Third Time Games has never been a company afraid to take risks. Over the past year, we took big swings to drive growth within Photo Finish™ LIVE, strengthen the ecosystem around it, and create long-term value for our community and the CROWN token. Some efforts moved more slowly than we thought, some didn't deliver the impact we expected... but if navigating the life of a startup was easy, everyone would do it.
As we break out of the gates fulll speed into 2026, we have clarity on who we are, what we're building, and where the biggest opportunities lie. This post lays out what's working, what's next, and why we're bullish on what's ahead.
2025 Wins Worth Acknowledging
Before looking ahead, we want to be specific about what worked this year:
- OpenTote's industry validation - My keynote and panel at the Racing Symposium generated overwhelmingly positive response from the most influential figures in real-world horse racing. The industry recognizes OpenTote can address real structural problems in racing and wagering.
- OpenTote is already live - We have a working implementation deployed and operational, proving the technology works in production environments. This isn't vaporware; it's infrastructure that's running today.
- Active third-party integration interest - We're in discussions with multiple parties exploring OpenTote integrations, including streaming platforms looking to embed wagering functionality. These conversations are progressing toward consumer facing implementations.
- Churchill Downs relationship deepening - Road to the Derby is in the final stages of securing official Churchill Downs backing ahead of the 152nd Kentucky Derby.
Photo Finish™ LIVE and CROWN: Our Crowning Jewels
Let's be clear: Photo Finish™ LIVE and CROWN remain our crowning jewels. We continue to build on the foundation of Photo Finish™ LIVE and CROWN, working tirelessly to create value that will flow value back to PFL players and $CROWN holders.
We're attacking value creation from two angles:
1. Betting Infrastructure & Crypto Buy-Side Interest
OpenTote isn't just technology - it's the mechanism by which outside
revenue enters our ecosystem. Every third-party integration, every
real-world racing partnership, every streaming platform embedding
our wagering layer creates transaction volume that benefits CROWN.
As OpenTote adoption grows, so does buy-side pressure on the token.
2. Mobile as the Funnel
Road to the Derby isn't a side project - it's the top of our
acquisition funnel. Our previous free-to-play horse racing titles
have been downloaded millions of times. This time, the endgame is
conversion into Photo Finish™ LIVE. More players means more racing,
more breeding, more wagering, and more demand for CROWN.
What Success Looks Like in 2026
Rather than tick boxes on a calendar, here's what we're building toward and how we'll know when we've found it.
Road to the Derby: The Funnel Opens
Core to our vision this year is launching Road to the Derby on the Apple App Store and Google Play, backed by Churchill Downs and ideally timed to Kentucky Derby buildup. Our previous free-to-play horse racing titles have been downloaded millions of times. We know how to acquire mobile users and feel strongly that if we can convert them into Photo Finish™ LIVE players, we'll have a massive new acquisition funnel.
What product-market fit looks like:
- Strong retention curves in the first 30 days
- Organic viral loops driving installs without paid spend
- Clear conversion signals as players progress toward PFL
The bull case: If we convert even 1-2% of millions of mobile downloads into Photo Finish™ LIVE players, that's a transformational influx of new participants into the ecosystem - more racing, more breeding, more wagering, and sustained demand for CROWN.
OpenTote: Infrastructure That Pays
OpenTote is already live and operational. We have third-party integrations in active development, including streaming platforms looking to embed wagering functionality.
What product-market fit looks like:
- Third-party platforms choosing OpenTote over building in-house
- Transaction volume growing month-over-month
- Real-world racing entities initiating conversations with us
The bull case: The global horse racing wagering market is worth $100+ billion annually. OpenTote doesn't need to capture a large percentage to generate meaningful revenue. Even a fraction of a percent flowing through our infrastructure creates substantial buy-side pressure on CROWN. This doesn't even take into account the additional interest that will be generated from new betting options that OpenTote will enable for the first time.
Streamlining CROWN Communications
We're consolidating CROWN communications to make it easier to follow what matters:
- A new CROWN Command Center housed directly within the Photo Finish™ LIVE website - a single source of truth, updated in real-time, with everything holders need in one place, and the CROWN X account will be sunset or repurposed into something else. We have learned the primary audience that follows "token" accounts are people asking 'wen price go up', which is not the audience we want to be speaking to.
- We expect this to be operational by the end of the month.
The focus will be on signal, not noise:
- What OpenTote is building and shipping
- Who is integrating it
- How adoption creates tangible value for CROWN holders
Photo Finish™ LIVE: The Core Engine
PFL itself continues to evolve. We're restructuring Majors around a Galloper-Sprinter-Stayer format, creating more opportunities for horses to chase multiple prestigious races and enabling true Triple Crown narratives. Breeding fees will directly fund corresponding freeroll pools, creating a tighter value loop. We continue to look at building a variety of gameplay improvements in 2026 to improve the user experience, both for new players and players who've been with us since day 1.
What success looks like:
- Active daily racing volume increases as new players enter from Road to the Derby
- Outside revenue from OpenTote and mobile begins supplementing in-game purses
- CROWN Command Center becomes the single source of truth - updated in real-time, everything holders need in one place
Our Focus for 2026
Our core superpower has always been making games and developing tools and technology that we believe can become multi-billion-dollar solutions for real-world horse racing. That's where we're doubling down.
Specifically:
- Game development - It's our superpower. Road to the Derby is just the start.
- Strategic advisory - I'm taking on select advisory roles with gaming studios and chains, expanding our reach and bringing learnings back to our ecosystem.
- OpenTote - Hyper-focused on bringing this to market and disrupting major existing platforms.
Ecosystem Updates
BetVibe.Win: The BetVibe team has been exploring what it takes to find product-market fit in an increasingly crowded predictions space. After evaluating the landscape, they've decided to pivot and explore new privacy-first protocols within the Solana ecosystem to differentiate themselves. We think this is the right call - the space needs innovation, not another me-too product. We wish them well and will continue to help where we can and watch their progress.
2026: The Year Ahead
We're entering 2026 with momentum: OpenTote live and attracting integration interest, Road to the Derby primed to open a massive acquisition funnel, and Photo Finish™ LIVE continuing to evolve as the core of everything we build.
PFL and CROWN are why we exist. Every initiative, every partnership, and every line of code we write is in service of growing their value.
To our community, players, and partners - let's make 2026 count.
