The click-to-earn Telegram craze ended last year Ice coldso it was a pleasant surprise to see a new game rolling out Millions of players On the messaging platform starting in 2025.

Zoo has attracted more than 16 million players in a matter of weeks, based on the Telegram app's own data, and offers a highly streamlined take on Microsoft's classic Zoo Tycoon franchise — albeit with a cryptocurrency twist in the form of an imminent token drop.

Will this be the game that makes the Telegram gaming market thaw? I'm not convinced yet, but this is the reason I stopped working at the zoo weeks ago.

The Zoo tasks you with... well, building your own zoo. You're given a blank map with multiple types of terrain and no animals, but tap on an empty space and you can buy an animal enclosure and start attracting visitors to your budding park.

Doing so will earn you in-game Zoo Tokens, which the developers say will translate 1:1 to on-chain ZOO Tokens in an airdrop.

Then rinse and repeat.

Zoo is a very simple resource management game, where you can earn a small amount of Animal Feed (in-game currency) daily by logging in and completing simple tasks, e.g. Puzzle and puzzle rebus Or animal character tests, then spend them to buy new enclosures, upgrade them for greater profits, and feed your furry friends.

It's repetitive, no doubt, and having to log in every two hours to feed your pets to keep your airdrop profits going can be annoying. Also, the developers have been pushing new expensive animals that you probably have to spend on real cryptocurrencies (Tonquin or tons) or Telegram Stars coin to purchase, which will certainly skew the airdrop allocations.

On the other hand, I'm optimistic that Zoo might step up its ultra-simple gameplay or at least lean more into its embrace of crypto memes and weirdness. The inclusion of the popular Doge and Pepe as zoo animals is a fun touch, and I'd like to see more of that in future updates.

But is there reason for this optimism?

The zoo said it will end the mining phase on January 31, meaning any progress made after that point will not play a role in the airdrop. This is a fast cycle, even for a cryptocurrency game, as Zoo just launched in December.

On the other hand, maybe it will always be this way: a lightweight sharing machine that will pay off by dropping ZOO tokens within a few weeks and then spin its wheels, trying to keep players paying attention while the token price dwindles.

The Telegram game's airdrops did not come to fruition Especially well For players in recent months, but who knows? The zoo may have stumbled upon a winning formula. Maybe not.

Modified by Sebastian Sinclair