Recently, the NFT blue-chip project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) launched Dookey Dash, an endless runner that revolves around NFTs of apes and mutants, similar to the hit mobile game Temple Run, the original endless runner that became the highest-grossing free iOS game in 2012. Players control their character in the game and try to avoid and break obstacles, obtaining fragments in the process. Your score increases the longer you survive and avoids obstacles. The game will only end if your character hits an obstacle.
It is worth noting that there are barriers to entry for this game. To play, you need to hold a Sewer Pass in your wallet, which is only available for holders of the three biggest NFT collections from Yuga Labs - BAYC, MAYC and BAKC. Holders can participate in the Free Mint activity of Sewer Pass. Sewer Passes are divided into four levels:
TIER 1：Holders of MAYC
TIER 2：Holders of MAYC and BAKC
TIER 3：Holders of BAYC
TIER 4：Holders of BAYC and BAKC
High-tier Sewer Pass holders are rewarded with higher bonus point percentages, starting from an additional 10% in Tier 2 to an extra 30% reward in Tier 4.
Sewer Pass holders can start playing Dookey Dash on January 18th and play as much as they want until February 8th. On February 15th, the player with the highest score will receive the “key” that was stuck in Jimmy the Monkey’s stomach that started the whole story, which can unlock a box given to Curtis, another ape. Other eligible Sewer Pass holders will receive a new NFT.
Personally, I find the business model of Sewer Pass to be the most admirable aspect. Since all Sewer Passes are given out for free, this makes Yuga Labs look like they’re giving away free benefits. In reality, Sewer Pass has a built-in 9% royalty. Since only Yuga Labs NFT holders hold Sewer Passes, Since all Sewer Passes are given out for free, the game developer Yuga Labs seems to be giving benefits. In reality, Sewer Pass has a 9% royalty, so as long people trade Sewer Passes, Yuga Labs will profit from it.
As of writing, the trading volume on Opensea has exceeded 27,800 ETH. It is estimated that Yuga Labs has earned more than US$3 million (approx. HK$23.51 million) from this small game just by calculating the taxed income. Since Yuga Labs has not disclosed what the actual rewards of the game will be, there is a high likelihood that the reward will involve Yuga Labs allocating part of its revenue from its transaction royalty to increase the value of in-game rewards.
In addition to bringing benefits to the project, this game also has a fee mechanism to create demand for the ecosystem of APE tokens. By spending as much as 2 APEs on the game, players can buy as much as 10 extra minutes of playing time, along with a 50% reduction in the sprint cooldown, a 15% score bonus, and a higher chance of seeing rare fragments. A rough estimate shows that the players consumed approximately 140,000 APEs in merely two weeks, which created an extra 800,000 USD for the crypto ecosystem.
Dookey Dash is unlike the previous NFT products, like the NFT blind box and lottery casting. The model of Dookey Dash is mainly based on competition - players need a certain degree of skill in the game and spend APEs to improve their own score. The real-time leaderboard forms a competitive atmosphere, even attracting some professional esports players to play Dookey Dash.
BAYCs are the Rolexes of the NFT world. A limited NFT that can only be obtained through skill-based competition made by the creators of BAYC is the ultimate proof of superiority. Now that Dookey Dash has effectively triggered the collective FOMO of everyone remotely interested in anything by Yuga Labs, it truly proves that they have a unique and superior understanding of human nature and the NFT world.
