Town Star, the farming game from Gala Games, now runs under the name Common Ground World. Its own token, TOWN, was retired after Gala announced on 9 January 2023 that GALA would replace it at a 2:1 swap ratio. Today the game pays rewards in two ways. Top finishers in weekly competitions win GALA. Players who complete daily challenges with eligible NFTs share a daily pool of SOIL, a game-specific token. Most of the detail below comes from Gala's own posts from 2024. Look at the game's official channels for newer changes.
What changed, and when
TOWN was replaced by GALA (January 2023)
On 9 January 2023, Gala Games CEO Eric Schiermeyer announced on the official Discord that GALA would power Town Star and that all TOWN would be swapped for GALA at a 2:1 ratio. Reporting at the time said the swap was expected within 60 days and that holders would have at least 180 days to complete it. The plan also included a burn mechanism: GALA spent on certain Town Star items is burned, and part of it is reminted to Town Star node operators and the play-and-earn pool.
If you still hold TOWN, ask Gala support directly rather than relying on any third-party guide.
Town Star became Common Ground World (2024)
Gala's Common Ground World litepaper (published 13 May 2024, updated 16 October 2024) calls the game "formerly known as Town Star". It says the game was renewed in partnership with the Common Ground film and its regenerative-agriculture project. The new name changed the theme as well as the rewards: there is a persistent land-restoration mode, a new SOIL reward token, and guilds tied to node ownership. Gala's own links still point to the old address, games.gala.com/games/town-star, and its 2025 store posts still use the Town Star name.
How the game plays
Gala's getting-started guide (5 September 2024) says the game runs in a browser with no app download, and that you pick from three modes: Common Ground, Casual and Events.
Common Ground mode
A single-player, long-term mode. You restore a damaged plot of land, starting from a small fertile area. The litepaper describes it as having "no pressure from competition" and slower growth times.
Casual mode
The Learn Town Star fan guide describes this mode as a pre-built town that changes each week. That makes it a low-pressure way to learn production chains.
Events (weekly competitions)
Each week a competition runs for about 72 hours on a separate server. You build a town from scratch under that week's rules: a featured craft that earns a Star Boost, a biome combination, and a trade time. For example, Gala's competition from 6 to 9 August 2024 ran from 10am PT Tuesday to 10am PT Friday. It featured Chandelier Earrings on a Desert biome with a 20-second trade time.
Which Town Star reward route fits you?
Answer a few questions to see which of the game's reward routes the article describes for a player in your position.
Do you still hold TOWN, the game's old token?
- Yes, I still hold TOWN → Ask Gala support about your TOWN
- No → next question
Do you own an NFT on Gala's current list of reward-eligible NFTs?
- Yes → Daily challenges can earn you SOIL
- No, or I am not sure → next question
Are you in a guild whose leader lends NFTs through the Guild Library?
Gala announced on 9 January 2023 that all TOWN would be swapped for GALA at a 2:1 ratio. Reports at the time gave different windows (at least 180 days, or 60 days), and the deadline is not verified, so ask Gala support directly rather than relying on a third-party guide.
Complete the daily challenge in the Events section. Players earning Town Points with eligible Reward NFTs share 80% of each day's SOIL, split by the Town Points they contributed. You can also enter the weekly competitions, where top finishers win GALA.
A guild leader can lend you an eligible NFT through the Guild Library. Daily-challenge rewards earned with a borrowed NFT are split 50/50 between the owner and you. Weekly competitions are open to you as well.
The weekly competition runs for about 72 hours and does not require NFTs to enter; top finishers on the leaderboard win GALA. Daily-challenge SOIL needs an eligible NFT, owned or borrowed through a guild. All players also receive a free NFT each month, Common or Rare depending on how much they played.
This only maps the reward routes in Gala's 2024 posts: it does not estimate earnings or token value, cannot confirm the TOWN swap deadline or the DIRT-to-SOIL migration, and may miss changes after 2025.
How rewards work
GALA from competitions
Top finishers on the weekly leaderboard win GALA. Prize amounts follow Gala's "standard leaderboard reward chart", which Gala publishes as an image. The August 2024 post does not require NFTs to enter. It says owned NFTs give "faster and more flexible play", which is a strategic edge rather than an entry requirement.
SOIL from daily challenges
Gala's post of 30 September 2024 explains the daily challenge. A new challenge appears each day in the Events section, with tasks such as producing or selling certain crafts before the day ends. That day's SOIL reward is split among everyone who completed the challenge, according to how many Town Points they contributed. Only Town Points from reward-eligible NFTs count, and Gala publishes the list of eligible NFTs.
The litepaper sets SOIL's maximum supply at 1,000,000,000 and divides each day's distribution as follows:
| Share of daily SOIL | Who receives it |
|---|---|
| 80% | Players doing daily challenges and earning Town Points with eligible Reward NFTs |
| 15% | Operators of Common Ground World V2 Nodes who log into the game at least 6 hours a day |
| 5% | Founder's Node operators who log into the game at least 6 hours a day |
Gala's October 2024 guide to reward tokens also lists competition leaderboard placement as a way to earn SOIL. In the game, SOIL is used to upgrade NFTs through 20 tiers and to buy Consumable Boosts and promotional NFTs from the Gala Store.
From DIRT to SOIL
In September 2024 Gala said SOIL had not launched yet. Players were collecting $DIRT, an off-chain stand-in, and Gala said DIRT "will soon be migrated to $SOIL".
Guilds and borrowed NFTs
According to the litepaper, only V2 Node owners can create a guild. Upgrading the leader's node adds member slots. Guild leaders can lend NFTs to members through the Guild Library. When a member earns daily-challenge rewards with a borrowed NFT, the rewards are split 50/50 between the owner and the borrower. This is the main route for players without their own eligible NFTs to take part in daily challenges.
Free monthly NFT
Gala's getting-started guide says all players receive a free NFT each month, Common or Rare depending on how much they played. A Common NFT takes 10 days of play in a calendar month, with at least one trade each day and 25 trades in total. A Rare NFT takes 25 days of play, with at least one trade each day and 75 trades in total.
What the rewards are worth
Rewards are paid in tokens, so their dollar value moves with the market. On 25 October 2026, CoinGecko showed GALA at about $0.0017. That is about 99.8% below its all-time high of $0.8248, with a market cap of about $88 million. Earnings for a typical player depend on prize charts and pool sizes, and Gala does not publish those as text.
Two background facts are relevant when weighing the project:
- Founder dispute (2023). Gala co-founders Eric Schiermeyer and Wright Thurston sued each other in a Utah court on 31 August 2023. Schiermeyer alleged that about $130 million in GALA was taken. Thurston alleged corporate waste.
- Activity. The newest dated posts in Gala's Common Ground World news section are Town Star NFT sales from April and May 2025. The last competition post listed there is from 18 November 2024, so the most recent dated competition details are almost two years old.
Getting started
- Create a free Gala Games account and open the game in a browser at games.gala.com/games/town-star.
- Learn the production chains in Common Ground or Casual mode.
- Read each week's competition rules before entering Events.
- Before buying NFTs, check Gala's current list of reward-eligible NFTs, and consider borrowing one through a guild instead.
If the token side is new to you, start with what NFTs are, then see how other titles handle rewards in our roundup of NFT games.
This article is information, not investment advice.
