Got some Bitcoins lying around and looking for a fun way to turn a profit? Chopcoin is an
exciting new competitive game in which your survival and success depend solely upon your
skill and strategic choices. There is no chance involved here; no dice, luck, or gambles. All you
need to do is eat others without getting eaten yourself! But what exactly is Chopcoin, how
does it work, and, more importantly, is it fun? Read on and find out.
When you first join the game, you are thrown into a live arena with other players. Your
objective? Eat as much as possible —food bits and players alike— grow in size, and collect
your winnings. However, be careful with what you eat. Some of these cells look very different
and have a hole in them. These are actually bombs, which cause your Chopi to explode to
bits when you try and eat them! Every bit of food and player mass is worth its size in Satoshi:
the bigger you get, the more valuable you become. Stay alive to the end and the winnings
are yours.
You can eat anything that is smaller than you, but anything that is bigger than you can eat
you. This may sound easy, but you might be surprised… circumnavigating the arena whilst
gathering small bits of food and dodging the big boys. When you finally attain a respectable
size, you will surely start to attract the attention of others—some of them may appear friendly
and politely grant you some food bits, but looks can be deceiving.
You can choose to split into smaller pieces. This will of course makes you more vulnerable
because of your smaller size, but it can also save you in the right moment. The smaller you
are, the faster you are able to move. This helps you escape bigger predators, but as a predator
your sheer size can help you devour your prey. Can’t reach a smaller and faster player? Split
in two and launch yourself towards him. He, on the other hand, might split to try and get
away from you. If part of you is eaten by another player, your other parts will remain, so you
will be able to regroup and continue on your quest to victory. But if you lose all your Chopis,
it’s game over.
You will also find players ejecting their own mass. Why would you want to shoot away your
hard-earned coins? If you are already split into smaller pieces, you can choose to send all
possible mass into one Chopi to fend off possible predators. That is not all, however, as you
can also choose to ‘feed’ bombs: if you shoot mass at a bomb, it will eventually explode and
multiply itself in the direction away from you. Use this smartly and at the right time to destroy
and conquer other players. On the other hand, be careful not to eject mass onto other players,
unless you are feeling especially generous!
Moving on to the specifics: you use your mouse to navigate through the playground, press the
spacebar to split your Chopis and press the ‘W’ key to eject some mass. The rounds are timebased,
and you have to pay a small fee in order to join the game—comparable to buying in at a
poker game. If you survive the round, you get your size back in coins. If you get eaten, you will
have to buy-in again, so you must be careful! The timer never stops, so you can be one of the
first players to buy-in for a round or strategically buy-in right before the round ends. However,
if you wish to try the game before you gamble, Chopcoin also offers a faucet playground. Here
you can practice your game before joining the paid playgrounds.
This is what Chopcoin calls the ‘play types’. They essentially determine how the game is played.
Chopcoin currently offers two play types: ‘buy-in’ and ‘faucet’ and they work exactly as one
might expect. The buy-in playgrounds follow the aforementioned rules. The faucet play type
is special, it is free to join by everyone, but you can still win something! With this play type, a
few top players win a fixed amount of coins at the end of the round. To keep it fair, there has
to be a minimum number of players before the faucet pays out any coins. Chopcoin uses the
latest technologies and works on any modern browser, even on your phone or tablet. The game
launched on the first of September and are now accepting new players. So head over, deposit
some Bitcoins and give it a whirl, you won’t regret it!