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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Hamster Kombat spread by making a game easy to start inside Telegram and rewarding players for returning, upgrading and inviting friends. In July 2024, the project claimed 300 million players, but WIRED said it could not verify the total. During Iran’s June 2024 presidential election campaign, a senior military official accused the game of being part of a Western “soft war”; that was an allegation, not evidence that the game was an election operation.
What was Hamster Kombat?
Launched on March 26, 2024, Hamster Kombat was a Telegram mini-game in which players acted as the CEO of a fictional cryptocurrency exchange. Its premise borrowed familiar management-game ideas: build up a business, improve its earning rate and keep completing activities to progress.
How the game loop worked
Players tapped to earn in-game coins, then used cards or investments to raise their “profit per hour.” They could also complete tasks and puzzles, watch videos, subscribe to the game’s Telegram channel and invite friends. The coins were game points—not proof that a player had a claim to cash or tokens.
How did it attract so many users?
Telegram made the first step easy
Unlike a standalone mobile game that requires a separate app-store download, Hamster Kombat could be started within Telegram through its mini-app ecosystem. That reduced the effort required to try it and made it easier to pass along in a messaging app where players already had contacts.
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Progress and referrals gave players reasons to return
Tapping provided an immediate reward, while upgrades promised a faster in-game earning rate. Tasks, puzzles and other activities offered additional ways to progress. Inviting friends was built into the loop, so players could turn an individual game into a social activity and help it reach new people.
In interviews reported by WIRED, people claiming to be the developers said they intentionally designed viral actions into the game because they did not have a large marketing budget. They cited the earlier success of Telegram game Notcoin and TikTok’s sharing incentives as inspirations. Those comments describe the creators’ stated strategy; they are not an independent study proving which factor drove growth.
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The prospect of a token raised the stakes
Players also hoped that a future airdrop might give some in-game coins or activity a market value. That possibility made ordinary progression feel potentially consequential, but it was only an expectation: playing and accumulating coins did not guarantee a token allocation or a financial return.
Did Hamster Kombat really have 300 million players?
The 300 million figure was Hamster Kombat’s own July 2024 claim, not an audited count. WIRED reported that it could not verify the project’s user totals. Telegram founder Pavel Durov had earlier said the game reached 239 million users in 81 days, a public growth statement reported by Decrypt—not an independent audit of unique or active players.
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Other audience numbers measured different things. WIRED reported that the game’s Telegram channel had 53 million subscribers as of August 1, 2024. A channel subscriber count is not interchangeable with a count of unique players, much less people actively playing. These are milestones from 2024, not current audience figures.
Why did Iran’s military criticize the game?
The accusation came during an election campaign
During campaigning for Iran’s June 2024 presidential election, Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, deputy chief of Iran’s military, described Hamster Kombat as a feature of what he called the West’s “soft war.” The Associated Press reported his argument that popularizing the game could distract people from candidates’ plans and influence their choices. That is the official’s accusation; the reporting does not establish that the game was created or deployed to interfere with the election.
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Economic pressures were part of the context
The AP described an economy facing Western sanctions, persistent inflation and a lack of jobs. Iran digital-rights expert Amir Rashidi told the AP that the appeal of a small chance at a valuable reward reflected desperation. That interpretation helps explain why a hoped-for crypto payout could resonate, but it does not show that economic hardship alone explains why any particular person played.
Other criticism focused on the promise of easy wealth. The state television newspaper JameJam criticized the game as encouraging dreams of getting rich quickly without effort, while a religious scholar objected to crypto-related games, according to the AP. These were attributed views, not findings about the game’s political purpose.
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Could players make real money?
The central distinction is between in-game progress and a financial asset. Coins earned through tapping and upgrades were game currency; their accumulation did not itself establish a right to cash or tokens. Players’ hopes depended on a future airdrop and on any eventual token having value. Neither a promised allocation nor a large audience figure guarantees what a player would receive or whether it would be worth anything.
Hamster Kombat’s official Telegram channel said that 60% of the total token supply was reserved for players and claimed the project had no external investors. Those are statements from the project itself. An allocation announcement is not proof of an individual player’s entitlement, a completed distribution or the eventual value of a token.
Who made Hamster Kombat, and was it Telegram’s game?
WIRED reported that the creators remained anonymous and that it interviewed people who claimed by email to be developers. Le Monde reported circumstantial links between a related website and Russian entrepreneurs, alongside a denial of authorship. The reporting leaves questions about the creators’ identity unresolved; it does not establish who definitively made the game.
Nor should Telegram’s distribution role be confused with ownership. Hamster Kombat ran as a Telegram mini-app and planned a token based on TON, but WIRED noted that Telegram and TON are technically separate entities. Those connections do not establish that Telegram owned or operated the game.
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