Ghost Eater and The Gaming Economy Behind The Game Room on Cardano

I’m writing about Ghost Eater as part of The Game Room, a gaming project built within the Cardano ecosystem that takes the essence of classic arcade games and directly connects it with NFTs, on-chain access, and ADA rewards. Ghost Eater does not exist in isolation. It is one of the mini-games that live inside a broader platform designed so that playing, accessing, and participating are clearly tied to Cardano-based assets.

The Game Room is a mini-game platform inspired by classic titles such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. From the beginning, the goal is clear: deliver simple, accessible, and highly replayable games while building a transparent economy based on NFTs and real rewards. The entire ecosystem revolves around the Game Room Pass, an NFT that functions as a direct access key to the platform.

The Game Room Pass is a limited NFT. A total of 1,500 passes were minted during the initial launch, and the majority of the funds raised were allocated to purchasing mining equipment. As a holder of this NFT, I receive unlimited access to all mini-games available on the platform, including Ghost Eater. In addition, I receive quarterly ADA rewards, distributed equally among all NFTs and funded by mining operations.

At the same time, The Game Room is not a closed environment. Players who do not own the NFT can still access the platform through time-limited passes available for 1 day, 7 days, or 1 month. These passes can be purchased using ADA or tokens from partner projects within the Cardano ecosystem. This structure keeps access open, lowers entry barriers, and reinforces collaboration across Cardano projects.

Ghost Eater is a retro-style maze arcade game directly inspired by the legacy of Pac-Man. I enter a map filled with narrow corridors, tight turns, and constant danger zones. My objective is simple: eat every orb on the map before the ghosts catch me. Controls are immediate and intuitive, using arrow keys, WASD, or touch inputs, making every decision matter from the very first second.

The tension in Ghost Eater comes from continuous movement. Stopping or hesitating means getting trapped. Ghosts patrol the maze with fast and unpredictable patterns, and a single touch ends the run instantly. Throughout the map, special power-ups appear that allow me to temporarily reverse roles and hunt the ghosts instead of fleeing from them. That power window is short, and pushing it too far often leads to a costly mistake.

Each round is designed to be short and highly replayable. Once I clear a maze completely, I advance to a new one with increased speed and difficulty. The scoring system rewards eating orbs, surviving longer, and properly timing ghost captures while powered up. This turns Ghost Eater into a pure score-chasing experience, ideal for leaderboard competition and for always chasing “one more run.”

The Cardano integration is direct and functional. Access to the game is tied to the Game Room Pass, a Cardano NFT that unlocks unlimited play for Ghost Eater and all other mini-games on the platform. For players without the NFT, the use of ADA and other Cardano tokens to purchase time-limited passes connects gameplay time directly to the blockchain. This is not a decorative integration. It defines how players enter and participate.

This model aligns incentives clearly. As a holder, my NFT gives me continuous access and connects me to ADA rewards. As a non-holder, I can join whenever I want by paying for playtime with assets from the Cardano ecosystem. In both cases, the blockchain does not interrupt the arcade experience, but it does define access, participation, and rewards.

Ghost Eater perfectly represents the vision of The Game Room. It is a simple, fast, nostalgic arcade game embedded within a platform where access, economy, and rewards are anchored to Cardano. It is not just about reviving arcade-style gameplay, but about doing so inside an environment where playing also means being an active part of an on-chain ecosystem.