Notcoin vs Hamster Kombat on Telegram Ads: Two Tap-to-Earn Giants Compared

The Two Giants of Telegram Tap-to-Earn#

Notcoin and Hamster Kombat are the two largest tap-to-earn games in Telegram history, and together they defined the entire 2024 mini-app gamefi cycle. Both leveraged Telegram's native distribution to achieve unprecedented scale, but their design choices, tokenomics outcomes, and post-airdrop strategies diverged sharply. The Telegram Ads Spy archive captures both as among the most aggressive Telegram advertisers of their era.

Notcoin#

Notcoin launched in January 2024 by the Open Builders team and is the project that single-handedly invented the modern Telegram tap-to-earn meta. Players tapped a giant gold coin in a Telegram mini-app for off-chain points that would later convert to the NOT token on TON. At peak, Notcoin reached more than 35 million players.

The NOT token launched in May 2024 via Binance Launchpool, becoming one of the largest TON-ecosystem listings of the year. After the airdrop, Notcoin pivoted into "Explore" — a discovery and quest platform where Web3 projects pay NOT to acquire users via the Notcoin distribution graph.

Telegram ads: NOT utility, Explore quests, partner promotions. Visual identity is the iconic gold coin on black — clean, minimal, instantly recognizable.

Hamster Kombat#

Hamster Kombat launched mid-2024 as a "crypto exchange CEO simulator" on TON, casting players as a hamster running a virtual exchange. Tap mechanics were combined with card upgrades for passive income, daily missions, and combos. At peak, the game reached more than 300 million registered users — a UA scale unmatched by any single crypto product before or since.

The HMSTR token launched in September 2024 with simultaneous Binance and other top-exchange listings. The airdrop was instantly controversial: most farmers received far smaller allocations than expected, and a portion of users were filtered as "fraud." Despite the backlash, Hamster Kombat had cemented itself as the case study for Telegram-native UA at unprecedented scale.

Telegram ads: daily combos, HMSTR utility, Season 2 re-engagement, partner integrations. Visual identity is the cartoon hamster CEO with bold yellow/orange palette.

Key Differences in Telegram Strategy#

Side-by-side observations from the Telegram Ads Spy archive:

• UA scale — Notcoin ~35M peak vs Hamster Kombat ~300M peak.
• Post-airdrop pivot — Notcoin re-architected into Explore (discovery platform); Hamster Kombat continued as gamefi with Season 2 mechanics.
• Brand identity — Notcoin: minimalist gold coin, clean. Hamster Kombat: cartoon mascot, urgency-driven, busy.
• Creative tone — Notcoin: confident, low-frequency, brand-led. Hamster Kombat: high-frequency, urgency-coded, mission-focused.
• Geography — Both target EM heavily; Hamster Kombat goes wider into casual non-crypto channels, Notcoin stays closer to TON ecosystem.
• Airdrop reputation — Notcoin retained strong community goodwill; Hamster Kombat became a cautionary tale on tokenomics distribution.

Conclusion#

Notcoin and Hamster Kombat are the two pillars of the Telegram tap-to-earn era. Notcoin invented the meta and pivoted to Explore as a sustainable distribution platform. Hamster Kombat pushed the UA scale to records that may never be broken — but burned community goodwill on the airdrop. Watching both in Telegram Ads Spy gives a clean read on how the next wave of Telegram-native gamefi will balance growth against retention, and tokenomics design against sustained product-market fit. The tap-to-earn meta they created is now the baseline for every new Telegram mini-app launch.

tgadsspy research (2026). Notcoin vs Hamster Kombat on Telegram Ads: Two Tap-to-Earn Giants Compared. tgadsspy.com. Retrieved from https://tgadsspy.com/blog/notcoin-vs-hamster-kombat-telegram-2026