Over 10 million users have tapped on Elon Musk’s face over the past few weeks, thanks to the new hit Telegram game, Musk Empire. 

Looking for a way to differentiate Musk Empire from the mountain of tap-to-earn games on Telegram such as Hamster Kombat and Catizen, the development team swapped out cute pet visuals for a cartoon image of Elon Musk that you need to tap to rack up piles of in-game coins.

The number of players suggests that this approach is working, with millions of players keen to jump on anything related to Musk, even if the game doesn’t appear to be officially endorsed by him. 

But the promise of a crypto token airdrop further down the line means there could be a chance to earn some coin if you play for a while. Here’s a look at Musk Empire, how to play it, and what we know so far about the airdrop plans.

What is Musk Empire?

Musk Empire is a tap-to-earn game on Telegram that is essentially a clone of the wildly popular Hamster Kombat, as—for the most part—the mechanics are exactly the same. You tap on an image to earn in-game currency, and then spend it to earn passive income when not playing.

There’s no evidence to suggest that the man himself is involved with this in any way, or even endorses it, so it’s safe to assume it’s a fan project. As a result, there’s a chance that it could be shut down at any point if Elon’s legal team gets wind of it—especially if the developers ultimately launch a token associated with his name. 

But that hasn’t stopped millions of players from signing up through Telegram in the hopes of eventually securing some tokens on The Open Network (TON)—the same network that hosts Notcoin’s NOT token, and will be used by games like Hamster Kombat and Yescoin.

How to play Musk Empire 

Musk Empire is very simple to play. Once you load in, you simply tap on Elon’s face and get in-game currency until your energy runs out. Then you wait for your energy to refill and do exactly the same thing again. 

Once you have some in-game coins, you can spend them on upgrades to both Elon and his workforce to earn passive income when you’re not tapping or even logged into the game. Upgrades for Elon include attributes such as ethics and leadership, while workforce upgrades include staff members and office improvements. All of this will provide you with extra currency that gradually accumulates.

These upgrades will continue earning you coins even when the game is closed, but only for up to three hours—so you’ll need to log back in and claim your passive income before you start earning again. 

The one difference that Musk Empire has compared to other similar games is the “City” tab, where you can battle against other players in what is essentially Rock Paper Scissors, and invest in different stocks each day in the hope you pick some winners and make some cash back.

Neither activity is particularly robust, but the fact you have to put some (in-game) money on the line in the hopes of making bigger returns adds at least a little more drama than is usually found in these games. 

When is the airdrop?

There is no date for the Musk Empire airdrop, and we don’t even know what the token will be called—but we do know that one is coming, and that the token will launch on TON. 

In the airdrop section of the game, the team claims that Musk Empire is the first step towards an “extensive ecosystem” and that the airdrop will be the next step of this. The developers also say they are “committed to maximizing your earnings,” and that they will “distribute almost all our tokens to our community.”

Exact details of how you will earn tokens through the airdrop have yet to be revealed, but the team said that they key factors to securing your share will be your in-game profit per hour, the total number of coins you earn in a specific period, and the number of friends you invite to the game.

Recently, Musk Empire announced a collaboration with the aforementioned Notcoin, the influential Telegram game that spawned the current craze. Notcoin players will get special missions within Musk Empire, particularly players who have secured one of the higher player levels in Notcoin, plus the game has temporarily been rebranded as "NOT Empire."

Edited by Andrew Hayward