Pudgy Penguins Launches Telegram Game, Pengu Clash, With 1.1 Million Waitlist

Pudgy Penguins has launched its new Telegram game, Pengu Clash, allowing a portion of its waitlist to access the game ahead of its full public release. Pengu Clash is a 1v1 multiplayer battler featuring the Pudgy Penguins NFT collection’s cutesy seabirds. Players can customize their penguins and compete in various minigames such as curling, darts, and football. The game is designed to reward skill rather than being a pay-to-win experience, as emphasized by Michal Dabrowski, CEO and founder of crypto gaming protocol Elympics.

Elympics developed Pengu Clash for Pudgy Penguins with the aim of initiating a trend around skill-first crypto social games. Dabrowski highlighted that Pengu Clash is different from other Telegram-based crypto "clickers" that have short lifespans due to their focus on farming for an airdrop. He criticized many existing crypto games for being superficial and lacking a strong focus on gameplay, stating that the primary goal should be to create engaging gameplay rather than just incorporating a crypto component.

The game currently offers quickplay matches, a “PVP arena,” and a shop tab, with quests planned for future updates. The waitlist for Pengu Clash consists of over 1.1 million Telegram accounts. Pengu Clash utilizes TON for its in-game NFTs and optional wagering component, while the original Pudgy NFTs are on Ethereum and the Pudgy memecoin is on Solana. Players can enjoy the game without logging in or creating a wallet, but those interested in purchasing cosmetic items can connect the Telegram built-in wallet or an external TON wallet to the game.

Pudgy Penguins has also expanded its reach to younger audiences by releasing a children’s picture book and a kid-friendly animated series on YouTube. When asked about the choice to build a Telegram-based game using TON instead of its own Ethereum L2 Abstract, CEO Luca Netz explained that the goal is to become the face of crypto and the world’s most popular penguin. Netz noted that this vision is chain-agnostic and that a desktop version of Pengu Clash using Abstract is also part of the plan.