In this article, I answer every possible question you might have about playing and earning in Splinterlands, a popular play-to-earn blockchain game.
Let’s dive right in!
What Is Splinterlands?
Splinterlands is a unique collectible card trading game on the Hive blockchain. It’s something between a deck-building game and an auto-battler. Furthermore, it is an NFT play-to-earn game, which means people can earn money by playing it.
According to DappRadar, Splinterlands was the number 1 blockchain game of Q2 2022 by daily average unique active wallets. In other words, it has the most active players out of any blockchain game out there. (For more blockchain statistics, click here.)
The game was co-founded back in 2018 by Matthew Rosen and Jesse Reich with the goal of making digital trade cards that will be owned by the people, not companies.
It is similar to classic card games like Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone, and Pokémon. However, Splinterlands is more dynamic and fast-paced – a match lasts for only a couple of minutes. But don’t be fooled, this game still requires a lot of strategy.
Each card is a non-fungible token (NFT), which is the core of the P2E system in Splinterlands.
Here’s more about NFTs in Splinterlands.
Splinterlands NFT
Players have full ownership of the game’s non-fungible tokens and can do anything they want with them. That includes using NFT cards to battle for rewards, keeping them as valuable collectibles, trading them on NFT marketplaces, combining them to level up, or burning them to get Dark Energy Crystals.
Here’s more info about the cards.
There are four rarity levels – common, rare, epic, and legendary. Furthermore, there are seven Elements, which are called Splinters – Fire, Earth, Water, Life, Death, Dragon, and Neutral. The stats include mana cost, forms of attack, speed, armor, and health. There are over 500 cards in Splinterlands with many different combinations.
Splinterlands Coin (SPS)
SPS stands for Splintershards token and it’s the game’s native token.
Before the August 2022 update, Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) were used as the main currency, a reward for winning ranked battles and looting chests. However, SPS token is replacing DEC and it will also work as a governance token.
Is Splinterlands Free to Play?
Splinterlands is free to play. However, to earn rewards, participate in tournaments or join guilds, you need to purchase a Summoner’s Spellbook that costs $10. In other words, a small investment is required to access all functionalities and features.
What’s great is that you get 3,000 credits that you can use to purchase or rent cards.
Where Can You Play Splinterlands?
If you’re wondering if there’s a Splinterlands app and can you play Splinterlands on your phone, the answer is – yes!
This play-to-earn game is available on several platforms – Android, iOS, and desktop.
How to Get NFTs in Splinterlands?
With the initial $10 investment, you get a starter pack that is enough to start playing. You can also earn cards by completing daily quests and winning rewards in contests and tournaments.
However, the main way to get NFTs in Splinterlands is to purchase them on the game’s official marketplace. There, you can browse cards and filter them by price and various attributes like edition, rarity, element, role, levels, etc.
You can also look for Splinterlands NFTs for sale on secondary NFT marketplaces like OpenSea.
Is Splinterlands Profitable?
You’re probably wondering, is Splinterlands a good investment? Is Splinterlands still profitable in 2022? Can you earn money in Splinterlands?
Let me answer all of these questions.
Yes, you can earn money in Splinterlands and this game is still profitable. Everything that you earn in this game has real-world value. Because Splinterlands has a thriving community of active players, its cards still hold a lot of value. Furthermore, there are many different ways to earn in Splinterlands, which makes it worth your time.
Another question you probably have is how much can you earn in Splinterlands. Well, that depends on several factors. Most importantly, how much time you’re willing to put into the game, how experienced you are with playing similar card games, whether you rent cards, etc. At the very least, you should be able to get back what you spent on the initial $10 investment fairly easily, according to its players. If you take the time to grow your account and own valuable assets, you might make a good profit each month.
However, keep in mind that this is not the game for making a quick buck. It’s more about enjoying the gameplay and the community aspect of it and making some profit along the way. This is a type of game that rewards players who stick around with airdrops and such.
How to Earn in Splinterlands?
There are several different ways to earn in Splinterlands – I’ll explain all of them.
Ranked Battles
The main way of earning money in Splinterlands is by playing Ranked Battles. You can do that by visiting the Battle page and changing the battle type to Ranked. Once you reach the Bronze 2 level, you earn rewards every single time you win a Ranked Battle. The amount you earn depends on your rank, capture rate, as well as current market conditions.
It’s important to note that players who play all day long won’t have an advantage over others in terms of earnings.
Up until recently, players were rewarded with Dark Energy Crystals. Now, players earn the Splintershards token (SPS), along with Reward Shares or R-shares.
Loot Chests
You can also earn various rewards through loot chests. They’re similar to loot boxes in other games and contain a random assortment of currencies, items, cards, etc. You can earn them by completing daily quests or from the end-of-season rewards. The number of chests you earn from Daily Focus depends on the number of R-shares you have earned from ranked battle wins.
At the end of every season (they last for about two weeks), players receive loot chests based on the League they finish in. The maximum number of chests you can earn in a single season is 150.
Tournaments
Another way to earn in Splinterlands is to enter Tournaments. You can find them by clicking the Events link. There, you can find a wide range of Tournaments hosted both by Splinterlands and other players. Different Tournaments have different entry requirements and rewards.
There are two types of Tournaments – Anytime or Single Elimination. The former allows you to play your battle over the course of 24 hours, while the latter requires you to be online at the start of the tournament.
Leaderboard Rewards
There are two leaderboards (for Modern and Wild gameplay formats) that top players can compete in.
According to the game’s whitepaper, “Each respective leaderboard is awarded a total of 3 622 000 DEC (Dark Energy Crystals) for the reward pool each season. The top finishers for the season, in both Modern & Wild leaderboards, from each of the 5 Leagues receive DEC for the position they achieve.”
Trading Cards
You can also turn a profit by buying and selling Splinterlands cards on the game’s busy marketplace. It’s the same as trading stocks in the stock market and you don’t even have to play the game to do it.
However, to be successful, you need to have a deep understanding of the game and the marketplace. That allows you to take advantage of market fluctuations to buy undervalued cards or sell those that are overvalued.
Renting Cards
If you want to earn a passive income with this game, renting cards that you’re not playing with is your best bet. The rental market is built directly in Splinterlands and is very easy to use.
How to Rent Cards in Splinterlands?
Choose the card you want to rent and click on “List for sale or rent”. This will open a new window where you can choose to rent your card. Then set a rental price and you’re done!
Easy, right?
If you decide you want to use any of your rented cards, you can just cancel the rental and you’ll get it back within 24 hours.
Staking SPS
If you stake SPS, you can earn staking rewards – this is another passive income opportunity. You can stake SPS either on yourself or another player or spread it among players.
Furthermore, staking SPS also allows you to take part in the game’s governance.
How Do You Invest in Splinterlands?
There are several different ways to invest in Splinterlands.
As I mentioned earlier, to get rewards, players need to purchase Summoner’s Spellbook for $10. You can consider that investment, as it unlocks all play-to-earn capabilities and allows you to potentially earn a lot of money. For example, if you invest enough time in the game, you can turn that tiny investment into thousands of dollars worth of tokens.
Buying NFT cards is also a good investment as their value can go up and you can trade them on the game’s market. Additionally, you can rent them for profit, as I mentioned earlier.
Another way to invest in Splinterlands is to purchase SPS, the game’s main token.
What Wallet Do You Need for Splinterlands?
When you create a Splinterlands account, it automatically creates a Hive wallet. However, you can also link other crypto wallets like MetaMask.
The Future of Splinterlands
Splinterlands is still evolving and there are many exciting milestones ahead. To learn what comes next, check out the Splinterlands roadmap above.
Wrapping Up
Now we want to hear from you.
Do you play Splinterlands? What are your thoughts on this blockchain game? Let me know in the comments!
