Key Takeaways
The Sandbox is a play-to-earn game that combines blockchain technology, DeFi, and NFTs in a 3D metaverse. Its virtual world allows players to create and customize their games and digital assets with free design tools. The virtual goods created can then be monetized as NFTs and sold for SAND tokens on The Sandbox Marketplace.
The SAND token is the native token of The Sandbox. It is used as the basis of all transactions and interactions in the game. SAND can be earned through playing games and contests in The Sandbox or purchased on cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance.
Introduction
The gaming industry is investing more resources in bringing their projects on the blockchain, especially in creating metaverses to enhance the gaming experience. Following the Facebook rebranding into “Meta” in October 2021, metaverse gaming spiked in popularity. Metaverses on blockchain transform how people interact with each other and redefine the ownership of in-game digital assets. One of the hottest blockchain game projects that offer players a unique virtual experience is The Sandbox. It unleashes players' creativity by allowing them to contribute to the gaming items and virtual land, all based on non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
What is The Sandbox?
The Sandbox is a play-to-earn blockchain game that allows players to build a virtual world using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain. Players can design their own avatars to access the different games, environments, and hubs on The Sandbox metaverse. You can think of the game as a DeFi version of Minecraft on the blockchain.
Launched in 2011 by Pixowl, The Sandbox was initially a mobile gaming platform intended to rival Minecraft. It became a hit and generated more than 40 million downloads worldwide. But in 2018, the co-founders Arthur Madrid and Sebastien Borget decided to explore the potential of creating a 3D metaverse on the blockchain. Their goal is to let users truly own their creations as NFTs and earn rewards while participating in the ecosystem. The new Sandbox project was released in 2020 and became one of the fastest-growing games in the crypto world, along with Axie Infinity and Decentraland.
In November 2021, The Sandbox raised $93 million in funding from investors led by the Japanese mobile giant SoftBank. The game also attracted over 50 partnerships, including Atari, a famous gaming company, CryptoKitties, The Walking Dead, and hip-hop star Snoop Dogg.
How does The Sandbox work?
The Sandbox is a dynamic virtual world with user-generated creations. Players can build and create their own NFTs, including avatars, virtual goods, and even games using VoxEdit and Game Maker. Not only can they use the virtual goods to interact with other players, but they can also monetize these NFTs by trading on the Sandbox Marketplace.
VoxEdit
VoxEdit is a user-friendly software for artists and players to create, rig, and animate their voxel-based NFTs. Voxels are square 3D pixels that look like lego blocks. They can be quickly edited on VoxEdit to form different shapes. For example, users can create avatar-oriented equipment like clothing or weapons, or design animals, greenery, game tools, and goods to use in The Sandbox. These virtual goods can then be exported and traded on the Sandbox Marketplace as NFTs.
Game Maker
Game Maker lets users build and test their unique 3D games within the Sandbox metaverse. It’s a simple program that doesn’t require any coding knowledge to use. Users can design and organize different elements and objects, including the NFTs created with VoxEdit, in an environment called LAND. For example, they can edit terrain, place characters and buildings, and curate quests from the community-developed resources library. They can also share their creations with the Sandbox community.
The Sandbox Marketplace
Launched in April 2021, The Sandbox Marketplace is an NFT marketplace for users to trade in-game assets (ASSETS) with SAND, the native cryptocurrency of The Sandbox. The ASSETS acquired can then be incorporated into LAND using Game Maker to create unique games. These NFTs can be entities, buildings, wearables, and more, all of which can be used within The Sandbox.
As mentioned, The Sandbox uses several different tokens in its ecosystem for players to interact with the platform, including SAND, LAND, and ASSETS.
What is Sandbox (SAND)?
Sandbox (SAND) is the native token of The Sandbox. It is an ERC-20 token with a total supply of 3 billion SAND.
As a utility token, SAND is used to perform any type of transaction and interaction within The Sandbox ecosystem. This means that players need to own SAND to play the game, customize their avatars, buy LANDs, or trade ASSETS on the Sandbox Marketplace. SAND is also a governance token. SAND holders can propose and vote on changes to the platform through a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) structure.
In addition, holders can stake SAND within the game to earn rewards, including a share in the revenue from all transactions in SAND tokens. Most importantly, staking SAND can increase the chance of finding valuable GEMs and CATALYSTs, the game resources needed for creating ASSETS with a higher rarity.
SAND can be acquired through playing different games and contests in The Sandbox or purchased on cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance.
What are ASSETS?
ASSETS are user-generated NFTs. They are voxel assets created with VoxEdit, which are then uploaded to The Sandbox Marketplace and converted into NFTs for sale.
ASSETS can be used in the game in different ways. They can be environmental assets like a building, a moving animal, or a car. They can also be attached to the avatar as clothes or weapons. For those creating their games on Game Maker, ASSETS can be designed to provide unique gaming experiences.
What is LAND?
LAND is a digital piece of real estate in The Sandbox platform. It is a unique ERC-721 token on the Ethereum blockchain. Players can buy LANDs to build their own version of games on it with ASSETS using the Game Maker tool. They can also combine multiple LANDs to form an ESTATE, with the largest possible size being 24x24.
LAND allows players to monetize their gaming experience. For example, they can charge other players visiting their LAND or playing their games, earn rewards in SAND by hosting content and events, or potentially sell or rent their customized LAND.
There are a total of 166,464 LANDs in The Sandbox. They can be purchased with SAND and ether (ETH) through public LAND sales. You can find a list of confirmed public sales and dates in the Sandbox gitbook. Alternatively, you can buy LAND from other users on The Sandbox Marketplace and NFT platforms like OpenSea, but they will likely be more expensive than the official public sales.
Closing thoughts
The Sandbox is a user-generated content platform that allows users to create and contribute to the metaverse. Unlike other popular play-to-earn games, The Sandbox doesn’t have a predetermined gaming world. It adopts a flexible approach for users to customize everything with free and easy-to-use tools. The content created by users can also be monetized as NFTs or used to enhance their gaming experience.