Gaming and engagement platform Major has become one of the biggest mini apps on Telegram, tasking players with racking up stars in various ways—including by playing simple games. And one of them is inspired by Telegram’s co-creator.

Puzzle Durov is a daily challenge featuring cartoonish faces based on Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov, and it’s simple enough: Just pick out the right combination of different Durov faces in the correct order, and you’ll earn 5,000 stars. Easy as that!

It’s similar in vibe to the Tomarket combo, and it’s an easy way to rack up more stars ahead of the upcoming MAJOR token launch and airdrop on The Open Network (TON), which is currently set for sometime in November.

If you’re looking for the daily Puzzle Durov solution, you’ll find it right here in our daily-updated guide. Keep reading for today’s solution.

Daily Puzzle Durov solution

Puzzle Durov is located in the Major mini app on Telegram. Simply click the Games button at the bottom of the screen, and you’ll see Puzzle Durov at the time of the resulting list.

Simply tap the faces in the correct order, as shown below, and tap the “Check” button to claim your reward. You only get one try, so tap carefully. The daily puzzle is updated at 8pm ET each night.

Here is the Puzzle Durov solution updated on Monday, October 21:

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on October 17, 2024 and will be updated daily.

The Open Network blockchain has recorded a significant decline in daily active users, according to on-chain data from IntoTheBlock.

According to a chart shared on X by the on-chain metrics and analytics provider, the TON network has seen its daily active users drop sharply in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Toncoin, the native token of the Telegram-supported decentralized layer-1 blockchain, has struggled for upward momentum during this period.

TON’s daily active users drops

A report DappRadar showed that TON’s active daily users surged in early September as the crypto gaming space saw a rise in activity.

For TON, the blockchain gaming metric tracked users across Telegram-based decentralized applications, with Catizen and Yescoin among those driving user growth.

However, after exceeding 5 million on Sept. 27, the daily active address count on the TON network fell sharply to just 1.58 million as of Oct. 21.

This major decline, from a peak of 5.16 million active users to current levels, coincided with market turbulence and reduced network activity. New addresses and zero-balance addresses also declined, with metrics falling from 2.58 million and 346,000 to under 650,000 and 68,000, respectively.

IntoTheBlock analysts noted that TON has a history of active user spikes during major events and hype cycles. Active user counts have notably dropped amid a broader market slowdown.

Telegram’s recent troubles, including the impact of founder Pavel Durov’s arrest and other developments look to have coincided with the dip. Major airdrops on the TON network, including Dogs, saw a surge. Network events such the Alchemy Pay integration may yet see the active user count on TON rise.

The crypto gaming space is busier than ever lately, what with prominent games starting to release, token airdrops piling up, and a seemingly constant array of other things happening at all times. It’s a lot to take in!

Luckily, Decrypt’s GG is all over it. And if you need a quick way to get caught up on the latest moves around crypto video games, we’re happy to present This Week in Crypto Games.

Our weekend roundup serves up the biggest news from the past week, along with a few other tidbits you might have missed. We also showcase a few of our original stories from the week.

Biggest news

X Empire airdrop: Telegram tap-to-earn game X Empire has completed its latest mining phase, shutting down the game ahead of this Thursday’s X token launch on The Open Network (TON). The short-lived “Chill Phase” of the game formerly known as “Musk Empire” lasted just over two weeks, giving players a last shot to get a bigger slice of tokens ahead of the October 24 airdrop.

This isn’t the first time that X Empire has gone through this process. The game completed its original, monthslong mining phase on September 30, with plans for the X token launch to take place soon thereafter. But it returned two days later, relaunching with a “Chill Phase” that offered an additional 5% of the total token supply to players.

Not everyone is thrilled with the airdrop rollout, however. After the game revealed airdrop allocations to players on Friday, many complained that they had been left out entirely—and the game’s creator revealed that just 6 million players were eligible, out of a total of more than 50 million total players.

Some players have taken to Twitter to complain to Elon Musk about it… but he doesn’t actually have anything to do with the game, despite the original name and the cartoonish avatars bearing his likeness.

Hamster Kombat Season 2: We knew that the second season of smash Telegram crypto game Hamster Kombat was due later this month, but on Thursday, the developers revealed the theme—and it’s a big overhaul.

Instead of a hamster CEO running your own crypto exchange, you’ll now start and expand your own development studio, creating games, building out your team, and launching a platform for such games. A brief teaser shows development activities that take potentially days to complete, but also the return of tapping gameplay, the familiar daily combo, and more.

Moonray on PS5: The makers of Ethereum-based combat arena game Moonray announced that they will release the free-to-play title on PlayStation 5 next year. However, citing Sony’s policies, the game will be launching on the console without Web3 features.

On PC, the game has already run a play-to-airdrop campaign, and its upcoming mobile auto-battler game has similar plans alongside its release next year. But this will not be the case for the PS5 version of the arena combat game, at least from the outset. This is due to Sony’s “rules and conditions” limiting the game, they said.

Still, it leaves a big question mark over the future Off the Grid—which is currently on PS5 in early access without direct integration of crypto features that players can use. Off the Grid developer Gunzilla Games has yet to clarify its crypto integration plans for consoles, despite Decrypt‘s inquiries.

Off the Grid goes viral: Avalanche battle royale shooter Off the Grid launched two weeks back to huge buzz and excitement. That hype followed through to last week with tons of clips going viral, displaying why the game quickly became the most popular free-to-play title on the Epic Games Store.

From Fortnite legend Ninja showing off the power of the “Slam Fist’”cyberlimb to popular streamer TimTheTatman sniping the last man standing in midair, it was clear that audiences were loving the game. Not only that, but it appears that some traditional gamers are coming around to the idea of NFTs too. Does this open the door for crypto gaming to enter the mainstream?

ICYMI

• Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung predicted that all Web3 projects will have a Telegram complement.
• Mobile crypto RPG studio Azra Games raised $42.7 million in a round led by Pantera Capital.
• Crypto Clash of Clans clone Heroes of Mavia announced that its land NFT integration will come this month.
• Call of Duty said that its ToxMod AI has blocked over 45 million messages since it launched in 2023.

GG spotlight

Here are a few of our original stories from this past week that we think are well worth a weekend read:

Edited by Andrew Hayward