Gaming has come a long way, from floppy disks and CD-ROMs to huge online worlds and mobile apps. Web3 games are one of the newer changes.
If you've heard the term but aren't sure what it is or how it relates to Cardano, this page covers the basics.
Web3 Games Explained
Web3 games are video games that use blockchain technology to give players more control over what they collect in a game.
In traditional games (Web2), the company controls everything: your progress, your in-game items, even your account. If a game shuts down or bans you, you usually lose it all.
In Web3 games:
- Some of your items, characters, and currency live on the blockchain
- Those items sit in your own wallet rather than only in a game account
- You can trade or sell items, often as non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
- Some games use their own token as an in-game currency that players collect and spend
How Does Blockchain Make This Possible?
Web3 games are built on blockchains, shared ledgers that many computers keep in sync. For the basics, see what is blockchain.
Each game item or currency is usually a token:
- Fungible tokens are interchangeable, like ADA or a game's own coins.
- Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) represent one unique item, such as a character, a card, a sword, or a plot of land. Learn more in what are NFTs.
On Cardano, both kinds are native tokens. Cardano's ledger handles them with the same machinery it uses for ADA, so sending a game token costs what sending ADA costs, and nobody has to write a smart contract to make the token work.1 A Cardano NFT is a native token with a supply of one, created under a minting policy (the rule that controls who can make the token) that can't make another.2
The record of who holds each token sits on the blockchain, so a game company can't take a token out of your wallet. What the token does inside the game is still up to the developer, who runs the servers and can change the rules or close the game. Wargrum's terms, for example, say a card stays with its owner even if the account is suspended or the game ends, but access to the game itself can be lost.3
Web3 Games on Cardano
Here are a few examples of games that use Cardano:
- Ale & Axes is a free fantasy role-playing game that runs in a web browser.4 You send squads of adventurers on raids that play out while you're offline.5 Its in-game currency, WYRM, and a second fixed-supply token, ISIR, are both Cardano native tokens.6
- Wargrum is a trading card game that runs in a browser. You sign in with an email code, the game is free to play, and cards you buy are minted as NFTs on Cardano or Solana.3,7
- Infinity Rising, known as Cornucopias until its 2025 rebrand, is an open-world online game with crafting, building, and trading.8,9 It is in early access, which the studio labels pre-alpha, and runs only on Windows. Holding a qualifying game asset gets you in; everyone else joins a waiting list.10,11
Adastack lists more in its games category.
What Can You Do in a Cardano Web3 Game?
Depending on the game, you might:
- Collect and trade NFTs such as cards, characters, or gear. Wargrum has an in-game marketplace where players trade cards.7
- Craft new items out of ones you own. Wargrum lets you merge two cards into a piece of gear that you can trade.7
- Own virtual land and buildings. In Infinity Rising, land, domes, ships, and weapons are assets you hold in your wallet, and the game checks your wallet to see what you own.11
- Vote on a game's direction. Infinity Rising's RISE token is a Cardano native token that also exists on the Base blockchain, and the studio says it is used for governance votes as well as in the game's store.12 See what is a DAO for how token voting works.
- Use one NFT in more than one game. This works only when developers build it in, and so far it mostly happens inside one studio's own games. Adania, a small fantasy studio, uses its Adania Adventurer NFTs across its games: in Quest54, a free print-and-play game run with an ordinary deck of cards, holding one earns a bonus once per game,13 and its dice game needs one Adventurer per player.14 An NFT sold before a game exists can also become a playable character in it, as Tavern Squad NFTs are in Ale & Axes.6
How to Get Started
Want to explore Web3 games on Cardano? Here's how:
- Check whether the game needs a wallet at all. Ale & Axes is free to start in a browser with no email address needed,5 and Wargrum says you need no wallet to start.7
- Set up a Cardano wallet, such as Lace or Eternl, for games that read your wallet. See how to set up a Cardano wallet.
- If a game asks you to pay in ADA, see how to buy ADA.
- Browse Cardano NFT marketplaces to see game items other players are selling.
Buying game items carries risk. Wargrum's terms, for example, state that nothing it sells is an investment and that digital asset values can go to zero.3
Explore More Cardano Games
- Cardano games: Games listed on Adastack
- Game explorers: Sites that track and rate Cardano games
- Cardano app directory: games: Games listed in the app directory on the Cardano website
