Hamster Kombat Mania Driving Massage Gun Sales in Russia

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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July 9, 2024

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Hamster Kombat

mania is driving up percussion massage gun sales in Russia, as the Telegram-based game’s popularity skyrockets, a report has claimed.

Per Vedomosti, Russian e-commerce sites have reported a rapid rise in sales of Theragun-like massage devices.

Hamster Kombat Mania Sweeping Russia?

Many of these products’ retailers are advertising themselves as “suitable for” Hamster Kombat players.

Some players use the devices to tap faster in the game’s coin “mining” feature. This feature requires players to tap their smartphone screens quickly to earn more tokens.

By setting the device to high speed and pushing it against their fingers, they are reportedly able to tap much faster than usual.

Cryptonews.com has seen a wide range of postings from massage device retailers on Russian e-commerce sites that make mention of Hamster Kombat.

Vedemosti reported that on Wildberries, device sales in “June grew month-on-month by 179%,” per the site’s staff.

On one of Wildberries’ biggest rival platforms, Ozon, demand also grew. In the June-July period, Ozon saw a rise of around 33% in both units sold and revenue made compared to the same period in 2023.

However, the third member of Russia’s “big three” e-commerce platforms – Yandex Market – told the media outlet that it has “not detected a significant increase in interest in percussion massagers.”

Wildberries employees said demand for the products had “almost tripled.” This is likely due to the spread of several viral videos of Russian players using the devices to mine coins.

Viral Videos Spark Interest

A number of these videos have garnered millions of views on social media platforms such as VK and open chat rooms on apps like Telegram.

Seemingly opportunistic retailers have responded by updating product cards on Wildberries to boats that their devices are suitable for “quickly pumping” on Hamster Kombat.

I think you meant to put Hamster Kombat first 👀

there are currently over 250 million Hamsters playing our game 🐹 https://t.co/ET7l0mKZIw

— Hamster Kombat (@hamster_kombat) July 9, 2024

Hamster Kombat launched on Telegram messenger on March 26, 2024. The game, which lets players complete tasks to earn Hamster Kombat coins (HMSTR), is set to launch a native token on the TON network.

Hamster Kombat lets players invest these coins on a “hamster-operated” crypto exchange. It largely relies on users inviting friends to join the game.

The title’s developers claim that over 250 million people worldwide play the game. Hamster Kombat has developed huge followings in areas such as Iran and Southeast Asia.