chat-app distribution could go, and of how much depends on what players find when the rewards slow down.
Frequently asked questions
When did Hamster Kombat reach 100 million players?
The team announced the 100 million figure on its official X account on June 5, 2024. The number was reported by the team and counted accounts, not verified daily players.
What blockchain is Hamster Kombat's token on?
The HMSTR token was issued on The Open Network (TON), the blockchain closely linked to Telegram. It began trading on September 26, 2024.
How many people received the Hamster Kombat airdrop?
Decrypt reported that about 129 million accounts were eligible for the first airdrop of 60 billion HMSTR, after roughly 2.3 million accounts were banned for cheating.
Did Hamster Kombat lose players after its token launch?
Yes. Reports in November 2024 put monthly players at about 41 million, down from a peak near 300 million. The team said a drop was expected between seasons.
Is Hamster Kombat a scam?
There's no regulatory or court finding that it was a scam or a rug pull. The player decline after the airdrop reflects disappointment with rewards, which is different from fraud.
Sources
- Hamster Kombat official X account
- Decrypt: Hamster Kombat claims 100 million players, June 6, 2024
- Decrypt: Hamster Kombat reveals airdrop allocations, September 2024
- The Record: concerns over Hamster Kombat in Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, June 2024
- ForkLog: Hamster Kombat loses nearly 260 million players post-listing, November 2024
Frequently asked questions
When did Hamster Kombat reach 100 million players?
The team announced the 100 million figure on its official X account on June 5, 2024. The number was reported by the team and counted accounts, not verified daily players.
What blockchain is Hamster Kombat's token on?
The HMSTR token was issued on The Open Network (TON), the blockchain closely linked to Telegram. It began trading on September 26, 2024.
How many people received the Hamster Kombat airdrop?
Decrypt reported that about 129 million accounts were eligible for the first airdrop of 60 billion HMSTR, after roughly 2.3 million accounts were banned for cheating.
Did Hamster Kombat lose players after its token launch?
Yes. Reports in November 2024 put monthly players at about 41 million, down from a peak near 300 million. The team said a drop was expected between seasons.
Is Hamster Kombat a scam?
There's no regulatory or court finding that it was a scam or a rug pull. The player decline after the airdrop reflects disappointment with rewards, which is different from fraud.
Last updated NOV 14, 2026
