In early March, the Maker Foundation launched the Dai Gaming Initiative, a targeted effort to help Dai reach critical mass in the global economy. Along with initiative, the Foundation announced a series of bounties for developers who integrate Dai in games in various ways: 

• Best Dai Savings Rate integration, exploring the intersection between gaming and DeFi: 5,000 Dai
• Best Player-vs-Player experience: 2,500 Dai
• Best Player-vs-Evil experience: 2,500 Dai
• Best usage of Dai, integrating the token in working games: 2 x 1,500 Dai

Today, we are pleased to report that the first MakerDAO game bounties for Best Usage of Dai in a game have been awarded to Marble Cards and Battle DAO, and that the category will remain open to new applicants indefinitely. 

About the Bounty Winners 

Two early-stage projects, Marble Cards and Battle DAO, each received a 1,500 Dai bounty for Best Usage of Dai. Both projects are highly innovative and deserving of the prize. We see a huge potential to increase Dai adoption in very different segments of the market.

Marble Cards: Quirky Crypto Appeal

Marble Cards is a fun and (unashamedly) quirky game, aimed very much at the crypto community. Players can take any web page and “marble” it into a collectible card represented by a non-fungible token (NFT). URLs can only be marbled once and owned by one person, as every card is unique. Each card is publicly auctioned, with the creator receiving a cut of the proceeds or keeping the card if no one buys it.

Then, the real fun begins! Players can pit cards against each other in the Arena, battling it out in categories that include Art, Memes, Gaming, Movies & TV, and more. The Marble community votes on the cards they like the best, with card owners and those who back them winning rewards.

Currently, ETH and MBC (Marble Cards’ native token) are used to pay for auctions and rewards. The bounty will be used to add Dai as a payment option in the Marketplace. Other plans include a specific Maker Arena for Maker-related content, Dai prizes for tournaments, and Dai airdrops to the leaderboard.

Battle DAO: Solving Real-World Problems

Using blockchain and smart contract technology, Battle DAO enables users to organize gaming tournaments, define rules, receive entry payments, and automatically distribute prize pools. Unlike conventional tournament platforms, Battle DAO runs trustlessly and transparently, allowing for fast and reliable payouts with no unnecessary fees or unpleasant surprises. 

Best of all, Battle DAO is aimed squarely at the mainstream gaming community, exposing that key demographic to the benefits of a digital dollar by addressing some of the major shortcomings of traditional, centralized game services. Processes like wallet onboarding are simple and require no knowledge of blockchain tech, and easy crypto-to-fiat withdrawal is available. Prize pools for tournaments can be denominated in any ERC20 token, with the most popular options being ETH and Dai.

The Battle DAO team will use the 1,500 Dai bounty to help fund a series of new tournaments in the summer.

Why Dai Is Perfect for Gaming

Dai has gained traction around the globe not only as the most used cryptocurrency in the  DeFi space and a favored token to help survive hyperinflation in Latin America, but also in gaming, where the stablecoin’s popularity is driven by its utility.

Sixteen games currently integrate Dai, and another nine have committed to incorporating it. That’s a great start, and we are keen to continue the momentum.

As gaming worlds become richer and more complex, so too do in-game economies. The traditional financial system isn’t flexible enough to cooperate with those economies, but the blockchain is, and Dai provides the perfect combination of real-world value and almost limitless composability.

More MakerDAO Game Bounties Available

Since the Dai Gaming Initiative was announced, new games have gone live with Dai, including BattleRacers, League of Kingdoms, and Decentral Games, while a number of other projects have expressed intentions to apply for bounties. It’s a fantastic start!

The bounties for Best DSR Integration, Best PvP Experience, and Best PvE experience are still available. Plus, as noted earlier, the Best Usage of Dai bounties will remain open to new applicants indefinitely. So, game developers, think about how you can earn those rewards for creating amazing gaming experiences, and then submit your bounty application to [email protected]. Use the subject line DAI GAMING BOUNTY APP, and remember to indicate the specific bounty for which you’re applying. All applications will be considered.

Learn More

Dai fits the ethos of many blockchain projects. To learn how and why to self-integrate Dai into applications, dig into Maker’s developer documentation. To discover the many dapps and services that support Dai, visit the Maker ecosystem page.