Neo Global Development has a “Rock paper scissors” game on the Neo
MEV refers to the profits that block producers and bots can make by rearranging, inserting, or front-running transactions within a block, often at the expense of standard users. Front-running occurs when a bot looks at the mempool, the public waiting area where open trades wait before being confirmed, spots a profitable move and rushes into a competing trade at a higher fee to be the first to rake in the profit.
How the game works
Players connect a wallet via one of three options: MetaMask, Neon Wallet or WalletConnect. Participants need at least 0.1 $GAS on Neo X to cover the required transactions.
The game offers two modes, and the difference between them is the lesson. Standard mode advertises a 10x payout, while MEV protected mode pays 2x.
The bigger reward in Standard mode isn’t just a better deal. In standard mode, a player’s move is submitted via the public mempool, where a leading bot can observe it and copy it in time to claim the prize, locking in the main payout.
In MEV-protected mode, the move remains hidden until the result is final, preventing front-running and allowing the player to maintain smaller but reliable wins.
NGD encourages players to try both modes with a small amount $GAS to see the contrast for yourself, and the game explains why each round was won or lost and how MEV played a role in the outcome.
All $GAS that accumulates in the game, including rewards won by bots and rewards won by the house, returns to the pool so players can continue testing. NGD has said it will continue to replenish the pool as needed.
The protection underneath
Neo X eliminates toxic MEV at the protocol level using dBFT consensus and enveloped transactions. dBFT is the consensus mechanism that Neo uses to finalize blocks. Enveloped transactions are encrypted and hidden until they are completed and organized within a block, so that no validator, block producer, or MEV locator can view or exploit a transaction in advance.
In the game, this is why a player’s move is not visible until the round has ended. As NGD puts it: “No one can peek, no one can lead the way. Win or lose, the game is fair.”
Neo The Rock paper scissors game shows that it is about protection already provided rather than a new piece of infrastructure.
The game’s code is completely open source and hosted on COZ’s GitHub repository.
The full announcement can be found via the link below:
https://x.com/ngd_neo/status/2066793344261365884