You may need to know that I include a game referral link a few times in this article. You are in no way obligated to use it and I may get a free bonus from it that will not cost you anything. Also, all content herein is mine and does not reflect the views of Upland.me and it’s creators. Further, you should know that this game is in active Beta so some features may or may not work as hoped for.
Ever hear of Upland? Yes, it’s in California but not the California you know. Upland is a Monopoly style internet and app game based on blockchain technology. Blockchain is that thing that cryptocurrencies run on. No, it’s not a scam or something for the elite. Blockchain is merely a platform on which to build things such as cryptocurrency. Or games.
Okay, here’s the cool part. Because of the blockchain technology, you really, actually own the digital properties you buy. They are linked to your user account with secure technology. Sure, they could be stolen (very low probability) but they can also be traded for a profit. And not just in game profit. Coming soon to Upland is the ability to trade your digital assets for actual cash money! Stop giving your hard earned profits to game makers who own everything, whose server you are at the mercy of. If the server goes down or the game is retired you’ve lost all your money. Sure, you’ve traded it for entertainment value but you’ll never. ever. get it back. At least with blockchain there is a record of it out there and you can go through steps to get it back.
Upland gives you the opportunity to own a part of San Francisco. Again, not the real one but digital assets that are tied to real world addresses in San Francisco. Sometimes the real world has a direct effect on the value of those digital assets. Other times the community goes off like a wild hare and seemingly mundane portions of town go bonkers. If you buy right you can increase your in-game wealth with later sales.
The in-game currency is easy. One unit of your local currency gets you 1000 UPX (not to be confused with uPlexa which is a traded cryptocurrency. Don’t go buying uPlexa expecting to bring it into the game). You can buy UPX in units as small as 5000. For the unsure, this can be a good place to start. Couple this with your starting bonus (4000–6000 UPX) and you will hit 10k UPX in assets quickly.
And once you reach 10k in assets, you are truly an Uplander! When you first start in the game you are a Visitor and have limited functionality. You’ll have to log in weekly at least to renew your passport. You’re better off logging in every day though to claim the mounting daily login bonuses. Once you achieve that magical 10,000 in value (either properties and/or UPX liquidity) you get a little celebration for becoming an Uplander. Also, the passport renewal is no longer needed.
There are a couple good ways to hit 10,000 UPX. I’ll outline each below:
First, you can come in with a BRAVE referral. That will give you 6000 UPX right off the bat. If you buy a property (as outlined below) you can claim the Newbie bonus for another 800 UPX. You’ve still got to come up with 3200 UPX somehow. Unfortunately, once you buy properties you can’t sell them until you are an Uplander. But you need to sell for profit to become an Uplander! You could try your hand at treasure hunts but there’s a learning curve and you’ll quickly whittle your precious resources away trying to figure it out. I hate to say it but you really should put in $/?/€ 5 to get another 5000 UPX. If you do this right away you’ll end up at 11,000 UPX and become an immediate Uplander.
The other option, if you can see straight off that you’ll really like this game, is to go in through my referral link. You’ll only start with 4000 UPX that way but there’s a big benefit to doing this. On the first UPX purchase you make, you’ll get an extra 50%. So even if you plan to spend only $/?/€ 10, you’ll get your 10,000 UPX plus an additional 5,000 UPX on that first purchase. This puts your basis at 19,000 right away and in a favorable position to immediately make more on other in-game bonuses. As a bonus I will also get a referral fee of half your first purchase, at no cost to you! It’s a nice way for you to thank me for this guide but make Upland pay for it. :-D
As another bonus, you’ll likely get broadsided with a free pinata. This is a great opportunity to practice on these without hunting for them. Whatever you whack out of the pinata will go into your UPX bank. Don’t get dazed, get ready and click the STUFFING out of that thing. I don’t think I even got 200 out of my first one but you should be able to get 400 if you’re ready and a pro with your clicking finger. Warning, it moves around the screen so keep your cursor on it as much as possible!
One of the goals of the game is to collect properties within certain collections. Some of those collections will be unattainable to you unless you are willing to put in thousands of $/?/€. But I’m a cheapskate so I’m looking at how to maximize what little amount you put in.
Once you’re in the game be careful! Do not let the tutorial trick you into clicking a property! ‘X’ out of it ASAP. It is trying to help but it’s just not smart enough to do it effectively. In the clear? Alright, let’s look at the collections.
On the bottom of your screen are 3 dots. Click them and look for the Collections button. You’ll see what looks like trading cards giving you stats on the different collections. If you do it right, the purchase of just 3 properties can get you enough bonuses to buy another one. A quick look:
Newbie: Bought a property? Put it in here and claim your first 800
San Franciscan: Any 3 properties in San Francisco is all it takes. Another 800
Sunset: Whoa wait, this one is a little more exclusive. Buy 3 properties in the Sunset neighborhood and you get this bonus and the previous 2 all with the same 3 properties. 900
King of the Street. Time out! Think this through. These properties do not need to be on the same block, street segment or even side of the street. As long as the street name in the addresses are the same they could be a half mile apart. Before choosing a street zoom out and look at their length. La Playa (49th Ave) would be a bad choice as it is only about 3 blocks long. It will cost you about 20,000 UPX to buy here as the choices are limited and the properties are bigger. This one is worth 950.
BUT, if you buy 3 properties, in Sunset, on the same street… you preserve your capital and maximize your bonuses. These 3 properties will get you 4 bonuses worth 3450 total.
The next 2 collections will be worth a look as well:
City Pro: This one can be triggered when you own any 5 properties in the same city. 1200
Mission District: Own 3 properties in this neighborhood and you’ll get a 1300 bonus.
You can take the above approach for Sunset and apply it to Mission District instead. Buy 3 Mission District properties on the same street and you’ll get 4 bonuses worth 3850.
How do we make this all work to maximize bonuses while minimizing the amount of capital to be put in? To get into the Sunset neighborhood you’ll have to hunt a little but (as of this writing) you can still obtain some properties there for about 4000 or less. Consider that you will need at least 12,000 UPX for this strategy.
To get into Mission District will cost only a little more. The cheapest properties are now in the 5000 and up range so plan on bringing in 16,000+ to get here. Note that you will be spending 4000 more to gain 400 more in bonuses. However I would suggest that you buy into the highest collection you care to afford at the moment because the bonuses are higher and it’s much easier to work your way down.
Also note that, say 24th Av in Sunset is NOT the same street as 24th St in Mission. The street’s last name matters. I also believe that Van Ness and S Van Ness are different streets.
POI button, properties for sale button, search button
Before you start buying, turn on the POI (point of interest) button. It’s in the lower right corner and looks a little like the Google Map marker. Don’t make the same mistake I did and buy a property that’s just not quite in Sunset. Upland uses the official San Francisco GIS data for neighborhoods which can differ from Google or Wikipedia. For King of the Street (and Sunset), 42nd through 47th are excellent choices. They are long and not encumbered by a park. Irving, Judah, and Kirkham are also contenders. Note that properties in both the Inner Sunset and Outer Sunset neighborhoods qualify.
To utilize the collections, you will need to click each card and put properties in. Once you gain your bonus, you’ll have to remove the properties to put them in the next Collection. I suggest starting low and then work them through until they are in the highest collection possible.
Feel like a bigger spender than this? You can run the same strategy with Pacific Heights. This neighborhood will be at least 75k UPX to get into since you’ll need 4 properties and the cheapest are a little under 20k each right now. Don’t forget, same street! This will get you a total of 5650 UPX in bonuses. If you choose to go here, haven’t bought any UPX yet and used my referral link to get into the game, you only need to buy 50,000 UPX. You’ll get the first time bonus of another 25,000 UPX as well as having your 4000 starter pack. Note that Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood works here too.
Russian Hill on the other hand only needs 3 properties and they are still in the 12–15,000 range. For around 40,000 UPX you can get 5750 in bonuses.
Nob Hill would be considered the current pinnacle of stacking bonus collections. You need 5 properties to attain this one. This one is going to be more difficult though. Note that both Nob Hill and Lower Nob Hill qualify but it’s still a small area. Nob Hill is sold out but Lower Nob Hill properties start at 25,000 but to get them all on the same street you will either need to buy a mix of minted (dark green) and unminted (grey) properties or be willing to shell out a bit more. You’ll need a solid 140,000+ UPX to start here. But if you can make it happen, oh my captain, you can attain the Newbie, San Franciscan, King of the Street, City Pro and Nob Hill collections for a cool 9750UPX in bonuses. That’s almost enough to get Sunset for free! Almost… You might be better off filling Nob Hill as best you can then using what you’ve purchased as a jumping off point for King of The Street. Many of the same streets run through Russian Hill and Pacific Heights.
You may have noticed that I skipped over a few collections. Mission Street and Haight Ashbury are both sold out. This means you’ll pay much higher after market prices and the bonus is not worth it. Only go here if you are a completist and just gotta catch them all. Sea Cliff as well as Haight, Market, and Lombard streets are also all sold out and can only be attained on the after market. But if you’re interested in spending ~400,000 UPX, you could grab 3 Lombard street properties within Russian Hill (Between Van Ness and Columbus) and net 16,550 UPX in bonuses with 3 properties.
REALLY nothing better to do with your money? Buy 2 of those Lombard street properties on the crooked section for 5 million and grab another 30,000 bonus. Do you make Scrooge McDuck look like a beggar? Focus your Crooked Lombard properties on the Inaugurals and you’ll be halfway towards the Est. 2019 bonus of 11,000. And while you’re at it, maybe pay down the national debt, eh?
There are some other red and yellow collections you can aim for too but you’re way out of my league if you’re aiming for those.
A word about purchasing property. If it’s grey, no one else has purchased it yet. However, you have to get your Explorer within range (usually a block) to discover it. This means clicking a nearby property and spending the visitor fee to jump there. Once it turns light green you can buy it. If you want to buy after market properties, meaning those someone else has already purchased, you only need to click the property and hit Buy without needing to get near it. If you purchase a property that way you may not get as good of a deal, but sometimes you can buy cheaper than the remaining grey properties. The purchase price has a 5% fee tacked onto it. This feeds back into the game to keep the economy stable. On the other end, the seller ends up getting 95% of the listed price. They too are feeding back into the game. So a property being sold for 4000 will in reality cost you 4200 UPX but the seller only gets 3800 UPX. But property trades? Those are free for now.
Limited offer for new players! I am currently holding 3 properties on 39th Ave in Sunset. If you want a jump start on the game you can purchase them from me! Click on all three of the following properties and make an offer of 4000 UPX on each of them. (Yes, they’re listed at 10,000 UPX to turn tire kickers away but you have a personal invite). This is a slam dunk deal if you’ve come in under my referral and have decided to purchase only 10,000 UPX.
1707 39th Ave
1711 39th Ave
2286 39th Ave
1707 and 1711 39th in blue. You’ll see them as green
If you did come in on my referral I will also offer to purchase them back for 4000 UPX each. You can accept and regain your capital or deny and keep them. Then (again if you came in under my referral) I might also have some Mission District properties on hand at the time that I could trade you for. The nice thing about the trades is that there are no fees involved. Don’t worry, you still keep the Sunset bonus but you get a little upgrade on your properties. And (as if that wasn’t enough) I will further offer to purchase THOSE back from you for 5000 UPX each. You’ll then be sitting on ~23,000 UPX with which you can do some speculation and flipping (see next article in this series).
I will further explore some tips and strategies in this Cheapskate series as well as update property prices. Be sure to follow me so you get up to the minute advice when it comes out. You can also find me on Discord as Bdag. Come to the Upland Fans channel and be a part of the community. That’s where the deals happen!
Play well!
