Of all the truisms about real estate, one is held to be truer than the rest: real estate is a safe investment. I learnt this principle early on in life while playing Monopoly with my siblings. In the game of Monopoly, the player who owns houses, hotels, and other property will charge rent to other players so as to drive them to bankruptcy and be declared the winner. Alternatively, the winner of the game is the player with the most property and cash at the end of the game. Either way, accumulating property is the surest way to improve your chances of winning the game. More or less like in the real world.
For those of you who might be lost and wondering what the hell is Monopoly, and what does it have to do with Upland? Brace yourselves as we delve into a brief history lesson about board games. Monopoly is one of the oldest board games in the world. It originated from “The landlord’s game”, a game developed in 1903 by Lizzie Magie who wanted to demonstrate the negative effects of letting a few individuals own all the land. Since then, the game has undergone various transformations. The modern monopoly game has several versions. The US version has properties named after locations in Atlantic City in New Jersey.
Monopoly board
In the game of Monopoly, players roll two dice and move around the board where they can buy and trade properties, as well as develop them into houses and hotels. The player owning the property will then collect rent from the other players who land on their property. Players can trade and enter into several mortgaging arrangements with each other. The game of Monopoly requires negotiation skills, financial management skills and strategy. Basically, just like owning and managing property in the real world.
Speaking of the real world, Upland is a game that allows players to own virtual properties mapped to real-world addresses in San Francisco, New York City, and Fresno. Upland is blockchain-powered on the EOS network, meaning that all transactions are recorded on an irreversible ledger. Therefore, the property you own is yours alone forever, unless you choose to trade it. After all, Upland operates on the principles of an open market economy, meaning that buyers and sellers are free to engage in trade where the prices of property are predominantly driven by the rules of supply and demand. Trading is done using UPX, the in-game currency. Plans to enable the trading of property with US dollars are underway.
It is important to note that properties on Upland are unique pieces of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Therefore, they are scarce, rare, and have real value. It’s like owning digital art. However, what makes Upland unique is that you can actually drive around Manhattan in New York City, point at a building, and tell your cab driver “I own that building!”. If they don’t believe you, take out your phone and show off your building and other digital assets on Upland. Better yet, tell your cab driver that they can also own digital property mapped to the real world by joining Upland. It’s as easy as 1-2-3.
Joining the virtual world of Upland can be done via the Upland website on desktop, or Upland App on iOS and Android. A welcome bonus of 6000 UPX awaits new signees. The welcome bonus can be used to purchase digital assets on which they can start earning returns on property in UPX coins. UPX coins can also be earned through other ways like daily rewards, treasure hunts, or purchased with fiat.
Apart from being able to sell your property on the in-game open market, the game creators are exploring more ways to monetize your digital assets. It was announced that landowners will soon be able to launch real in-game businesses, add houses, hotels, and other developments to their property. Look, just like in the game of Monopoly!
I get nostalgic about anything that involves real estate in general and Monopoly in particular. So why would I not love Upland?
