Met Museum launches 'Art Links,' blockchain game in the vein of New York Times' 'Connections'

"My subversive goal is to get everyone to read more museum labels," joked Destinee Filmore, an assistant curator in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's modern and contemporary art department, during an event celebrating the launch of Art Links, the museum's first foray into blockchain technology. 

The blockchain-based game challenges users to identify connections between different works of art from the Met's collection, like noting a shared material between two sculptures, forming chains of associations that connect works across geographies and time periods. The mobile-friendly game is somewhat reminiscent of Connections, the New York Times game that challenges users to find associations between words, but with an art history spin. 

Completing a puzzle earns the user an NFT badge, with new puzzles dropping weekly, featuring 140 works of art from the museum's collection. Collecting badges qualifies a player to win up to 500 rewards from the Met, from gift store promo codes to a curator-led private tour of the museum. 

The project was the result of a collaboration between the museum and TRLabs, an art-focused blockchain startup which has also worked with Vogue, the Calder Foundation, and other notable artists and art institutions. 

Moonpay president of enterprise Keith Grossman was present at the event to cheer on the collaboration. "I cannot believe we're sitting in the Met," Grossman said at one point, crediting the growth of crypto in part to a "generational shift that's coinciding with the technological shift." 

Grossman also discussed the lessons he learned from running the TIMEpieces project as the company's president during the first NFT boom cycle, arguing user experience would be paramount to successful projects moving forward. "In 2021, the technology led, and the user experience fell to the wayside," Grossman said. "At the end of the day, nobody cares about the NFT...they just want the experience." 

New challenges will drop each week on Thursday at 12:01 EST for 11 more weeks, with each additional badge unlocking more potential prizes , from tickets to exhibition previews and member events to the grand prize, a private curator-led tour. There's also the opportunity to earn seven achievements from in-game challenges. "Five of the achievement tokens are free, while two tokens can be purchased at an affordable price," a press release states . 

Fillmore and other Met staffers were reluctant to divulge details about future crypto-related projects, but hinted that the museum may experiment with AI tools or debut VR experiences in the upcoming year.