Hello everyone!
Many of you may be familiar with zkGame and our team from our previous platforms, zkPoker & PurePoker, which were the first ever fully on-chain poker platforms to exist. These platforms were fully functional and had quite a lot of features. Below will be a list of features we implemented for reference.
ZKP/PP Architecture & Features
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Table Canister: The core game engine that implements the poker logic, ensuring fair play, accurate rule enforcement, and robust fault isolation. By isolating each poker table in its own canister, the system creates natural boundaries that prevent cascading failures - bugs or performance issues in one table cannot affect gameplay at other tables. All funds in play on a table are held by that tables canister. Each table canister maintains its own independent state, including:
- Player positions and chip stacks
- Current betting round and pot sizes
- Card deck and deal management
- Action timing and validation
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Random Number Generation System: Implements a Verifiable Random Function (VRF) leveraging the Internet Computer’s on-chain randomness via
raw_rand(). This ensures provably fair card dealing where neither players nor developers can predict or manipulate the outcome. -
Tournament Scheduler and Manager: Handles the complex logistics of multi-table tournaments, including:
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Dynamic table balancing to ensure even player distribution
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Blind level progression and timing
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Player elimination tracking
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Final table formation
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Prize pool distribution according to predefined payout structures
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Leaderboard System: Tracks player performance metrics and manages competitive reward distribution. The system maintains separate leaderboards for different game types and currencies, with an intelligent reset mechanism that automatically distributes rewards to top players on configured intervals (currently implementing bi-weekly resets on Thursdays and Sundays). This creates ongoing competition and rewards top players.
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Transaction Management System: Handles all financial operations with secure, atomic transactions. The system:
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Manages deposits and withdrawals across multiple cryptocurrencies
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Processes rake collection for the platform
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Maintains transaction history for accountability
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Implements safety mechanisms to prevent double-spending or transaction replay
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Currency Manager: A sophisticated multi-token wallet system supporting ICP, CKBTC, and all other ICRC-1 tokens. Each supported currency is implemented as a pluggable module, allowing for easy addition of new currencies. The system maintains proper accounting of all funds.
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Table Balancing Algorithm: Implements advanced heuristics to maintain optimal player distribution across tournament tables. When tables become imbalanced (typically after player eliminations), the system calculates optimal player movements to ensure fair play while minimizing disruption.
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Cycle Management System: Implements cycle monitoring and distribution across all canisters, with automatic top-up mechanisms when canister balances fall below configured thresholds. This ensures continuous operation even during heavy usage periods.
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Heartbeat-Driven Operations: Leverages the Internet Computer’s heartbeat functionality to perform maintenance tasks, including:
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Tournament state progression
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Blind level updates
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Table balancing checks
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Leaderboard updates
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Experience point resets and reward distribution
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Concurrent Processing Model: The architecture employs parallel processing patterns across multiple canisters to handle high transaction volumes, particularly for tournament operations. The system uses batching techniques when querying multiple canisters, with configurable batch sizes to optimize between latency and throughput.
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Proof of Humanity Integration: The platform integrates with DecideAI and implements verification mechanisms to ensure players are unique individuals, preventing multi-accounting and collusion. The system leverages verifiable credentials to validate user authenticity without compromising privacy.
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Rake Collection Mechanism: Implements transparent rake collection with configurable parameters. The system supports innovative models like shared rake for affiliate marketing and implements accurate tracking for all collected rake.
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Transparent Prize Pool Management: All tournament buy-ins are held in escrow within the tournament canister, with prize pool distribution occurring automatically based on pre-defined payout structures. This creates a trustless environment where players can verify the integrity of prize pool management.
Ultimately, we were unable to keep ZKP & PP live due to legal and funding related problems that arose. This was quite unfortunate but we understood the heightened complexity and risk associated with wager orientated platforms.
That said, we are still building in the ecosystem, both toward a new version of zkGame DAO and other projects. We want to help the ecosystem grow and generate revenue for ourselves to continue building our vision. To achieve this, we’re aiming to offer our development expertise toward building YOUR vision.
Our team has diverse backgrounds in tech, ranging from work in both Decentralized and Centralized exchanges, DeFi, Robotics, Marketing, DevOps, as well as app and game development. Our team’s variety in backgrounds and life experience translates to a powerful combination of skill sets and diversity in perspectives that makes us very effective when we set our sights on a goal.
While terms and timelines must be negotiated on a case by case basis we’re happy to have a call with anyone interested and negotiate terms agreeable for all parties involved.
If you’d like to get in touch check us out at zhksoftware.com and submit our contact form. We’ll respond ASAP! We’ll also try to keep an eye here for questions or concerns.