Anyone familiar with Notcoin or Hamster Kombat will be quick to understand TapSwap, one of the latest viral Telegram tap-to-earn games to announce its launch on The Open Network (TON).

According to TON, TapSwap already has over 60 million users playing the game, many of which are no doubt anticipating the upcoming airdrop. While the premise is familiar, TapSwap offers another way for Telegram gamers to potentially earn some crypto while playing. Here’s what you need to know.

What is TapSwap?

TapSwap is one of the latest games to gain attention in the tap-to-earn category after Notcoin conducted the largest gaming airdrop in history. Since then, fellow tap-to-earn game Hamster Kombat has already surpassed Notcoin in the number of total players, showing that the appetite for these games hasn’t died down just yet.

Although TapSwap only recently announced that it will be launching a token on TON, the game’s Telegram channel has already become the second-largest in existence (only behind Hamster Kombat), with over twice the members of Notcoin’s official announcements channel.

How to play TapSwap

At its core, TapSwap has the same basic premise as Notcoin, before the airdrop. You’ll load up the game via a Telegram mini app on iOS or Android, and play within the messaging platform. From there, you’ll tap a gold coin at the center of the screen to earn points, but you can only tap for as long as your “Energy” bar permits—and then you’ll have to wait for it to refill.

Players can also complete special tasks to earn bonus points, with tasks including things like joining TapSwap’s community on social media or registering for a Binance exchange account (KYC and all). Players can also earn bonus points by referring friends, not only with an initial burst of coins but also additional coins based on their in-game activity.

Finally, there are boosts. Players can use boosts to augment their tapping abilities and earn even more coins. Each day, you get three free “Tapping Guru” and “Full Tank” boosters. Tapping Guru boosts earn you more points per tap, while Full Tank fills up your energy bar so you can get back to tapping.

Besides the free daily boosters, you can also purchase premium boosts with your earned coins. These include Multitap, which increases the amount of coins earned for each tap going forward; Energy Limit, which permanently increases your energy bar’s limit; and Recharging Speed, which increases the rate at which your energy bar refills, 

Lastly, there’s a Tap Bot. The Tap Bot will continue to earn you points passively when you’re not playing the game, as long as you stop by every 12 hours to claim your haul. 

When is the airdrop?

TapSwap has confirmed that an airdrop will occur—in fact, the welcome screen reads, “The majority of TapSwap Tokens (TAPS) distribution will occur among the players here.”

At launch, TapSwap offered a Solana wallet integration, but the recent announcement to release the token on TON comes as no surprise given the success of Notcoin and the fact that Hamster Kombat is also building on the network.

In early May, the TapSwap team announced the impending launch of TapSwap Pools, with an expected launch date of May 30—but recently announced that due to an influx of bots attempting to farm airdrop points, that they’d be delaying the launch until July 1.

But ultimately, TapSwap announced on July 1 that it was taking more time to shape the tokenomics amid conversations with "tier 1 exchanges" about the token launch. As a result, the airdrop launch target is now sometime in Q3, which lasts through the end of September.

"This is all to ensure that our launch in Q3 is fair and, more importantly, profitable for all of you who stand by us no matter what," TapSwap tweeted.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Editor's note: This story was originally published on June 19, 2024, and last updated with new details on July 3.