Hamster Kombat players are exploiting the game with massage guns

Crypto-clicker game Hamster Kombat has reportedly caused sales of electric massage devices in Russia to surge as players seek new ways to game its mind-numbing coin mining process.

Hamster Kombat launched in March 2024 and, according to its website, the idea is to “Make your way from the shaved hamster to the grandmaster CEO of the tier-1 crypto exchange.”

Along the way, you’ll apparently “Buy upgrades, complete quests, invite friends, and become the best.”

In reality, this translates to simply jabbing at an on-screen image of a hamster as fast as you can to collect coins.

However, despite these devilishly simple mechanics, the game is still apparently too taxing for many of its claimed 250 million players and increasing numbers are turning to electric massage guns to automate and speed up their clicking.

According to Russian news outlet Vedomosti, E-commerce site Wildberries said that sales of such devices almost tripled in June by 179% while rival retailer Ozon also saw a 33% rise in sales between June and July compared to 2023.

Their popularity among Hamster Kombat devotees means that many of the guns are now even advertising themselves as a ‘quick pumping’ method to mine the precious coins.

Screenshots from Wildberries show the massage guns alongside the Hamster Kombat logo.

Despite all of the game’s talk of crypto and coins, it isn’t yet ‘play-to-earn’ as users aren’t able to withdraw anything with real monetary value. Instead, they’re waiting on a promised airdrop, set to happen this month.

Hamster Kombat also has its own unbelievably popular YouTube channel and news segments. One video reporting on FTX and PayPal’s stablecoin garnered 10 million views, while the channel itself has 33 million subscribers. It once managed 54 million views on a single video.

Someone utilizing a massage gun to speed up coin collection.

Another crypto-clicker game, Notcoin, rose to popularity earlier this year and employs gameplay mechanics that are nearly identical to Hamster Kombat. Indeed, a spokesperson told the Block that Notcoin helped inspire the game.

Protos emailed Hamster Kombat to see what it plans to do about the rising use of massage devices to exploit the game’s mechanics and to find out more about the team’s refusal to share who is behind the Telegram-based phenomenon. We will update if and when we receive a response.

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