Have you ever dreamed of owning a racehorse? I’m sure you, like most of us, have sat watching the Kentucky Derby thinking “that would be a cool world to live in”. And certainly, for most of us, that is as close as we’ll get to owning a racehorse :(
If you’re willing to exist in a digital world though, you now have the opportunity and tools to live that dream, and quite possibly produce a profit while doing so.
ZED.RUN is a blockchain-based game that uses NFTs to represent a horse. Each horse has its own unique characteristics, meaning you could end up with a champion stallion, or perhaps your horse is better equipped to be a stud, either way, there is the potential to earn a return on your investment!
However, just as in real life, building a successful horse and stable will take time, investment, and careful attention to the details. ZED has created a truly life-like representation of horse racing and its future looks very bright indeed!
So where to begin?
First of all, we can’t cover everything there is to know about ZED in one go (and keep it relatively modest in length). This article will cover the basics of the game, then we’ll get into the details in a follow-up article(s). Here are a few resources you can check out as well to gain a fuller understanding of the game:
www.knowyourhorse.com
Community | ZED RUN — Be First
Join the Z?D RUN Discord Server!
The worlds first digital horse racing ecosystem. Own, Race, Win. | 64,484 members
discord.com
Second, you should know up front its going to cost you some money to get started. You’ll have to purchase a horse, spending anywhere between a couple of hundred of dollars ($US) and perhaps as much as several thousands. Although ZED has its own marketplace, it is perpetually sold-out due to the high demand for horses at the moment. I bought my horse, COFFEE STAIN, via Opensea.io. You can also find horses available through discord, and via the knowyourhorse website. The horses are transferrable, so you could possibly be gifted a horse, or maybe win a horse in one of ZED’s airdrops.
You’ll also have to budget for entering races, which can cost as low as a couple of dollars, with the most expensive races being up to $1000(US).
Third, you’ll need a METAMASK wallet to accomplish any of this. If you’re not familiar with Metamask, it is an Ethereum wallet the works as an attachment to your webbrowser, allowing you to communicate with the Ethereum blockchain. You can acquire your wallet here: MetaMask. Of course you’ll need to fund this wallet with some Ether.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: NEVER SHARE YOUR SECRET RECOVERY PHRASE WITH ANYONE! BE SURE TO RECORD IT IN A SECURE PLACE, AS THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO RECOVER A WALLET IF SOMETHING GOES AWRY.
Once you have your Metamask wallet setup, head over to zed.run, connect your Metamask wallet, and follow the prompts to establish your stable.
From here you’ll need to transfer your ETH to WETH(wrapped ethereum), which is done within the wallet itself. You’ll use the WETH to enter races and collect your winnings. Wrapped Ethereum is used instead of ETH because you’re interacting with ERC-20 contracts which were created after ETH. You can read more about WETH here: https://weth.io/
Note: you cannot transfer in WETH, it must be acquired from within the wallet itself.
There are three main considerations you should explore before purchasing your first horse. One Bloodline, two Genotype, and three Breed Type.
- Bloodline:
There are four bloodlines that exist within the ZED universe, each with their own characteristics. As is real life, one’s bloodline is the baseline upon which your horse’s performance will be based. However, the bloodline is only one aspect of your horses makeup, meaning that a Buterin may outperform a Nakamato on any given day.
- Nakamato — the rarest of thoroughbreds given that they are the purest racehorses. They are super-rare and command the highest price.
- Szabo — next in bloodline hierarchy. They are also relatively rare, but also more afforable.
- Finney — although further down the hierarchy, the Finney and Buterin bloodlines are able to hold their own against their competitors.
- Buterin — The Buterin bloodline is the most common breed and are naturally healthy, sturdy and quick on their feet.
2. Genotype:
Genotype refers to the Z number of a horse; thoroughbreds range from Z1 to Z268. The lower the Z number, the purer the horse. Genesis (original bloodline) horses are always Z1 — Z10, but non-Genesis horses (offspring) can also have Z numbers below 10 (due to parents’ Z numbers). And again, a low Z number doesn’t always translate to a better racer (although your chances are better).
3. Breed type:
There are six breeds within the ZED ecosystem: they are, in order of rarity; Genesis, Legendary, Exclusive, Elite, Cross and Pacer.
Genesis horses are acquired via drops, and are the purest breed type and the most desired horses. However, there is a fixed number of these horses (38,000) and once they are sold, no more will be minted.
4. Gender:
Gender plays a role in a horse’s breeding. Male horses charge a fee for being the stud, while the female horse’s owner keeps the offspring. Currently, males can produce up to 3 children per month, while female horses can only give birth to one horse per month.
- Colt — a male horse that has no children
- Stallion — a male horse that has offspring
- Philly — a female horse that has no children
- Mare — a female horse that has offspring
5. Coat Color:
There are 7 coat color groups: Neptune, Earth, Wild, Moon, Fiery, Classic and Mystical. Each group can affect the temperament and personality of a horse, however it does not affect a horses performance.
Each group is broken down into three tiers: Super Rare, Rare, and Common.
Wrapping it up —
So hopefully you have a better understanding of the the ZED.RUN world, how it works and what to consider before getting started. We still haven’t covered Racing or Breeding your horse, but we’ll get into those in the next two articles.
