Upland launched in early 2018 and has grown to become one of the most popular play-to-earn games on the market. Today, it attracts an average of 50,000 users per month. Built on the EOS blockchain, the game brings the dynamic energy of a bustling city to our fingertips.
Contents
- What’s the point of Upland?
- How does the game work?
- What’s the best way to make money with Upland?
- Acquire property
- Visits
- Rent out Spark
- Manipulate the floor
- Treasure hunting
- How to join and start playing Upland
- Which property to buy
2022 may have been a bumpy year so far in web3, but blockchain gaming has held its own in challenging conditions. Upland is one of the most popular and successful play-to-earn games. And it’s helped gaming maintain its position in the past few turbulent months.
Upland sits at number five among a strong list of contenders in DappRadar’s blockchain games rankings. Above it are some of the sector’s heavy hitters, like Splinterlands and Axie Infinity.
Before finding out how to play Upland and some of the best tactics for it, we need to first find out what the game is.
What is Upland?
Upland is a virtual world that makes up part of the burgeoning metaverse. Players can construct, buy and flip digital real estate in simulated lands designed to mirror real cities.
Aside from being virtual realtors, Upland players can collect in-game items as NFTs, own and race cars, attend music concerts and start their own businesses.
Upland blurs the line between a computer game and something that resembles a genuinely alternative space in which to work and socialize. Everything in Upland starts with property, but the platform is much more than a blockchain-based gamified version of Monopoly.
As the metaverse continues to grow across the internet, Upland’s creators plan to incorporate updates and more elements of web3 technology. From the outside, it seems the possibilities of what players can do in the game will continue to expand.
How does the game work?
As we’ve seen, the foundation of the game is digital real estate. Buying and selling virtual property, for profit, is the ultimate goal. But players can do much more than this.
As in the real world, what players do with their properties is up to them. Some people choose to start businesses. These can be in-game businesses where players set up shop as exterior or interior designers. Other users have set up block explorer shops where players can trade in-game items.
Some players have also put their properties to use as virtual galleries, to exhibit their digital or real artworks. Players can then pay for these works of art, using cryptocurrency or fiat cash.
There’s also the option for people to turn their virtual Upland property into the headquarters of their real-life business. They can give clients an Upland address and then greet them and discuss business at that location. As the metaverse grows into the future, expect more real-life companies to adopt this model.
New players get access to more affordable properties in the game via the Fair Start Act. Players will earn 14.7% annually on any property they hold. Players who hold multiple properties can collect them into a portfolio and get boosted returns and a one-time bonus pay-off.
Players who earn 10,000 UPX will be eligible for Uplander status. Once this happens, players can start earning Spark to build Structure NFTs. This also allows them to start trading in-game properties on secondary markets.
The NFT-to-USD process enables players to buy and sell properties with fiat currency. This feature is only for players with Uplander status. NFT-to-USD is only available on web and mobile web versions of the game.
What’s the best way to make money with Upland?
This is the question which everyone is asking. Upland is a play-to-earn game, so naturally people who play it want to know how they can get the cash.
Firstly, you’ll need to take the time to play Upland, and learn how to benefit from it. As with all play-to-earn games, it takes time and effort to build up experience and assets.
To save you taking so much time to learn about the game though, we’ve listed the Top 5 ways to earn money in the game.
Acquire property
At first, you’ll need to buy it with in-game currency UPX. Later on, you’ll be able to construct your own property. Properties are the building blocks of Upland. Without it, you will not be able to earn.
Depending on how successful Upland becomes in the future, you could realize some gains just by owning a property and sitting on it. You also earn UPX as a proportion of the value of your property. So just by doing nothing, you’ll earn money.
Visits
Players earn UPX when other players visit them. And there are two ways to draw in an audience. Make your property something that people want to come and visit. People want to be entertained or amused or delighted; if you can do this, the masses will come.
Secondly, make your visit price low. If you make the cost of visiting you negligible, people will barely know they’ve spent any money. But for you, enough of these micropayments can become quite lucrative.
Rent out Spark
Players require Spark to construct buildings. You can add your own Spark to someone else’s construction to speed up their build times. In return, you can charge them for your help. The best way to find out who needs Spark, and to agree a price, is by using Discord and speaking to people in need.
Being present in community chats and ingratiating yourself into the world of Upland takes a bit of time and effort. But once you’ve done this, you can sit back and watch the UPX pile up.
Manipulate the floor
This is a risky tactic and works best in a bull market. It’s also called Raising the Floor, in the Upland community. You need a lot of disposable UPX lying around in order to do it. And, if you’re unlucky, you’ll risk losing some of it.
Manipulating or raising the floor means finding an Upland neighborhood with a low property floor price. You then buy as many as you can of the cheapest properties in a neighborhood. Once you’ve done this, you can raise the floor price of every property you own.
In theory, you will still have the cheapest properties in the neighborhood, but they’ll be more expensive than what you bought them for.
The internet is awash with people showing you how to do it and it can be a very effective way to boost your earnings.
Treasure Hunting
Treasure hunts in Upland consist of clicking around the map, trying to find treasure. It costs a small amount of UPX to travel around the map and visit buildings in order to find the hidden rewards.
Arrows show you if you’re getting hotter or colder in your hunt. But beware that you may not find any treasure and all you’ll be left with is a depleted stock of UPX. So do your research for the best searching tactics before embarking on your pursuit.
The treasure doesn’t always come in the form of UPX. Sometimes, successful hunters are rewarded with Spark, one of the game’s most valuable assets.
How to join and start playing Upland
Open the Upland dapp and click on Enter Upland in the top right corner.
Once you’re in, you’ll find a short KYC process where you choose a username, enter your email address and pick a password. Confirm your identity in an email you’ll find in your inbox and before you know it, you’ll be in Upland.
Once you’re there, you’ll get a small amount of free UPX to start playing and some tips on what to do. Once you’re in, you can visit whichever city you choose and take a look around.
Which property to buy
With property being the foundation of Upland, it’s important to know which ones are the best to buy. As in the real world, property prices vary depending on location. And an area’s desirability will go up and down depending on factors outside of your control.
First, choose the right city. New York and Chicago are obviously two of the most glamorous locations. But they also have the highest property prices. So you need to find a balance between the best locations and the most competitive prices.
To find the best location to start your Upland journey, go to Upland.me and find the Marketplace Analytics page under the Community tab.
Go to Unminted Properties, which are the ones for the new players. Choose your city; although they have the most expensive property, places like Las Vegas, Chicago and New York are the best places to go.
Using the Unminted Tool, click true for FSA only and find the lowest property prices in the area that you want to buy somewhere. Get the address of the property you want to buy, find it in the map and snap up the property.
