Fine, let’s write about the stupid Banana game

The second most played game on Steam right now is Banana, which was released in April but has recently gained popularity. Banana is a free idle clicker game where players click on a picture of a banana to increase numbers. By increasing the numbers, the game rewards players with additional banana pictures in their Steam inventory. It’s not just an idle clicker game, as simply leaving it open generates a steady supply of banana pictures throughout the day.

There are various banana pictures, some animated, ranging from crystalline bananas to uwu bananas and banana black holes. These pictures are created by the community on Discord, as mentioned on the Steam page. Players can sell these banana pictures on the Steam Marketplace, with developers and Valve taking a cut from every sale. While most pictures are sold for low prices, there are rare ones like the “Crypticnanas” selling for £1335.09 each. On the other hand, the “Thickglassnana” is available for only 71p, which is similar to the price of real-life bananas.

The trading aspect of Banana contributes to its popularity, along with the fear of missing out, attraction to shiny objects, and a glimmer of hope that the game might offer more. The developers openly acknowledge that Banana is like a legal “Infinite money glitch,” as described by one of the devs, Hery, in a conversation with Polygon.

However, Banana faces a significant issue with botting, with Hery admitting that many players are using multiple alternative accounts to exploit the game. At one point, a large percentage of the players were bots. Despite efforts to address this, the game’s user base continues to grow significantly.

Some have raised concerns that Banana could be considered a scam due to its design and promises of instant wealth. While one of the creators has been associated with questionable cryptocurrency activities, Banana itself doesn’t run on blockchain technology. The team has addressed this issue and parted ways with the creator involved in the past scams.

At the time of writing, these are the key points about Banana. The game’s essential banality and emptiness are apparent to many Steam players, with some even playing it for the sake of being part of the joke. One of the popular user tags for the game is “psychological horror,” indicating the players’ awareness of its nature.

Update 20th June 2024: Despite previous information, further investigation has revealed troubling aspects of Banana, as highlighted in Jauwn’s deep dive. It is advised to stay away from the game. Thanks to KDR_11k for sharing this information.