8 Key Things to Watch in Crypto: The Game Season 3

Crypto: The Game, the interactive crypto survival game, is kicking off entries for its Season 3 gameplay tomorrow with an NFT mint on cryptothegame.com plus Farcaster.

We'll learn more about the specifics of S3 once the mint is live. But considering previous seasons, S3, dubbed "Resurrection Island," is undoubtedly going to be another hotspot for high-stakes fun and connecting with some of the best minds in crypto.

But there are some tidbits we already know, like how CTG is now running on Uniswap's Unichain. Plus, I got close to the endgame in both S1 and S2, so speaking from experience, there are various things players can generally expect in the new season.

All that said, here are some main pillars to keep an eye on:

• 🪙 The prize pool — CTG S2 reached an 80 ETH prize pool via NFT mints from 800 players, but it's not clear yet if S3 will be capped at 800 players. If the S1 and S2 mint price of 0.1 ETH is used again, and more players join this time around, then the prize pool would be the biggest one yet.
• ✅ The rules — We can assume the basics of the format will likely be the same in S3, with players sorted into tribes and competing in challenges for tribal immunity against daily vote-outs ahead of the Merge, a la Survivor where players thereafter fight for individual immunity in a bid to be the last person standing.
• 🌊 The partners — We do already know some of the CTG S3 partners. OpenSea will be the official NFT marketplace for the entry passes, and Farcaster is running a custom challenge like the Lens team did in S2. If you plan on playing this season, it's a good time to set up OpenSea and Farcaster accounts if you haven't already.
• 🦄 Unichain — Uniswap acquired CTG last summer and just launched its Unichain L2, with S3 set to be the first flagship onchain culture event to feature on the network. As such, the entry NFTs and some challenges may be on the L2, so consider bridging in some ETH now or wait to see CTG's official bridging UX.
• 🪦 Resurrections — CTG is heavily inspired by Survivor, which has previously used redemption mechanics where eliminated players can reenter the game by winning competitions. Considering the "Resurrection Island" theme, S3 will likely make use of redemptions in some form or fashion.
• 👾 Mini-games — Previous CTG seasons have used browser-based games, e.g. Flappy Bird and Snake, for tribal challenges. These typically are endurance challenges, with tribes grinding for hours to up their best scores for a shot at immunity. Expect another mini-game or two to make an appearance in S3 accordingly.
• 🤝 Alliances — Early tribes see a frenzy of alliance-making, as people openly or discreetly sort into voting blocs. In the first phase of the game, these blocs tend to go after inactive or very high-profile players. Later, players that struggle in challenges prove to be low-hanging targets. Then, as tribes lose more challenges, betrayals and chaos take hold.
• 👥 Cabals — In CTG S2, much ado was made about "cabals," i.e. secret cross-tribe collaborator blocs via professional or personal affiliations. For example, I was targeted as part of the "Bankless cabal" (lol) because some of my coworkers played on other tribes in S2. It seemed to be manufactured chaos to take out high-profile players, but assume similar chaos could unfold in S3!

All in all, if you're new to the game and on the fence about joining in S3, I'll just say there's nothing quite like CTG in crypto. The gameplay is fun, the tribe dynamics are intense, and the networking potential is huge.

Unless you get voted out on Day 1, I don't think you'll be disappointed. And in my experience, as long as you're active and helpful in your tribe, you have a good shot at making it past the first few days as inactives typically get weeded out first.

It's worth a try, I say. At worst, you'll have some fun and meet new people. At best, you'll become a CTG champion and win a windfall of ETH. Personally speaking? I love that risk/return ratio.