Mobile gaming is big business with its value estimated at $180 billion in 2021. Over the last couple of years, lockdowns with the pandemic have more than likely facilitated the move towards mobile gaming and this trend is likely to continue in 2022.
However, a lot of these traditional games take a lot more than they give and sell your data on without giving you anything in return, other than the illusion of a free game and maybe some in-game currency that can’t be used in real life.
With developments in Bitcoin Gaming starting to ramp up thanks to the lightning network, it is opening up a new way of playing games for the end user with rewards available in sats.
So where can one find such a game that gives you the potential to earn sats?
THNDR Games
Enter THNDR Games, a company that was founded in 2019 focusing on developing mobile games that integrate with Bitcoin.
They are on a similar mission to us at TBM where we’re trying to orange pill as many people as possible, except they are specialising in mobile gaming as a medium.
At time of writing, they have launched 3 mobile games but I’ll be focusing on their latest called “THNDR Bay”, which launched in December 2021.
What Is THNDR Bay?
This is a highly addictive bubble burst game where you team up with a Bitcoin obsessed cat called Spark to complete various levels and earn raffle tickets to potentially earn some sats.
This raffle happens every day and the more levels you complete, the more raffle tickets you receive which increases your chances of getting sats. Be aware that you only get raffle tickets for completing the level for the first time and you can’t get more raffle tickets by repeating the same levels.
From the home-screen, you have a variety of statuses and options to upgrade Spark’s bubble launching skills:
- Lives – if you fail to complete a level, you lose a life, which refill every 10 minutes
- Coins – when you complete a level, you get coins that can be used to upgrade Spark’s bubble throwing prowess in the “Skills” section
- Raffle Tickets – when you complete a level for the first time only, you get raffle tickets for the daily draw to potentially win sats
- Gems – these can be bought or earned by watching ads and are used to help keep you in the level if you’re close to completing but run out of bubbles to throw.
- Journey – you can select levels and go on your journey with Spark.
- THNDR – redeem your sats if you’ve been lucky in the raffle and withdraw to a lightning wallet
- Skills – upgrade Spark’s bubble throwing skills here if you have enough coins
- Shop – you can buy coins, gems, ad-free version and other power-ups here
Gameplay
The graphics run on modern engine and a lot of care has clearly been put in to make the game as fun as possible to play so there is an incentive to keep you in the game.
The gameplay is as simple as you’d expect in a bubble shooter. Tap on the screen where you want to throw the bubble! You can hold down on the screen to see a line to help guide your shot before releasing.
Spark is holding one bubble type and you can see what’s coming next so if you want to switch to a more favourable bubble then tap that shuffle button.
Once you have burst a few bubbles and built up some combos, a lightning ball will appear on the right, which you can tap and fire at your target which will wipe out a few of those pesky bubbles.
How Can THNDR Games Reward Users?
As with all free mobile games, there are adverts that help with funding the development of the game, along with in-app purchases from the store. As with all ads, they can be annoying but these aren’t too obtrusive.
Every 3 or 4 completed or attempted levels, one will pop up or you can choose to watch an advert to get some in-game coins that you can use to rank up Spark’s skill.
If you really don’t like adverts, it’s £1.79 to get rid of them for good, which is a small price to pay considering you have a chance win sats every day.
How To Withdraw Sats From THNDR Bay
If you’ve been fortunate enough to win some sats from the daily raffle, congratulations!
However, you only have a couple of days to claim the prize, otherwise it will go back in to the pool. Further information on the terms and conditions can be found in the app.
Tap “THNDR” from the home screen, then tap the wallet icon at the bottom. You will see “Your Prizes” at the top with an option to withdraw. Tap this button to open your lightning wallet on your smartphone and then you will receive your sats instantly.
Bear in mind, you aren’t going to get rich playing this but every sat helps in my view!
My Thoughts On The Game
I personally really like the game and found some of the levels more challenging as you go through, which is what I’d hope for.
There’s enough going on in the game to keep you interested with ranking up Spark’s skill level, striving to achieve the max-star score in each level and I like the way that sats are integrated via a raffle.
This makes it feel like you don’t have to do anything extra and you’re playing the game for its own sake with a potential earning of some sats, rather than focusing on the sats.
The fact you have to complete levels to get those raffle tickets keeps you wanting to play and I don’t find the frequency of the adverts too bad for the free version. You can always pay a small amount to get rid of them which you could potentially make back from the raffles.
Overall, this is a good game to help pass the time and give you a chance to earn at least a little something to add to the sats pile.
What other non-Bitcoin games allow you to do that?
To download THNDR Bay, head over to their website or join their Discord/Telegram community:
