A simple blockchain game has been behind a massive spike in daily transactions on the Sui Network, with one data platform even suggesting it has surpassed Solana in network activity.
Similar to the 2014 viral browser-based puzzle game 2048, Sui 8192 is a sliding tile game where the players use their arrow keys to shift and combine tiles until they reach a tile worth 8192. It was first launched in October 2022.
Each instance of the game mints a new object, similar to minting an NFT, and each move in the game is recorded as a transaction and thus requires a gas fee payment, according to a July 10 blog post from the Sui Foundation.
Haha! Finallyyyy!!!! #sui 8192 @EthosWalletXYZ I got it. pic.twitter.com/xzau7SO0Fv
— hagoyyds.bnb (@hagoyyds) July 16, 2023
The game was built by Sui wallet provider Ethos Wallet as the first wholly on-chain Sui game. It is open-sourced and was intended to serve as an example of how apps could evolve on the Sui blockchain.
Daily transactions hit 20 million
A recent Twitter post from on-chain analytics provider Artemis even suggests the game has helped the Sui Network to surpass Solana in daily transactions.
Artemis data shows Sui Network’s transaction count recently surpassed 20 million, exceeding Solana’s 16 million daily transactions — though it admitted it used a different methodology to calculate daily transactions for the Sui Network.
This is because Artemis counts transaction blocks for Sui instead of transactions when comparing with Ethereum and other chains, it said.
Getting a lot of questions on the @SuiNetwork transaction spike
tl;dr: it’s real pic.twitter.com/BsLqaVbnfU
— Artemis (@Artemis__xyz) July 16, 2023
Meanwhile, an initiative called Bullshark Quests by Mysten Labs has also been seen as driving momentum on Sui. For the next few weeks, Bullshark holders can compete for rewards based on their engagement with various Sui games such as Sui 8192, according to Mysten Labs.
Related: Optimism network transactions surged 67% following Bedrock upgrade
Players can earn rewards in SUI tokens by competing with other players and completing tasks and activities, with 5 million tokens put up as rewards from the Sui Foundation.
Just learned that the significant increase in $SUI transactions is due to a game called 8192 built by @EthosWalletXYZ.
Looks to be part of an incentive campaign from @Mysten_Labs: pic.twitter.com/7rj8K5GdOq
— Paddy the Pirate (@StPaddyPirate) July 10, 2023
Sui is a layer-1 blockchain launched in May 2023 and touted at the time as a “Solana killer.”
SUI prices were down 0.5% on the day at $0.678 at the time of writing.
Cointelegraph reached out to Solana for their take on the daily transaction data but did not receive an immediate response.
Collect this article as an NFT to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.
Magazine: Should you ‘orange pill’ children? The case for Bitcoin kids books