Solana is on the rise—You can earn more by playing these games

Solana wash has risen again latelywhich is up 22% in the past month and hit a recent high again in December—and it’s skyrocketing from the sub-$10 mark it hit in late 2022. And if you’re looking to fill your wallet with even more Solana, why not earn more by playing games?

Many play-to-earn games is based on Solana, and rewards players either with SOL itself or another token within the Solana ecosystem, which can be exchanged for SOL at an exchange. In some of the examples below, you will see a NFT to enable in-game earnings—but it might be worth it if you plan to play a lot.

Here are six notable play-to-earn games you can play today to earn tokens and stacks of SOL, and stay tuned as we plan to expand this list with newer titles over time.

Ev.io

What would have made the classic Quake III Arena even better? Probably earn cash while shredding enemies. Well, that’s basically it which serves Ev.io. This web-based game takes the old-school arena first-person shooter (FPS) format and adds the ability to earn cryptocurrency while playing, which only heightens the sense of frenzied competition.

Ev.io is completely free to play, although you will need to purchase an NFT if you want to earn the in-game “e” currency that can be paid out for SOL. Luckily we did compile a directory about how to start earning in the game. Ev.io has too issued the Solana meme token BONKso good, so there was a lot of earning potential.

Steph

Move to earn—simple enough, right? Steph took the idea of ​​activity tracking apps and ran with it (pun intended), tying in crypto rewards as a way to motivate players to get out there and log their runs and outings. While the Steph hype dropped sharply from the early 2022 peakyou can still earn the GST reward tokens on Solana by playing.

However, you will need to purchase NFT sneakers in the game to get started, but putting some skin in the game can motivate you to improve your workout routine and ultimately get more SOL.

Aurora

You will usually need to own NFTs to earn Solana-based AURY tokens AuroraA Pokemon-inspired role-playing game about Solana and Ethereum Scale Network Decision. As a blog post explainsAurory players earn in-game (off-chain) sub-tokens by battling their Nefties NFT creatures, which are then automatically converted to AURY tokens and awarded to players.

More recently, Aurora has AURY rewards advertised for winning matches in the Blitz Player-versus-Player (PVP) mode. And NFT owners can also stake their assets to earn AURY rewards. There are several ways to earn in one of Solana’s most prominent games.

Currently, as of this writing, Aurory has launched a limited-time public access to its Seekers of Tokane game experience via the Epic Games Store, with the launch of a special “Dracurve’s Awakening” in-game event. For the event, Aurory is serving $50,000 worth of AURY rewards—including $35,000 for NFT owners and $15,000 for other players. The promotion, which will also give away free NFTs, runs until February 26.

MixMob

“Race-to-earn” game MixMob blends racing games and card-based strategy into a unique concoction – and it’s one that offers token rewards to players. You can earn SUD tokens for playing, plus there are opportunities to bet tokens on other players’ matches.

On February 1st, MixMob launched an airdrop for its MXM management token to reward NFT owners, as well as players of the game’s incentivized beta. Token rewards seem to be a key part of the overall MXM experience, so there is compelling reason to get involved before potential future drops.

Star Atlas: SAGE Labs

While developer ATMTA gradually build out his epic vision for the full-fledged version of sci-fi simulation Star Atlasit launched a on-chain Solana web game called SAGE Labs allowing early players to tap into the same kind of open economy with a simpler interface.

And there are substantial rewards to be claimed. Late last year, Star Atlas served players Golden Ticket tokens, which could be entered into drawings to win crypto tokens and NFT in-game items collectively valued at totaling $1.35 million. You’ll need some SOL or ATLAS in your Solana wallet to play, as everything is handled on-chain, but the potential rewards are substantial.

DeFi Land

Many early crypto games were derided as being DeFi apps dressed up as games, but DeFi Land embraces that atmosphere wholeheartedly, pairing a farming simulation experience with play-to-earn rewards – plus the ability to trade crypto tokens via DeFi protocols.

You’ll need specific NFTs to unlock the play-to-earn version of the fishing, shooting, and harvesting minigames, as well as pet NFTs to earn tokens for caring for animals. DeFi Land serves Solana-based GOLDY tokens for those NFT owners when they play, so you can earn back some of your investment.

Moreover, DeFi Land also lets players get in touch with DeFi protocols that can earn you returns for staking tokens, but be careful – it might look like a game, but you’re playing with real tokens.

Editor’s note: This story was originally posted on November 28, 2023 and was last updated with new information on February 15, 2024.