Upland (video game)

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Upland
Developer(s)	Dirk Lueth Mani Honigstein Idan Zuckerman
Publisher(s)
Producer(s)	Uplandme, Inc.
Series
Engine	EOS Blockchain
Platform(s)	Web Android iOS
Release	January 2020 (Open beta)
Genre(s)	Board game
Mode(s)
Cabinet
Arcade system
CPU
Sound
Display

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Upland is a Monopoly-like virtual economy board game, based on real life places and true-ownership. The game is developed by the company of the same name, Uplandme. A closed beta was released in June 2019, and it was officially released to the public in January 2020. The main feature of this game is items that players can get, which can be properties or block explorers, are real NFTs, within EOS Blockchain. This feature makes players really own the items, and because of it, they can sell it in exchange of real money. This game is under development and more features are coming soon.

Development

The Upland project started in Germany "early 2018 during a late-night Monopoly game" between the co-founders of Uplandme: Mani Honigstein, Idan Zuckerman, and Dirk Lueth. At the time, NFTs are in expansion and CryptoKitties has having success. In this moment, the cofounders realized they can create a game where real world gets tokenized and be playable as Monopoly at the same time players can socialize. To do this project come true, they found the EOS Blockchain as the ideal blockchain for the game. As soon as they selected the blockchain the game will be based, the team registered the Upland,Inc. name, stablished in Palo Alto (California), and started to having contacts with angel investors and FinLab AG outside Germany.

By June 2019, the team released Upland in a closed beta, and in January 2020 Upland was officially released to the public, with only 3 cities available, as open beta. After the release, Upland has incorporated new cities, new features and the ability to cash out NFTs.

For 2021 it is expected that Upland world will expand internationally with new cities and feature a NFT Gateway.

Mechanics

Upland is a real-world based board game, where players compete to get the highest net-worth possible. To achieve this goal, players must travel around the World, compete in Treasure Huntings, buying and selling properties and completing collections

Cities

As of June 2021, Upland has 9 different cities, based on US real cities (as of June 2021): Bakersfield, Brooklyn, Chicago, Cleveland, Manhattan, Fresno & Clovis, Oakland, San Francisco and Staten Island. Each city has their own collection cards, while San Francisco is the city which hosts the City Hall. This building is important in Upland, so it is the place players can enable new features and request special rewards.
To move between cities, the player must know which city is located its Block Explorer and which city has to go. This is because players have to pick determined transports and pass through some cities to get into the city that the player desires.

Properties

Properties are the main element of the game. This properties are distributed all around the globe. There are four types of properties: locked, unlocked (unminted), owned (minted) and for sell (minted). To own a property, the player must buy it with an Utility token called UPX (pronounced as UP-EX) which cannot be exchanged to real money. If the property has no owner (the property is unlocked or unminted), the player have to "mint" the property in order to own it: this is, create a property certification for the owning user. This minting requires some UPX, which can be seen at the property card. Also, the player must be close to the property, which requires the player have to send their Block Explorer. Once the player reaches a determined level, the player will be able to sell the property.

Some of the unminted properties are in the Fair State Act Program (in short, FSA). These properties have a very reduced acquiring price, giving the chance players with a net worth below 100,000 UPX own a property. According to Upland Academy, 75% of the reserved properties under the act are considered "Affordable" (at a very low price).

Block explorers

Block explorers are the tiles players need to move between places and cities in order to buy properties and catch treasures. Players start with one Block Explorer, which can be customised to the players' taste. During the game, players will unlock new figures and colours to put to the Block Explorer, reaching a moment that players can get a real custom Block Explorer made by the Upland team itself.
To move the Block Explorer into a property, the player have to send it, but this movement requires some UPX, determined by the visitor fee of the property, which is established by the owner. However, it is forbidden players move their Block Explorer directly into a property of another city the Block Explorer is located. In order to do this movement, the player must send the Block Explorer to a transport hub and then move to the property's city.

Collections

When acquiring properties, players can fill collection cards. These collection cards boosts UPX generation from the properties that fill the collection card. There are five types of collection cards (ordered in increasing level): standard (blue), limited (purple), exclusive (gold), rare (red) and ultra rare (bright yellow).
Depending of the type, properties' UPX generation will be boosted between 1.25x and 3.00x. Also, when a collection card is completed, player will receive an UPX bonus.

Treasure hunting

Treasure Hunting are an alternative to earn UPX. There are three types of treasure: standard (blue), limited (purple) and exclusive (gold), which can be a chest (fixed prize) or a pinata. For the standard one, the player has to pay UPX to spawn one in a random place, while the rest will spawn randomly for free, though you compete all for the same treasure.
If the player has a pinata as prize, it starts a minigame where the player have to click to the pinata all the time until is finished. The more clicks, the better is the prize. This option is only possible in limited and exclusive treasure types.
Eventually, when a certain number of treasure hunters is reached, riot mode will get activated. In this mode, prize values will be increased till this mode ends.

Status levels

The game distinguishes 5 types of player status, depending of the player's net worth: Visitor, Uplander, Pro, Director and Executive:

• Visitor (0-9,999 UPX): This is the start level of the new players. When the player starts for the first time, it is given to him 5000 UPX to start. Those players only have the ability to explore the map and buy properties. At this moment, the player must be active on the game, so it has to renew it's upland visa before 7 days. If it fails, the player's account will be recycled and all his properties unlocked. During this status, the player have the right to fill collections and receive bonus by logging in to achieve the next status.
• Uplander (10,000-99,999 UPX): At this level, player is officially recognized as "permanent resident", meaning that the player doesn't have to renew a virtual visa. Also, the player is able to sell their properties, whether in UPX or real money.
• Pro(100,000-999,999 UPX): Players with this status will be able to start businesses with businesses licences (future feature), among the possibility to sell NFTs (Block explorers) to other players. However, they cannot buy FSAs anymore.
• Director(1.000.000-9.999.999 UPX): This status gives the players the ability to apply for a custom block explorer, made by the Upland Design team itself, distinguishing from the rest of the players.
• Executive(+10,000,000 UPX): Although is recently new (as of June 2021), developers ensure players with this status will receive a custom 3D model, requested in the City Hall. This is the highest status players can achieve.

Reception

Upland has been mentioned in various important digital media, like Forbes, Decrypt, VentureBeat, Coindesk and Bitcoin.com. According to Forbes, is "one of the fastest-growing games on the blockchain and one of the most sustainable NFT metaverses", while Coindesk highlights the high support of this videogame, having reached up to $2 million from angel investors and having backed by its Blockchain base, EOS.

See also

• Blockchain
• Board Games
• NFT

References

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