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A guide to The Sandbox

The Sandbox empowers gamers to monetise their creativity in an NFT metaverse.

Upland

Upland logo
  • Free to start playing
  • 4500 UPX signup bonus for Upland property NFTs
  • Buy and sell NFT properties
  • Earn crypto and USD in game

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What is The Sandbox?

The Sandbox is a decentralized world-building game that utilizes blockchain technology. It’s a platform where users play, create and monetize voxel assets and gaming experiences. Voxel assets are 3D pixels used to create 3D digital items.

Players can create digital assets through the free VoxEdit software. These assets can be turned into nonfungible tokens (NFTs), then uploaded to The Sandbox marketplace. There they can be sold to other Sandbox players.

Add assets purchased from the marketplace to your inventory for use on your LAND or avatar. Or, put them into a game, or resell them on the marketplace.

Wikimedia Commons Image: Supplied

Players can use assets from the marketplace to utilize the free Game Maker software provided by The Sandbox to develop and monetize their own games.

The Game Maker software is as intuitive as the VoxEdit software is for creating assets. Neither requires prior experience in coding. This makes it an easy on-ramp for anyone tempted to create their own game.

Games can be uploaded to land and creators can receive rewards and payments from players who engage with their content.

The Sandbox utilizes the power of blockchain technology and flips the traditional gaming experience on its head. Players and content creators are rewarded in a virtual cycle resulting in a dynamic gaming experience.

What are NFTs in The Sandbox?

Understanding the importance of NFTs helps you grasp The Sandbox’s true potential. NFTs — nonfungible tokens — are key to the game’s economy and mechanics. Fungibility simply refers to something that’s easily exchangeable. $1 is fungible because it can be exchanged for almost anything.

Whereas items that are nonfungible refers to things not easily exchanged, have unique qualities and a specific valuation. NFTs are basically items that have a unique stamp of authenticity making them collectible.

NFTs in The Sandbox are recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. This means they have an permanent record of ownership.

NFTs are vital to the The Sandbox’s ecosystem because anyone can become an asset or game creator. The more unique and appealing an asset, the more players will be willing to spend on it.

And so this promotes a virtuous loop within the game: Asset creators get incentive to design the most exciting assets for the game. It enables an infinite number of possibilities for creators and increases the overall player experience as a result.

Compare NFT marketplaces

Name Product Categories Services Blockchains Payment methods
Gala Entertainment
Gala Entertainment
Gaming
Buy, Sell
Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, GALA
Cryptocurrency
Blockchain gaming platforms where you can earn Gala and NFTs through playing.
Upland
Sports, Gaming, Music, Metaverse
Buy, Sell, Mint
EOS
Credit card, Cryptocurrency, PayPal
Upland is a blockchain-based game where you can buy, sell and mint NFT properties mapped to the real world. Receive a 4500 UPX bonus for signing up
Splinterlands
Collectibles, Gaming, Trading cards
Buy, Sell, Stake
Hive
Cryptocurrency, PayPal
Splinterlands is a digital, play-to-earn, collectible card game built on hive blockchain technology.
Binance NFT Marketplace
Sports, Collectibles, Art, Gaming, Music, Trading cards, Domain names, Metaverse (Virtual Worlds), Memes, DeFi, Mixed
Buy, Sell, Mint
Ethereum
Credit card, Debit card, Cryptocurrency, Bank transfer
A peer-to-peer marketplace supported by one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. Not currently available to U.S. residents.
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How does play-to-earn work within The Sandbox?

Players can interact with The Sandbox through their unique avatar. They can roam the Sandbox world, view other players’ content, play games from other creators, or attend events on other players’ land. Alternatively, they can interact with The Sandbox through creating assets for the marketplace or a game by the game maker software within the game.

What is SAND?

SAND is the native utility token within The Sandbox game. It’s an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum blockchain. It’s used for everything in the game and is the basis for all transactions and interactions. SAND’s uses include:

    • Gaining access to other players’ land and games they create.
    • It’s used by content creators to upload their content to the marketplace and buying GEMs used for defining the rarity of their created assets.
    • SAND is a medium of exchange within the marketplace for purchasing assets.
    • SAND is the governance token for voting within the game. SAND owners can vote themselves or delegate their voting rights to another player.
    • SAND is used for staking to earn additional rewards.

Tokenomics

What’s significant about the tokenomics of The Sandbox is that every transaction in the marketplace introduces a 5% fee capture. This fee is then redistributed through staking SAND rewards, rewarding creators through funding, and rewarding players for simply interacting in The Sandbox universe. Players are constantly rewarded for interacting within the world, giving them SAND tokens to reinvest into the world and support the asset or game creators they interact with.

Where can I buy SAND?

SAND is readily available on most cryptocurrency exchanges at this time. You can buy SAND on popular crypto exchanges such as Binance, Gemini and Crypto.com.

Compatible exchange: Gemini Cryptocurrency Exchange

$0
Minimum Deposit
102
Cryptocurrencies
7
Fiat Currencies
  • Wide range of exchangeable currencies
  • User friendly
  • Newcomer incentives
  • Insurance on currency balances up to $250k
  • Balances can earn interest
  • High fees on mobile app
  • Missing some notable top 20 currencies
  • No linked debit cards available
Gemini is a cryptocurrency exchange with a simple UI that's user-friendly and accommodating to newcomers and experienced traders.

Gemini's strongest point is its Gemini Earn program, which allows users to earn up to 7.4% interest on specified cryptocurrency balances.

Gemini has a wide selection of cryptos available for exchange on the platform. However, some notable entries from the top 20 by market cap are missing, such as Cardano and Solana.

Deposit Methods Bank transfer (ACH)
Cryptocurrency
Debit card
PayPal
Apple Pay
Google Pay
SWIFT
Deposit Fees Cryptocurrency: None
Bank transfer (ACH): None, bank fees may apply
Wire Transfer: Determined by your bank
Debit Card: 3.49% + Trading Fees
Paypal: 2.50% of total deposit amount + Trading Fees
Withdrawal Fees Cryptocurrency: None (for 10 withdrawals and below per month)
Others: None (for 10 withdrawals and below per month)
Trading Fees ≤ $10.00: $0.99
> $10.00 but ≤ $25.00: $1.49
> $25.00 but ≤ $50.00: $1.99
> $50.00 but ≤ $200.00: $2.99
> $200.00: 1.49% of your Web Order value

How to play The Sandbox

The Sandbox originally launched in 2012 as a mobile game. However, its release as a blockchain-based NFT metaverse has been delayed. The roadmap indicates that the progressive opening of the Metaverse to land owners won’t occur until Q1 2022.

The opening is restricted to land owners who have built high-quality experiences. The launch of the DAO with staking and voting mechanisms won’t launch until Q2 2022, and we can expect the launch of the first virtual concerts to occur in Q3 2022 with Deadmau5.

How does LAND work?

LAND is an ERC-1155 token that can be bought and sold on Opensea.io. LAND is essentially a small piece of digital real estate in The Sandbox.

Players customize their LAND into a unique space where they host games, build multiplayer experiences, create housing, or offer social experiences to the community. Players can be as creative with their LAND, or rent out their property to other players. Players customize their space to monetize their LAND ownership — they charge players entrance fees to play games or attend events owners host, like a concert, show or viewing party.

The Sandbox overview

The Sandbox is in its infancy, but has the potential to be a thriving metaverse. It can be a launchpad for content creators to build their own world and portfolio while generating an income.

It can also be used as an income property for players who own LAND and wish to rent or resell their virtual property. And it can be used for social gatherings and events to connect with friends and other Sandbox users, or simply for gamers who enjoy world-building games and are new to cryptocurrency.

Ultimately, the player base will determine The Sandbox’s success. If it’s a fun interactive game for players then the sky’s the limit.

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