Crypto Exploration Update

It's been several days since we made our last post - we've been falling down some crypto rabbit holes. But now we're back and we're here to share some of what we encountered. We'll spread it out over a couple posts so it isn't an untenable wall of text. A few standard updates are mixed in as well. Part I: - Crypto games (Spells of Genesis, CryptoKitties, CryptoCities, Aethia, CryptoSaga) Part II: - [Lending platforms](https://steemit.com/crypto/@cryptogardeners/crypto-exploration-update-part-ii-lending-platforms) Part III: - BTC faucets - Earn.com Part IV: - OpenBazaar So, let's get this ball rollin...

Part I: Crypto Games

Spells of Genesis

![Screenshot from 2018-02-08 14-32-23.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXBmYTCVKakCN6c7qR8z31r9bZEDjgBffGEdWiYZi2XD6/Screenshot%20from%202018-02-08%2014-32-23.png) If you're a casual player, this is a good game to burn some time here and there - it's available as a mobile app and on desktop via browser. It does have some challenge as well, if you're seeking it. The aspect of this game that got us hooked is the ability to turn your cards into blockchain assets that can then be traded. To do that, one has to collect four versions of the same card and a ton of crystals to level them up. Crystals are obtained by consuming other unused cards. When two of the same card are fully leveled they can be fused together to create a more powerful, but unleveled, dual-fused version. When two dual-fused cards are fully leveled, they can be fused again to create an even more powerful, but again unleveled, quad-fused card. When a quad-fused card has been fully leveled, it can go through "blockchainization" and become a blockchain asset. Players are limited to making three blockchain cards per month with increasing prices for each card created. Cards also have different rarities, which affect how many levels there are to level up and, of course, how good they are in the game and how much value they're worth when blockchained. So far, the quantity of cards of note that we've accumulated: Legendary - 2 Double-Fused Epic - 4 Double-Fused Common - 1 Unfused Epic (counting multiples of same card) - 22 It'll probably be another 2-4 weeks before we have a quad-fused blockchained card. We're saving our crystals for epics and legendaries and since it depends heavily on getting 4 of the same card and we have 3 Infected Trolls so far, it's looking like it'll be this one: ![Screenshot from 2018-02-21 11-16-51.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNysHFzfi3HdZ8nsu3imUjh1oDDzTSUW4DMX752kURhPt/Screenshot%20from%202018-02-21%2011-16-51.png) *https://sogassets.com/cards*

CryptoKitties

We bought 2 kitties about a week ago and produced 2 kittens with them - named them after cities(which is ironic now that we think about it, given the next game we picked up, detailed below). Haven't done much with the kitties since, but we did read an interesting post on purebred rarity: https://cryptokitties411.com/2018/01/10/purebred-cats/ We might look into making some more kittens and playing around with the genetics, but given that it seems to be a money losing endeavor and we've got some other distractions (CryptoCities!), we're leaving them be for now.

CryptoCities

We got into this game just a few days ago and so far so good. Basically, one starts by purchasing a city on the marketplace and after paying a small fee, starting the discovery process. After a certain amount of time (~12-16h), one discovers and receives a new city. Each city is unique, tied to real GPS coordinates, and has a number of location points associated with it - with larger cities having more points. Cities can also have attributes, things like: Food, Education, Roads, Power, etc. Each time you discover a location, you gain the option to discover a new location that is one point higher. There are certain requirements in place - like owning enough locations and total location points - that puts the brakes on discovering higher location point locations. But the race is on, and the highest value cities are worth 50 location points. So far, the highest on the market is a 13 point location - so still a lot of locations and points to go! You might ask what is the point to having the cities after the discovery process has been completed? The next phase will roll out games that will use the cities - theoretically allowing owners of cities to earn in some way from players that use their locations for gaming. Still a bit unclear on exactly how this will play out. Finally, there is a premium section where one can buy a continent or country. These assets are considered "snatchable" meaning that anyone can purchase it from the current owner at any time. Often, there is a rush when an asset is first released and is at a low price. Everyone rushing to buy it means that individuals hold the asset for seconds. Why would they want to do that? When the price is below 1 ETH, each time the asset is purchased, the price goes up 100%, and after 1 ETH, it goes up by 15% with each purchase. So there is some money to be made. We got to hold Brazil for a microsecond! Bought for: 0.002 ETH Sold for: 0.004 ETH ![Screenshot from 2018-02-19 17-12-10.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdLnnGe1NTzFoxwYs7keC5knqJV5vLVheJDp2VKmXZcH8/Screenshot%20from%202018-02-19%2017-12-10.png) Premium assets earn 1% on all transactions for assets they contain. Meaning the owner of North America earns 1% when the United States or Canada is sold. One lucky individual has been holding the World for the last 2 days and has earned almost 1 ETH in royalties. They paid over $90k USD for it, taking a big risk on the platform. It's a well earned reward. Our CryptoCities holdings: ![Screenshot from 2018-02-21 11-58-33.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdWn8dZkYP16S26CFR4qmimd7488N95PHQZGGNeeCUJM8/Screenshot%20from%202018-02-21%2011-58-33.png) Discoveries so far: 4 (1LPx2, 2LP, 3LP) Locations sold: 3 $ invested: ~$500

Aethia

This is a pet raising kind of game - think Tamagotchi. Announcement on their Discord channel today indicates that the alpha launch has had some issues that will need work to correct. We have an Alpha egg, but have not yet done anything with it.

CryptoSaga

This is a dungeon adventuring game, which so far has only released origin cards that can be purchased and unveiled. Each card purchased increases the price of the next card by .003 ETH. Origin cards have an 85% chance of having a heroic character and 15% chance of having a legendary character. We rolled in that 85% with our one card, but she still looks badass: ![Screenshot from 2018-02-21 11-47-45.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcPPxQzwJBJtRNN2zZR51jQTE3Q9k6btN8wwBgt4R35bz/Screenshot%20from%202018-02-21%2011-47-45.png)

Conclusion

Crypto gaming is budding industry and a lot of these games feel like the Pacmans and Space Invaders of their time. We're really looking forward to new developments in this area - we can only imagine what more complex games will look like as the technology progresses. MMO, RPG, RTS, FPS - all prime candidates for blockchain enhancement. Maybe this is the answer to micro-transactions in games - let the players earn from each other and the developers/producers take a reasonable cut. Perhaps an overly ideal scenario, we know - but we can hope. =) Do you have a crypto game that you want us to check out or thoughts on one mentioned above? Let us know in the comments! *Next up: [Part II - Lending Platforms](https://steemit.com/crypto/@cryptogardeners/crypto-exploration-update-part-ii-lending-platforms) (Falconcoin, Thorncoin, Davor, Hextra, Eigencoin, Pagarex, LendConnect)*