The prototype software allows players to earn Bitcoin by playing old games.
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According to a Feb. 12 tweet from Zebedee founder Christian Moss, payments could soon be heading to a bar, conference, or meeting near you. The program is called “Pet-Tendu”.
The tweet included a video of a man playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on an old small TV channel. The TV starts showing a QR code and asking for Bitcoin payment. The game only starts after the payment is sent.
When playing the game, a “sats” counter is displayed, which apparently counts the number of satoshis the player has received as a reward. Satoshis, or sats, are the smallest divisible unit of Bitcoin, each equal to 0.00000001 BTC. The screen also displays a timer that counts down from 90 seconds to zero. When the timer reaches zero, the game ends, and a new QR code is shown. As mentioned above and below the image, the player can use a QR code.
In the post, Moss said the program will eventually be a “free retro-game bitcoin miner for bars, conferences, get-togethers, and more.”
Cointelegraph reached out to Moss to explain how the software works. He said he was working on a computer or other device capable of receiving videotape. The game itself was produced using the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console, but the video has been modified to display a counter and timer. The software tracks the movements in the video, tells the player how to collect the coins and updates the counter each time a coin is collected.
To fund a payment wallet, Moss said, a bar or club must sign up for a secure wallet with Zebedee or LNbits. The wallet is connected to the Lightning Network to ensure low transaction fees and fast payments.
Related: A Nigerian developer launches the country’s first active Lightning Bitcoin node
Zebedee app is available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Screenshots reveal that it has a “top up” (deposit) and “withdraw” (withdrawal) functionality that can be accessed after the user completes the customer verification process.
Moss also explained how he came up with the idea for “Bit-Tendo”. He tried to get people interested in Bitcoin-gaming at Bitcoin conferences, but participants preferred games they knew, rather than games developed “in-house.” Moss said he hopes the software will work with any game, not just Super Mario Bros:
“I can also teach the user to recognize in-game events with the software, which ultimately makes them game-neutral.”
In a tweet showing off the app, Moss says Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will be integrated with it if the post gets 200 retweets.
Since its inception, Moss has been an innovator in the blockchain gaming space. In 2014, he created Sarutobi, a game that allowed players to collect bitcoins by controlling a monkey roaming the jungle landscape. Since EverdreamSoft’s Spells of Genesis has been out of beta for about a year, Moss Sarutobi is considered by some to be the first blockchain game.
