SEOUL, South Korea – YGG Play, the publishing arm of Yield Guild Games, and Verse8, an AI-powered game creation platform, have announced a strategic partnership to host a dedicated $5,000 “Casual Degen” game track as part of BuidlHack 2026.
Taking place April 13-19 during the prestigious Korea BUIDL Week, the hackathon invites developers to leverage “vibe coding” and professional publishing expertise to build the next breakout hits in the crypto-native gaming sector.
What Is the “Casual Degen” Game Category?
The hackathon focuses on the “Casual Degen” category, driven by a pioneering thesis by YGG Play. These are lite, fast-paced, “snackable” games designed for players to enjoy on a second screen while they trade NFTs, memecoins, or perpetuals.
The category’s potential was recently proven by YGG Play’s flagship title, LOL Land. Launched in May 2025, LOL Land reached a lifetime revenue of $8.2 million by the end of the year, boasting a peak monthly Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU) of $4,263. This figure vastly outperforms traditional mass-market casual games, which typically see ARPPU of $25 to $50.
How AI and Publishing Expertise Accelerate Game Development
By combining Verse8’s generative AI tools with YGG Play’s commercial infrastructure, BuidlHack 2026 participants can move from a simple concept to a monetizable prototype with unprecedented speed.
Beyond the $5,000 cash prize pool, winners will split an additional $5,000 in Verse8 platform credits and dedicated ad support to scale their titles. The most promising projects will also gain direct access to Verse8’s investment network and will be reviewed for publishing on YGG Play, unlocking the publisher’s premier player acquisition network, Web3 infrastructure, and global community distribution.
Why Seoul Is the Perfect Backdrop for Web3 Gaming
“South Korea is one of the only places where crypto and gaming culture are actually mainstream, with nearly a third of the population active in the market,” said Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games. “With thousands of PC bangs that serve as social hubs and their history of pioneering esports, Seoul is the natural place to continue building the Casual Degen category. We’re looking for those builders who can take their ideas and turn them into a sustainable business with real revenue.”
BuidlHack is a core fixture of Korea BUIDL Week, an annual series of technical events attracting over 20,000 participants to Seoul—a market where the South Korean won often rivals the US dollar in global crypto trading volume. By combining this liquidity with Korea’s status as a global gaming powerhouse, YGG Play and Verse8 are positioning BuidlHack as the premier incubator for the Casual Degen category.
Industry Leaders on the Future of AI-Driven Game Creation
“The Casual Degen category has proven demand; what it’s been missing is velocity. Verse8 was built to eliminate the bottleneck: from idea to playable prototype in days, not months,” said Kevin Lee, CEO of Verse8. “By partnering with YGG Play for BuidlHack, we are providing builders with the tools to generate and remix Web3 experiences instantly, and then plugging them directly into the industry’s most sophisticated publishing and scaling engine.”
Building on a Strong Ecosystem Partnership
YGG Play’s publishing portfolio includes GIGACHADBAT, a baseball title developed by Delabs Games. Delabs is the Web3-focused arm of Korean studio 4:33 Creative Lab, co-founded by James Joonmo Kwon and JC Kim, who also serves as the Director of Solarium, a seed round investor of Verse8. This latest collaboration on the hackathon builds on the established relationship between YGG and Delabs, underscoring their history of working together to further the Casual Degen ecosystem.
Who Can Participate and Who Will Judge?
The hackathon is open to developers, designers, and crypto enthusiasts, who will be guided throughout the process by:
Gabby Dizon (YGG)
Kevin Lee (Verse8)
Hakyong Tae (VP of Business Development, Verse8)
Joe (Game Producer, Raitomira), the studio behind the hit Minesweeper-inspired Casual Degen game, Waifu Sweeper
The judging panel will consist of Joe, Gabby Dizon, Kevin Lee, and JC Kim. Judging criteria may be found here.
Workshop Recap: Vibe Coding in Action
To kickstart development, YGG Play and Verse8 hosted an online workshop on March 25, 2026, offering an introduction to vibe coding protocols and the Casual Degen thesis.
Wise Kim, VP of Marketing at Verse8, led a live vibe coding session, demonstrating how Verse8’s end-to-end AI agent solution lowers the technical barrier for creators. During the session, Kim transformed a basic natural language prompt into a functional platformer in minutes, highlighting Verse8’s ability to coordinate multiple AI models to handle game logic, asset generation, stage functions, and more.
Dizon and Kim also discussed the core elements of a successful Casual Degen title, with Dizon emphasizing that the best games feature simple, “one-button” mechanics paired with strategic economic loops and a balance of skill and luck.
A full replay of this session is available on the X account of BAS, co-organizer of BuidlHack 2026.
Key Event Dates and Format
This preparation leads into “Builder Day” on April 14, an offline gathering in Seoul culminating in the Final Pitch and Project Showcase on April 18.
International participants may pitch online.
Teams located in South Korea must send at least one member to pitch in person.
How to Participate in the YGG and Verse8 Casual Degen Hackathon
Follow these steps to enter:
Create a Casual Degen game using the Verse8 platform at create.verse8.io.
Publish the game using the #YGG tag.
Submit the project through the YGG & Verse8 track via Ludium.
All participants must submit their entries by April 17, 2026, 11:59 PM KST.
For more information on the full suite of bounties and technical tracks, please visit the official BUIDL website: https://www.cribuidlkorea.com/buidlhack2026
About YGG Play
YGG Play is the publishing arm of Yield Guild Games (YGG), supporting the founders and developers of “Casual Degen” games with go-to-market strategy, revenue, monetization, user acquisition, retention, community engagement, and Web3 infrastructure.
YGG Play works with builders to design and launch onchain games that are easy to pick up, fun to play, and built for the crypto-native audience. Through end-to-end publisher support, YGG Play helps promising products become scalable, sustainable titles.
About Verse8
Verse8 is a fully AI-powered game creation platform that allows anyone to build, publish, and share games through simple natural language prompts. With its cloud-native infrastructure, intelligent agent (Agent 8), and seamless publishing tools, Verse8 transforms the game development process—removing traditional barriers and enabling rapid, scalable game creation. Designed to support both beginners and professionals, Verse8 aims to become the foundational platform for the next wave of user-generated games.
