ClayStack's : The Game
The most successful user acquisition campaign in ClayStack's history.
We had built the liquid staking application. It was tested, refined, and ready to go. But how do you make a launch feel like an event rather than just another product release? How do you make users excited to join, rather than just aware?
We needed a campaign that would turn passive users into engaged participants. Something that would spread like wildfire. Something fun, exclusive, and competitive.
That’s how "The Game" was born. And it worked—better than we could have imagined.
The Impact
New users
15K+
Waitlited users
66K+
Daily Users
3.5K+
Discord Users
+98%
The Challenge: Making Staking Exciting
How do we invoke excitement and a sense of exclusivity during product launch?
Liquid staking is powerful, but it isn’t inherently exciting. Users needed more than just a platform—they needed a reason to participate. We had to transform the experience from a product launch into a community-driven movement.
Our users were crypto natives—they understood trading, market dynamics, and the thrill of speculation. We needed a launch that resonated with their instincts. A game centered around trading, scarcity, and strategy felt like the perfect fit.
The Spark: Turning Staking Into a Game
Instead of launching with just a simple staking experience, we asked: What if users could play to earn their spot?
We gathered for a whiteboard jam session—no idea was too wild. Sticky notes filled the wall. Doodles turned into diagrams. We weren’t just brainstorming; we were world-building.
That’s when the idea landed: a trading game where players race to assemble a winning token set.
Why a game?
Competition fuels engagement—users would keep coming back.
A sense of progression—staking wasn’t just about rewards; it was about unlocking new experiences.
Community interaction—users would strategize, trade, and negotiate to gain access.
Tailored to our audience—our users were already deep into trading and DeFi, making this a natural extension of their habits.
The Spark: Turning Staking Into a Game
We made it simple on the surface, but rich with underlying mechanics:
Users connected their wallet and received 5 random tokens from a curated pool of 25 unique ones—each named after a famous lake.
Token prices updated in real time—mimicking a mini-market.
Players needed to collect specific tokens to qualify.
Airdrops every 3 hours brought new chances, new trades.
The only way to complete your set? Trade. Strategize. Hustle.
Once players met the conditions, they unlocked access to the product. The result? A community of highly motivated, pre-qualified users—who felt like they’d earned their spot.
From Game to Viral Phenomenon
It started small.
But within days, Discord lit up. New strategies emerged. Alliances formed. People weren’t just playing; they were immersed.
Users bartered tokens in custom-made spreadsheets.
Some built bots to track airdrops.
Others formed syndicates to dominate the trade.
The Game became a language—one we had invented, and the community had evolved.
When we launched Mission Hub (a side quest engine) and the Battleship Mini-Game (an idea from day one that finally saw light), engagement exploded even further.
We tracked everything. A/B tested drop timing. Ran Maze tests on onboarding. Refined every tooltip, modal, and animation based on user behavior.
🧠 What We Learned
Games aren’t fluff. When done right, they become behavioral engines.
This wasn’t just a launch—it was a system that rewarded curiosity, strategy, and community.
People didn’t just use the product. They played with it, talked about it, invited friends. That’s what great onboarding looks like in Web3.
And when you design for play, you unlock something deeper: not just usage, but obsession.
Sonic: Liquid Staking Engine