Upland
- 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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Upland game guide
Own properties in the metaverse and try your hand at virtual real estate.
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Upland is a blockchain-based game that strives to blur the line between reality and the metaverse. Mapped to the real world, its game world is made up of properties you can buy, sell and trade. Learn the basics of exploring this complex game before sinking in your cash.
Highlights:
- Built on EOS blockchain
- Inspired by the board game Monopoly
- Not suited for crypto gaming newcomers
- Transparent company
- Multiple earning methods
- In-game currencies aren't true cryptocurrencies
What is Upland?
Upland is a real estate mogul simulator built on the open-source EOS blockchain. It revolves around "digital landowners" minting in-game properties that are mapped to the real world. There are also NFTs to collect, treasure hunts, events, collections to complete and so much more.
Players have earned some $1.8 million to date, with Upland saying it plans to "shatter" the play-to-earn game mold. But you're still going to need to invest time and energy to start earning quickly and mint valuable properties.
Playing Upland
Sign up through Upland's site or a referral link. After completing an in-game tutorial, you select one of 13 cities to begin in — San Francisco and New York City among them — where you can explore the world and mint properties to start earning.
You're given 4,000 UPX at signup, though you can find referral links that start you off with more.
You begin the game as an Upland Visitor. Visitors must renew their "visa" every seven days to keep in-game assets from being recycled back into the game. It's free to renew your visa, and there's no limit to how many times you can renew it.
Image source: Uplandme
Game statuses
As you build your in-game net worth, you work your way up through statuses that allow you to officially own your assets, sell NFTs and properties for USD and UPX — and keep your visa without renewal.
| Status | Net worth required | Perks |
| Upland Visitor | Starting status | Starting status |
| Uplander | 10,000 UPX |
|
| Pro | 100,000 UPX |
|
| Director | 1 million UPX |
|
| Executive | 10 million UPX |
|
| Chief Executive | 100 million UPX |
|
Moving around Upland
Block Explorers are your in-game avatars that randomly explore the world when playing. As they roam, they pass properties and create a trail that allows you to interact with and purchase properties in the area. It means you can't buy a property in New York City if your Block Explorer is in California.
To move your Block Explorer in a specific direction, you send it to minted properties within city limits. You're given three Sends a day that recharge after 24 hours. And you can farm up to eight additional Sends by collecting the paper airplane icons scattered around the map.
Each time you send your Block Explorer, you're charged a visit fee that's paid to the owner of that minted property, similarly to landing on an owned property in Monopoly. The fee can range from 5 UPX to 100 UPX and is set by the property owner.
If you want to travel somewhere outside city limits, you have to buy a ticket to take a train, bus or airplane, depending on where you are in the world.
Property types
You click a property to see its property details, with colors assigned by ownership status:
- Gray — Fair Start Act (FSA) properties available to new players. They can also represent properties that aren't available.
- Dark blue — Your owned properties.
- Light blue — Owned properties that aren't on the market, though you can make an offer to the owner.
- Bright green – Properties for sale with no owner.
- Dark green – Properties for sale by owner.
What is Upland's token?
Upland uses two in-game currencies:
- UPX — used to buy properties
- Spark — used to develop buildings on properties
UPX and Spark are not true cryptocurrencies, in that they're not tradable outside of the Upland game.
You can use UPX to buy in-game property — though some properties can be bought with US dollars, depending on the status of the seller, which we talk about a little later.
How to buy Upland tokens
You can buy UPX while playing Upland. You can purchase the UPX equivalent of up to $25,000 USD by selecting GET UPX while playing the game. The exchange rate is 1:1000, so $1 can get you approximately 1,000 UPX.
You can earn the cryptocurrency Spark by leveling up your status, winning challenges and participating in treasure hunts, or you can buy it in the Upland Store. Use it to develop buildings called Structure NFTs, kind of like hotels on your property in Monopoly.
Upland's tokens are not tradable outside the game.
Signing up for Upland with our referral link gives all users who use it a 4,500 UPX signup bonus – 2,000 more UPX than standard.
Unfortunately, at this time no major exchanges in the US offer this coin. However, you may be able to purchase it with another cryptocurrency, just be sure you're following all legal restrictions and requirements.
Consider buying a different cryptocurrency after comparing popular exchanges.
How does play-to-earn work with Upland?
Earn cash in Upland by adopting one of multiple active or passive earning strategies.
Buy and sell properties
You can collect properties to sell to other players for a profit. Prices within each city are based on real-world market conditions and the square foot of the property (UP2). The only way to get fresh, nonminted properties is to buy them with UPX. You can list properties on secondary marketplaces for USD or other currencies once you achieve Uplander status.
Earn passively from owned properties and collections
You can earn UPX passively from properties you own. And if you hold collections, you can earn even more. Collections are mini-goals you achieve by meeting the collection's requirements. One example is owning three properties on the same street — a collection called "King of the Street," which gives a 1.3X multiplier to earnings.
Image source: UplandMe
Target high-traffic properties
Whenever a player Sends to your minted property, you earn UPX — a fee that you set. Properties with airports, bus stations or trains are highly valuable, because players must use these methods of transportation to travel outside their current cities.
Collect the in-game NFTs
Use UPX to buy such in-game NFTs as collectibles, Block Explorers, third-party promotional series and more. You can trade these in-game NFTs on the marketplace. Upland partners with crypto businesses to release exclusive, promotional NFTs that you can earn in-game. You can also sell Block Explorers.
At the time of writing, Upland is running a special collection of Football NFTs, called NFLPA Legits. There are advertised rewards for trading Upland Legits on the marketplace, and Legits are interactive NFTs with 3D designs and IRL perks like virtual autograph signing events.
Join the NFT-to-USD program
Players who achieve Uplander status are added to the NFT-to-USD program, which is still in beta. It allows you to list properties for USD instead of UPX, so that a player that buys your property sends you real cash directly. The program does come with limitations, so carefully read the terms and conditions.
Property development with Spark
You need Spark to construct buildings on your property. These buildings can eventually become metaverse businesses. Developers say they want to include functioning arcades, marketplaces, businesses, exchanges and community governance on properties — which could open the door for more earning opportunities.
Building a townhouse costs 2600 Spark Hours (SpH). If you have 2 Spark, it means it will take you 1,300 hours to build your townhouse, according to Upland's guide.
2600 SpH/2 Spark = 1300 hours
The more Spark you own, the faster it is to construct the NFT Structure.
Treasure Hunt
You can earn UPX and possibly Spark in Treasure Hunt, a game mode made up of three levels:
- Standard — free for everyone
- Limited — open to Visitors and other statuses
- Exclusive — Uplander and higher tiers only
Once you enter or start a Treasure Hunt, the Treasure is hidden in your area. To find it, you have to Send to search minted properties for the Treasure. Arrow hints guide you in the right direction, and when the Treasure is in range, it appears as a red dot. When you're close enough, you can claim it.
What are the Upland NFTs?
NFTs in the game are represented by properties. Unclaimed properties must be bought with UPX, while owned properties may be bought with USD or UPX depending on what the seller wants and their status. Structure NFTs are 3D buildings on properties, with other NFTs to collect in the game.
The game automatically creates an EOS blockchain account for players who reach Uplander status, with keys randomly generated from the player's username and password. This allows users to store and own virtual assets. And you can list assets for USD or UPX.
Upland recently released a series called Upland Legits, a set of NFT offerings it describes as allowing brands, sports teams, artists and more to create a distinct presence in the Upland metaverse. The NFL Players Association partnered with Upland to create identities for more than 2,000 football players in the Upland metaverse. Note that buying Legits does not factor into your net worth.
Crypto wallet and blockchain dApps explorer Wombat partnered with Upland in 2021 to offer 25 NFTs for completing "quests" within Upland. In-game purchases with UPX count toward quest progress — or UPX spending milestones — which may trigger a Wombat NFT award.
Upland news offers updates on new releases of promotional NFT. An easy way to stay in the loop is by signing up for Upland's newsletter through its site or joining the Upland Discord.
How to buy NFTs on Upland
To buy a property NFT, choose a property for sale in your current area. Select Buy while inspecting the property if it's listed. If it's not for sale but you still want to make an offer, select Make Offer.
Once a property is minted or successfully bought from the seller, you'll see a Property Certificate. The buyer pays 105% of the asking price, which includes a 5% fee that goes to Upland.
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How to sell Upland NFTs
To sell your own property, select it and choose the price you want to sell it for.
Market conditions can affect the value of a property, just as in the real world. Users compare the values of properties in the area to determine what a fair listing price for their property is.
You can research property values through UPX World 2.0, where you can also filter by price, neighborhood, city and more.
If you want to list your properties on the secondary market for USD or UPX, you need to earn Uplander status and join the NFT-to-USD program.
About Upland developers
Upland was developed by Uplandme, Inc., a Silicon Valley company founded in 2018.
The founders are Dirk Lueth, Mani Honigstein and Idan Zuckerman; self-identified "serial entreprenuers" per the Upland About Us page. You can also be redirected to each of the founder's LinkedIn profiles — a standup extra that not many blockchain companies feature.
The founders got the idea for Upland while playing Monopoly, around the time when the collectible blockchain game CryptoKitties was taking off.
Uplandme Inc. also lists its advisors, investors and whitepaper for easy access. The company behind Upland is very transparent with its founders, contributors and vision for the game.
Upland roadmap
Upland has had a lot going since its beta launch in 2020. Perhaps the most anticipated update is the addition of cars, called MV Motors. It will be Upland's very own car brand in the metaverse, and cars will have multiple functions, including:
- Means of transportation to other cities
- Some cities will only be accessible by car
- Players can carpool and travel together
- Rideshare feature will allow the ability to transport cargo
- Racing, both in Upland-Sponsored and Player-Generated races
- Cars will have NFT traits
- The Metaventures beta feature will allow for dealerships, showrooms and more
Image source: Upland.me
Here are a few other notable updates from the last few months.
Metaventures
According to Upland.me, Metaventures is "an all-encompassing term for player-owned and operated shops in the Upland metaverse." This function is currently in beta.
Essentially, Metaventures are in-game shops that are owned by players. You can buy multiple game items including decor, Legits, structure ornaments, and soon, cars.
Upland Metaverse soccer activities
Upland recently introduced NFT metaverse campaigns for soccer clubs, pre-match activities at stadiums (mapped to the real world), new Legits, fan scores, shops and much more.
Upland Events
Each month, Upland has monthly standard challenges and special events. Starting June 24th 2022, there's an event called Thrifty Trader Challenge in Las Vegas.
Players will trade properties in Las Vegas, and using a scoring system called Efficiency Value to rank performance, the top 200 players will earn rewards. The player with the top score will win 250,000 UPX and 0.4 Spark, and all other top 200 players will earn a special title.
To keep up with other special events like this in Upland, head to Upland.me/events.
What to watch out for in Upland
Until you reach Uplander status, you need to renew your visa every seven days to maintain ownership status of your properties and assets. If you don't renew your visa before reaching this status, you lose your assets.
Upland requires players to refresh their visa or acquire Uplander status so that owned properties by "inactive" players don't die off — this keeps properties in rotation to stimulate the in-game economy.
Once you reach 10,000 UPX net worth, your visa is active without renewal, and you can stay logged out of the game for as long as you want. Until then, you'll want to keep an eye on your visa.
Bottom line
Upland is an expansive game that offers multiple strategies to maximize your earnings.
Given its complexities, it's best suited for daily or active crypto gamers looking to put in the effort. Selling properties requires research of the area to earn a profit and increase the chances of enticing buyers. And acquiring the higher player statuses can take major grinding.
There's also a learning curve, so don't expect to be a mogul right away. It takes time to acquire properties and earn collections — especially if the area you start in is dense and largely bought out.
With multiple updates and cities set to release on Upland, this game has a bright future.
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