Airdrop Game
Project team airdrop playbook - How to airdrop like Pacman
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| AIRDROP GAME |
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| How to airdrop like Tiesun (Pacman) |
| Phase-based strategy for maximum extraction |
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+-----------------------------------------------------------+Understanding Why Airdrop
Your Persona
You aspire to be the next Tiesun (Pacman), the next penguin emperor. You've already closed a round or got on board with institutions, hoping to smoothly list on Binance and maximize cash-out.
Why Airdrop (Instead of Direct Selling)
Often because you can't directly sell:
| Reason | Description |
|---|---|
| Reach doesn't support | Without airdrop, KOLs can't find risk-free promotional hooks |
| Compliance doesn't support | Direct ICO/IEO not compliant in many jurisdictions |
| Terms don't support | Exchanges supervise unlocks and distribution, can't cash out at listing |
Airdrop Essence:
- Marketing cost to maximize later token sales profit
- Disguised ICO
- Hide chips to get more cash-out opportunities
Phase One: Before Lead Investor
Without sufficient endorsement, user trust cost is high.
Strategy
Use zero-cost or low-cost, simple but repetitive activity formats
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Increase time sunk cost
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At this stage, do data at all costs
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No need to consider future airdrop fulfillment issuesData Type Selection
Four types of data: TVL, trading volume, DAU, protocol revenue
Selection: Choose the format with no unit cost and easiest to farm (generally exclude protocol revenue)
| Format | Data Farmed |
|---|---|
| Testnet faucet transactions | Trading volume |
| Register and click-click-click | DAU |
Key Design
- Unify task progress to visualized standards (e.g., Linea's LXP, Initia's game-style points)
- Don't worry about whether points issuance is reasonable, unrelated to final airdrop
- Don't set barriers for multiple accounts, make script creation simple
- Find English-speaking influencers to post testnet tutorials, Chinese farmers will follow
Phase Two: Before Exchange Listing
Exchange Three Priorities: Compliance, new users, new buying pressure
Strategy
"Compliance": Find good white gloves (ecosystem) to do what main entity can't
"New users, new buying": Must make users spend money to generate "protocol revenue"
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Run a split scheme, make users spend as much as possible
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Raise their future chip costsReserve Insider Position Space
| Strategy | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Add activity dimensions | Cover more asset targets and trading behaviors |
| External ambiguity | Don't let outsiders identify "favorite sons", muddy waters |
| Internal clarity | True favorite sons are projects that eat customer losses, tilt airdrops toward them |
ZKSYNC is the best example: Mix in zero-value dog projects to get airdrop, eat and take both
Phase Three: Before TGE
The real accounting moment. After confirming exchange, need to determine the relationship between points and airdrop.
Start with the End
Farmers have POW mentality, don't expect them to buy on secondary
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Goal is good secondary performance
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All actually distributed airdrops treated as sell pressure
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Sell pressure cannot exceed first-day exchange buyingCore Formula
First-day exchange total buying ≥ Expected first-day average price × (TGE unlock + TGE actual airdrop)Example:
- Current valuation $80M, TGE valuation $200M
- No VC unlock, three second-tier exchanges estimated $3M buying
- First-day actual airdrop cap: 1.5%
Blast Case Study
Initial release: 17% = 17B
Main exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, Bybit
Reference Taiko first two days, estimate $3-5B trading volume
Assume 20% is secondary turnover, pure buying ~$3B
Current ~$0.024 (FDV $2.4B) = Very reasonableHandling the Gap
Difference between published tokenomics airdrop percentage and actual distribution requires:
| Method | Effect |
|---|---|
| Lockup | Delay sell pressure |
| Anti-Sybil | Reduce actual distribution |
| Lower certain dimension weights | Targeted reduction |
Balancing Three Factors
- Maximize per-farmer FDV equivalent
- Keep single-account returns within community non-FUD range (no widespread losses)
- Maximize insider position holdings
When balance impossible: Prioritize emotional stability of highest-influence accounts, cut super-large and super-small accounts
Don't be like L0 and ZKSYNC, offending the loudest majority in the market
Core Formulas
Airdrop Three Phases:
├── Before lead investor: Zero-cost data, ignore fulfillment
├── Before listing: Run split scheme, raise chip costs, reserve insider positions
└── Before TGE: Accounting, ensure sell pressure < first-day buying
Actual Airdrop Cap:
├── First-day buying ≥ Expected price × (Unlock + Actual airdrop)
└── Handle gap through lockup/anti-Sybil/dimension reduction
Emotion Management:
├── Prioritize influential account emotions
├── Cut super-large and super-small accounts
└── One can be reasoned with, one has no voice anywayAirdrop PUA is a marathon, for prey and hunters alike
Project teams must always remember why they started - begin with the end in mind