RUNE.GAME Airdrop Details: How the CoinMarketCap Campaign Worked and Why It’s Closed

alt Dec, 24 2024

Airdrop Value Calculator

This calculator shows the value difference between RUNE.GAME tokens during the airdrop campaign and their current market value. Based on data from the article and historical market trends, this tool provides a clear example of how crypto assets can depreciate after an initial hype cycle.

Airdrop Value (September 2021)

Initial value per NFT: $70.00

Total value at time of airdrop: $0.00

Current Value (October 2025)

Current value per NFT: $0.05

Total current value: $0.00

Airdrop Value
-$0.00 (100.0%)

Based on historical data from the RUNE.GAME campaign ending in September 2021. Current value reflects estimated market conditions as of October 2025.

Disclaimer: This calculator is for educational purposes only. Actual token values may vary. RUNE.GAME airdrop ended permanently in September 2021 and no longer accepts claims.

If you're searching for a way to claim free RUNE tokens or NFTs from the RUNE.GAME airdrop, you're too late. The campaign ended on September 8, 2021, and the official page now shows: "It looks like you are too late. The airdrop is closed." This wasn't a glitch or a temporary outage - it was a finished promotion that ran for a few weeks during the peak of the play-to-earn boom.

What Was the RUNE.GAME Airdrop?

The RUNE.GAME x CoinMarketCap airdrop was a joint campaign designed to grow the player base of a blockchain-based MMO game called RUNE.GAME. It offered 1,000 winners a chance to receive up to 1 RUNE NFT, worth an average of $70 each, from a total prize pool of $70,000. These NFTs weren't just collectibles - they were in-game heroes that players could use to earn more tokens by playing.

RUNE.GAME was built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which made transactions cheaper and faster than Ethereum. That mattered because gaming requires frequent microtransactions - buying items, upgrading heroes, trading assets. BSC kept those costs low, which helped attract casual players who didn’t want to pay $50 in gas fees just to log in.

How Did You Qualify for the Airdrop?

To enter, you had to complete a list of specific actions across multiple platforms. It wasn’t just about signing up - you had to prove you were active in the crypto and gaming communities. Here’s what you needed to do:

  • Add RUNE (RUNE) to your CoinMarketCap watchlist
  • Follow @RuneMMO on Twitter
  • Like and retweet the official airdrop tweet
  • Tag at least three friends in the tweet using hashtags: #BSC, #BSCgems, #playtoearn, #Binance
  • Join the official Rune Telegram group
  • Join the Rune Discord server
  • Subscribe to the Rune newsletter
  • (Optional) Visit rune.game and explore the game

These steps weren’t random. Each one served a purpose. Adding RUNE to CoinMarketCap increased its visibility on one of the most-used crypto data sites. Following and retweeting spread awareness on Twitter. Tagging friends created organic growth. Joining Telegram and Discord built a core community. The newsletter turned one-time entrants into long-term users.

Why Did RUNE.GAME Partner with CoinMarketCap?

CoinMarketCap wasn’t just a passive sponsor - it was a gateway. In 2021, it had over 100 million monthly users. By partnering with RUNE.GAME, CoinMarketCap tapped into the growing play-to-earn audience without building a game from scratch. RUNE.GAME, on the other hand, got instant credibility and access to users already tracking crypto assets.

This kind of partnership was common during the 2021 GameFi boom. Projects like Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, and Decentraland all ran similar campaigns. But RUNE.GAME stood out because it didn’t just promise tokens - it promised ownership. Players weren’t just earning points. They were owning digital heroes that could be traded, sold, or used in future game updates.

Player holding a glowing NFT as crumbling hype structures collapse around them

What Happened After the Airdrop?

After the airdrop ended, the RUNE.GAME team kept the community alive through Twitter, Discord, and Telegram. Updates were posted regularly. New features were teased. But like many early play-to-earn games, it faced challenges. The crypto market crashed in 2022. Many players left when token prices dropped. Without a steady stream of new players or major updates, the game lost momentum.

By 2023, the Rune.GAME website still existed, but updates became rare. The Discord server went quiet. The Telegram group had fewer than 500 active members. The NFTs you earned in 2021 still exist on the blockchain, but their value is now close to zero. You can still check your wallet to see if you got one - but you can’t trade it for anything meaningful.

Why Do Airdrops Like This Close?

Most airdrops are designed to create a burst of attention, not long-term value. They’re marketing tools, not business models. The goal isn’t to make players rich - it’s to get them to sign up, share the project, and become part of a community that might stick around.

Many projects fail because they focus too much on the airdrop and not enough on the game. RUNE.GAME had a solid idea - blockchain heroes you could own and use. But without continuous development, balanced economics, and a clear path to earning, players moved on. The airdrop brought people in. The game didn’t keep them.

Abandoned game console with fading NFT floating above, new games rising in distance

Is There Any Way to Still Get RUNE Tokens?

No. The official airdrop is permanently closed. No new claims are being accepted. Any website or social media post claiming to offer “late airdrops” or “extended claims” for RUNE.GAME is a scam.

There are no active airdrops tied to RUNE.GAME as of October 2025. The project has not announced any new campaigns, token launches, or NFT drops. If you see someone selling RUNE NFTs or tokens, they’re either reselling old assets with no value or trying to trick you into sending crypto.

What Can You Learn From This Airdrop?

This campaign is a textbook example of how airdrops worked in 2021 - and why most of them failed in the long run. Here’s what you should remember:

  • Airdrops are not free money - they’re marketing campaigns with conditions.
  • Completing tasks doesn’t guarantee value. The token or NFT you earn might become worthless.
  • Always check the official website and social media before participating. Never trust third-party links.
  • If a project stops updating after the airdrop, it’s likely dead.
  • Don’t invest time or money into a game just because it ran an airdrop. Look at the team, the roadmap, and the community activity.

The RUNE.GAME airdrop gave 1,000 people a chance to be early. Most didn’t realize that being early doesn’t mean being rewarded - unless the project keeps growing. And in this case, it didn’t.

What’s Next for Play-to-Earn Games?

The RUNE.GAME airdrop is now a relic of crypto’s wild 2021 era. Today, successful play-to-earn games focus on real gameplay, sustainable economies, and player retention - not just airdrop hype. Projects like Star Atlas, Illuvium, and Pixels have learned from the mistakes of the past. They build games first, rewards second.

If you’re interested in similar opportunities now, look for games with:

  • Active development teams posting weekly updates
  • Clear tokenomics - how tokens are earned, spent, and burned
  • Community forums with real discussions, not just price charts
  • Partnerships with established platforms (like Polygon, Immutable, or Solana)

Don’t chase old airdrops. Look for new ones that are still live - and always, always verify them on the official site.

16 Comments

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    Masechaba Setona

    November 1, 2025 AT 15:43
    Wow. So we’re just supposed to accept that 1,000 people got a digital trinket worth $70 in 2021 and now it’s all dust? 🤦‍♀️ The real airdrop was the illusion of value. I’m still mad I didn’t join because I thought it was a scam. Turns out the scam was the *expectation* that it’d mean something later. Crypto’s greatest trick? Making you feel rich before it takes everything.
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    Jessica Hulst

    November 2, 2025 AT 22:13
    There’s a quiet tragedy here, isn’t there? Not in the lost tokens - those were always speculative noise - but in the *hope*. People spent hours tagging friends, joining servers, subscribing to newsletters… not for crypto, but for a sense of belonging to something new, something alive. And then the game went silent. The NFTs still exist on-chain, sure - but the *community*? That was the real asset. And it was abandoned like a campfire after the last person walked away. We don’t mourn tokens. We mourn the ghosts of what we thought we were building together.
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    alvin Bachtiar

    November 4, 2025 AT 18:38
    Let’s be real - this was a glorified lead gen campaign disguised as Web3 innovation. 🧠 BSC gas fees? Cute. The real win was CoinMarketCap getting 100M eyeballs to click a button. RUNE.GAME? A glorified landing page with a cartoon hero. No gameplay depth, no token burn mechanics, no real economy - just a ‘play-to-earn’ sticker slapped on a half-baked Unity prototype. And now? The devs are on to the next rug-pull. Classic. 💸
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    DeeDee Kallam

    November 6, 2025 AT 11:09
    i so wanted that rune nft 😭 i did all the steps but then i got distracted by cat videos and now i feel like a failure. like i failed crypto. like i failed the future. why did they make it so easy to join and then so impossible to win? i hate my life.
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    Bhavna Suri

    November 8, 2025 AT 03:24
    This is very sad. The airdrop was well-structured, but the project lacked vision. Many people participated with hope. Now, nothing remains. It is a lesson for all who seek quick gains without understanding the foundation.
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    Elizabeth Melendez

    November 9, 2025 AT 10:30
    i know it sounds cheesy but i still kinda miss those days? like, yeah the nfts are worthless now but remember how excited everyone was? we were all just trying to be part of something new. even if it didn’t last, it felt real for a minute. i still have my old discord invites saved. weird, right? but hey - at least we tried. and that counts for something. 💛
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    Phil Higgins

    November 10, 2025 AT 21:09
    The silence after the airdrop wasn’t negligence - it was inevitable. Projects built on hype without substance don’t collapse; they evaporate. RUNE.GAME didn’t fail because of market conditions. It failed because it never had a soul. The NFTs were props. The game was a demo. The community? A metrics dashboard. The real lesson isn’t about airdrops - it’s about why we keep believing in empty vessels.
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    Eli PINEDA

    November 12, 2025 AT 20:27
    wait so if i did all the steps but didn't win... does that mean i was just part of the data? like... did they use my twitter tags to boost their reach and then just... delete me? 😳
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    Debby Ananda

    November 13, 2025 AT 18:46
    How quaint. A $70 NFT? How pedestrian. The *real* early adopters were the ones who bought RUNE at $0.02 and hodled through the 2022 crash. You didn’t win the airdrop - you just got a participation trophy for being a basic. 🫠 I’ve been tracking the BSC DeFi ecosystem since 2019. This? This was toddler-tier marketing.
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    Vicki Fletcher

    November 15, 2025 AT 09:06
    I… I actually did everything. I added it to my watchlist. I followed. I retweeted. I tagged three friends. I joined Telegram. I joined Discord. I subscribed. I even visited the site. I didn’t win. And now I feel… used. Like I was a cog in their growth chart. And now they’re gone. And I’m just here. With my empty wallet. And my lingering sense of betrayal. 😔
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    Jeremy Jaramillo

    November 15, 2025 AT 16:27
    I’m not mad. I’m just… disappointed. Not because I missed out on a free NFT. But because I believed, for a second, that this could be different. That maybe, just maybe, blockchain could be used to build something people actually loved to play - not just something they played to earn. We don’t need more airdrops. We need more games that care.
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    naveen kumar

    November 15, 2025 AT 17:48
    This was never an airdrop. It was a coordinated data harvest. CoinMarketCap gave them access to 100M users. They collected emails, social handles, wallet addresses, behavioral patterns. Then they vanished. The NFTs? A decoy. The real product was you. Your attention. Your data. Your trust. The game was never the point. The surveillance was.
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    Bruce Bynum

    November 15, 2025 AT 18:08
    We all got burned. But hey - at least we learned. Don’t chase free stuff. Chase good games. And if the devs go quiet? Walk away. No regrets. Just next time, ask: ‘Is this fun to play?’ before you join the server.
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    Wesley Grimm

    November 15, 2025 AT 19:59
    The NFTs are worthless. The token is dead. The Discord is a graveyard. The website is a static HTML tombstone. The only thing that still has value? The lessons. And even those are being ignored by the next wave of ‘play-to-earn’ frauds. This isn’t history. It’s a warning label.
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    Kymberley Sant

    November 17, 2025 AT 10:29
    i think they just used the airdrop to get more followers and then bailed. i mean why else would they make it so easy to enter? like who even has time to do all that? and then they just… poof. gone. typical. also i think coinmarketcap knew this was gonna happen. they’re not stupid.
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    Edgerton Trowbridge

    November 19, 2025 AT 02:23
    The RUNE.GAME case exemplifies a systemic failure in the early GameFi ecosystem: the prioritization of acquisition metrics over retention architecture. The absence of sustainable tokenomics, coupled with negligible post-airdrop development velocity, rendered the NFTs functionally obsolete. One must recognize that airdrops serve as catalysts for community formation - not as end-states. The true failure lies not in the closure of the campaign, but in the absence of a viable long-term value proposition for participants. This pattern persists across numerous projects. Vigilance and due diligence remain paramount.

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