Play Casual Games, Win NFTs: Burn Ghost Raises $3.1M for Gaming Platform

As NFTs has taken hold, an increasing number games use crypto assets for interactive elements in the game, as well as tokenized economies. But a new startup is taking a different path in the space: a casual gaming platform where NFTs are the prizes.

That’s what Burn ghost builds, and the company revealed exclusively to Decrypt today that it has raised $3.1 million in funding to realize its vision.

The seed round, which was completed in April, was led by Drive by DraftKings and gaming-centric fund Bitkraft Ventures, with participation from Pillar VC as well.

Instead of developing complex, robust games built around NFTs – which have rubbed some players the wrong way—Burn Ghost will focus on simple, accessible casual games that have a skill component. CEO and co-founder Steve Curran told us Decrypt that trivia experiences will be among the first original games on the online platform.

“We feel like we’ve cracked the code to make it accessible to everyone, so that it is not just Ken Jennings of the world who are going to play this and be good at it, he said.

Burn Ghost’s game will reward top finishers with NFTs, including some that the company has purchased, as well as those obtained through partnerships with NFT creators. Players will pay an entry fee to play the games that offer NFT prizes, although they can also earn credits by playing other completely free games on the platform.

The entry fees will initially be paid via crypto, but the platform will expand to accept fiat payments as well. Additionally, Burn Ghost may charge placement fees for projects looking to put their NFTs in front of players, with the platform potentially acting as a marketing venue for creators looking to reach a wider audience.

An NFT is a blockchain token that represents ownership in a unique object, including things like Profile pictures (PFP), collectables and works of art. The NFT market increased to $25 billion in trading volume last year, but has seen declining momentum in recent months amid a broader cold time in the crypto market.

Burn Ghost is set to open up to the public in the first quarter of 2023, although Curran said the platform will open up to more and more players on the waiting list in the meantime. Additional games beyond trivia will come from the arcade and action genres, such as with reward NFTs from Ethereum as well as other blockchains.

Teaser artwork shared by the company shows collectibles from popular “blue chip” Ethereum NFT projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Doodlesand CloneX.

The startup has already launched a stand-alone game as both a teaser of its plans and a current head-turner: FTX gamesa comical “endless runner” game where players guide a character through environments inspired by recent collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Curran described it as “a bit of schadenfreude about the FTX story.”

His experience in the gaming industry dates back to the 1980s, when he was vice president and creative director of GameTek, a studio that made adaptations of TV game shows such as “Family Feud” and “Jeopardy.” Burn Ghost’s co-founders – including CPO Jason Krupat and CTO Bret Siarkowski – claim over 60 years of gaming industry experience between them.

As the NFT industry grew, they saw an opportunity to tap into “entertainment trading,” as Curran told Decrypt: a blend of games, rewards and marketing that allows consumers to have fun while serving brands and projects in the process. The co-founders see it as a potentially significant hurdle for Web3 adoption as well.

“It’s always a surprise to a lot of people that a majority of gamers in the world are women, and casual games are more of the type of games they play,” Curran said. “Our goal is to be a ramp for a wide variety of non-crypto players.”