Retro Play to Earn games with Bitcoin payments may soon be coming to a bar, conference, or gathering near you. according to a February 12 Twitter post from Zebedee founder Christian Moss. The software is tentatively named “Bit-tendo”.
Bitcoin Pay to Play & Play to Earn in Super Mario 3 on the original NES! #bitcoin #retrogames #redrelámpago powered by @zebedeeio and @lnbits
200 retweets and I will integrate SONIC
“Bit-tendo” will be a free retro bitcoin infuser for bars, conferences, meetings, etc. pic.twitter.com/4GBuXX9pN2
— Christian Moss (@MandelDuck) February 12, 2023
The Twitter post includes a video of someone playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on a small, old-school tube TV. The TV displays a QR code at startup and requests a Bitcoin payment. Only once the payment is submitted does the game start running.
During gameplay, a “Sats” counter is displayed that apparently counts the number of Sats the player has earned as a reward so far: “Sats” are the smallest divisible unit of Bitcoin of 0.00000001BTC each. The screen also shows a timer that counts down from 90 seconds to zero, and when the timer reaches zero, the game ends and a new QR code is displayed. A statement at the bottom and top of the image implies that the player can use the QR code to withdraw their Sats.
In the post, Moss said that the software will eventually “be a free retro gaming bitcoin infuser for bars, conferences, meetups, etc.”
Cointelegraph reached out to Christian Moss for an explanation of how the software works. In response, he told us that it runs on a PC or other device that can accept a video stream. The game itself is produced by an actual Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console, but the video is modified along the way to show the Sats counter and timer. The software tracks movements in the video feed to determine if the player has collected a coin and updates the Sat counter each time a coin is collected.
To fund the payment wallet, Moss said the bar or club must sign up for a custodial wallet with Zebedee or LNBits. The wallet is connected to the Lightning Network to enable low transaction fees and fast payments.
Related: Nigerian Innovator Launches First Active Bitcoin Lightning Node in Country
The Zebedee app is available on the Google Play and Apple app stores. The screenshots reveal that it has a “reload” (deposit) and “withdraw” (withdrawal) feature that can be accessed after the user completes a Know Your Customer (KYC) process.
Moss also explained how he came up with the idea for “Bit-tendo.” He said that he tried to get people interested in Bitcoin Play to Earn games at Bitcoin conferences, but found that participants preferred to play games they already knew rather than games designed “in house.” Moss said that he expects the software to work with any game, not just Super Mario Bros. 3:
“I also want to allow the user to be able to train the software to recognize events in any game they may have, ultimately making it game independent.”
In his Tweet showing off the software, Moss stated that he would integrate Sonic: The Hedgehog 2 with it if the post got 200 retweets, which it has since received.
Christian Moss has been an innovator in the blockchain gaming space since its inception. In 2014 he created Sarutobi, a game that allowed players to collect Bitcoin by controlling a monkey swinging through a jungle landscape. Because it predates EverdreamSoft’s release Genesis Spells beta for about a year, Moss’ Sarutobi it is sometimes considered to have been the first blockchain game in history.
