10 Games That You Can Play and Earn By Paying Less Than $10

Strike gold with these low entry-cost games

So you want to get into play and earn? Be our guest! However, for some, that can be easier said than done. Crypto games require your time and an initial investment before you start playing and reaping the benefits.

Luckily, there are play-to-earn titles that require a tiny amount of starting capital. So, we compiled a list of the ten best games that require $10 max!

Without busting the bank, here are ten titles you should start playing: 

10 play-and-earn games under $10

1. Splinterlands

Splinterlands is, without a doubt, one of the most popular play-to-earn titles out there. But don’t let its popularity discourage you – it’s also one of the most affordable crypto games you can currently play.

To start earning in this game, you only need to pay $10 for a Splinterlands Summoner Book, and you’re golden.

After that, you can start winning, collecting, and trading NFT cards in a game similar to the classic trading card game Magic: The Gathering.

The most significant earning opportunity right now is in Splinterlands governance token SPS. It’s currently valued at $0.069, and you can earn it just by playing and acquiring in-game items.

At the time of writing, the number of monthly users is around 328.38k, and the total monthly trading volume is $50,33k.

2. Alien Worlds

This is a space-themed mining game and one of the most prominent virtual worlds at the moment.  The best thing is, Alien Worlds is completely free to play. 

In this game, you’ll explore different planets and complete quests to win all kinds of NFTs. Most of your time will be spent mining this game’s token, TLM. 

Even though it’s free to play, you’ll probably want to upgrade after using the starter mining tool for some time. Better tools have a shorter cooldown and generate a better yield.

Currently, TLM is valued at 0.021$, and there are 731,14k monthly users with a trading volume of over $592,2k.

3. Nine Chronicles

Nine Chronicles is an early access fantasy MMORPG you can play without an initial investment. 

What’s interesting here is that the game is completely run by its players. Learn how to play and win Nine Chronicles.

There are multiple ways of playing it. You can complete quests, compete with your fellow players, or contribute your processing power and mine to earn even more.

The current value of the NCG token is $0.099. There are more than 20k players per month, and the monthly trading volume is as high as $867,27k.

4. Crazy Defense Heroes

With Crazy Defense Heroes, we have a classic tower defense game, an upgraded version of the mobile hit Crazy Kings.

Like Alien Worlds, CDH is entirely free to play but handles its payout differently from other games. You earn digital assets in this game by reaching monthly XP goals (Avatar experience).

You might spend a lot of time in-game to earn the needed amount of XP to receive the reward, but at least you’ll be having a blast.

The rewards usually come in the form of the TOWER token that’s currently worth $0.0045. At the time of writing, there are more than 9k players per month, and the monthly trading volume is as high as $82.9k.

5. League of Kingdoms

Do you like playing strategy games? If the answer is yes, you’ll love League of Kingdoms.

This RTS is a free-to-play multiplayer experience where you’ll build up the strength of your kingdom, battle other players, form guilds, farm resources, and collect valuable NFTs.

There are multiple ways of earning an income in this game. You can farm resources to sell on marketplaces, but you can also trade land. Additionally, League of Kingdoms allows you to earn passive income by renting out your land to other players. 

The governance token of this game is LOKA, and it’s currently valued at 0.515$. The community is active, attracting about 2.11k monthly users. At the time of writing, the monthly trading volume is $9.42k.

6. Thetan Arena

MOBA games aren’t prevalent in the blockchain space, so we’re glad that Thetan Arena exists. Better yet, it’s free-to-play.

The devs behind this game recognized that play-to-earn games could be costly, and because their game is a MOBA, a small player count wouldn’t make sense.

That’s why they give all the new players a free hero to play with. Newbies can use it to learn how the game works and ultimately earn enough in-game tokens to buy a premium hero. 

Players can use the native token Thetan Coin (THC) to buy in-game items, with its current price going at $0.003. 

As of late September, 3.79k monthly players are generating around $35,16k in trading volume.

7. Arc8

Interestingly, Arc8 is not a single play-to-earn game but a collection of 10 mobile mini-games you can play for free. There are all kinds of games, such as card, puzzle, and action games, so you will likely find something you like. 

As for earning rewards, Arc8 has two in-game currencies. 

The first one is the credits you earn by playing the games and completing daily challenges. With credits, you can play practice matches and enter sponsored tournaments where you can earn the primary GMEE token.

GMEE is currently worth $0.0117. The game attracts upwards of 99,37k users a month, and the monthly trading volume is around 2.25k, at the time of writing.

8. Gods Unchained

Gods Unchained is a play-to-earn trading card game. Think of it as a blockchain version of Hearthstone that you can use to earn digital assets without investing a dime.

You get a plain deck of cards once you start playing, and as you win more matches, you gain access to more powerful cards. You can also forge new cards out of the existing ones. Gameplay is rich and dense, as you can read in our complete Gods Unchained guide, and one of the reasons for the game’s success.

By entering weekly quests, you’ll also be able to win the GODS token. 

At the moment, the GODS token is worth $0.463. There are around 13.81k monthly users, and the monthly trading volume is almost $9,5M.

9. DeFi Kingdoms

DeFi Kingdoms is unlike other games on this list because it’s a decentralized exchange (DEX) concealed as a play-to-earn retro RPG.

The average price of a hero NFT is around JEWEL, the game’s native token that’s worth $0.179. Buying a hero isn´t always cheap.

However, you can use the fact that DeFi Kingdoms is a DEX to acquire enough tokens to buy a hero quickly. You just need to have a bit of patience. 

You can buy a couple of JEWEL tokens and become a liquidity provider on the platform. Alternatively, you can also stake the token and earn passive rewards.

Soon enough, you’ll have enough JEWEL to buy a hero and start going on quests, so you won’t have to spend more than $10.

At the time of writing, more than 23,65k monthly users contribute roughly $8,46M of the total trading volume.

10. Aavegotchi

For all the 90s kids out there, Aavegotchi will strike a chord. This virtual pet game looks like Tamagochi – only it’s play-to-earn, and the pets are ghosts.

The entry barrier is relatively low, as you’ll only need to rent an Aavegotchi to start playing. Every ghost you collect is a pet that’s also a yield-generating NFT. If you ask us, they are unique, completely customizable, and cute.

The native token is GHST, currently priced at $1.19. These pixelated ghosts are quite a hit, and at the time of writing, there are around 5.67k monthly users with a trading volume of $558.36k

How to start playing crypto games?

Remember that to get the most out of play-and-earn games, you might eventually need to part with some cash. No investment usually means very little profit or time required to grow.

Swapping tokens is essential when investing in or interacting with dapps and gaming ones are not the exception. That’s why at DappRadar you can easily swap tokens on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon.

You just need to get a crypto wallet like MetaMask first. Learn more on how to get started with some crypto to start playing in the video below:

Why crypto gaming on a budget

Crypto games aren’t a rich man’s game. Most of the games on this list are entirely free, so you have no excuse not to give them a shot.

Most of them also allow you to earn digital assets immediately, meaning it won’t take long to start seeing profits. 

One thing to note is that while these games might not yield you the most money, most of them are still growing. So, if you strike gold right now, who knows how good of an investment it might be in the future?

Game on and have fun!

The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your own research.