CryptoKitties: What Is, How to Play and Make Money

What Is CryptoKitties?

CryptoKitties is an online game in the form of a decentralized application (DApp) using Ethereum blockchain. The main purpose of the game is to buy, sell and breed virtual cats of all kinds. CryptoKitties cannot be called a full-fledged game, rather it is a cryptocurrency service where collectible pets are the object of trade. The goal of the game is to get cats with the rarest characteristics. CryptoKitties can also be exported to any other game or app that supports the NFT standard.

CryptoKitties is owned by Canadian studio Dapper Labs and is one of the first blockchain-based games. The game runs on five Ethereum smart contracts, and users interact with it through their Ethereum address.

In 2019, CryptoKitties processed more than two million transactions on the network — more than any other decentralized app. In 2017, at the start of the project, 11% of all transactions on the Ethereum network were purchases of virtual cats.

Should You Pay Attention to This Game?

The game is elementary: you are invited to get a virtual kitten and cross it with another to get a new unique pet with a personal set of characteristics, and then sell it. The first cats of so-called Generation 0 belonged to the developers of the project. It is their offspring that are now being traded in CryptoKitties. There is no gameplay component to the game as such, so collecting virtual cats has a low threshold for the player and will suit anyone. As well as trading and breeding, there are only a few activities in the game that can be accessed through Chrome browser extensions. For example, these include the KittyRace, where the reward for winning is cryptocurrency. Despite the recent drop in interest in the project, it is worth a look.

Advantages and Disadvantages of CryptoKitties

WCK token

There is only one type of token in CryptoKitties - WCK. Wrapped Basic CryptoKitties (WCK) are ERC-20 tokens.

In 2017, the CryptoKitties craze attracted media attention and slowed down the entire Ethereum network. There are now more than 1.6 million CryptoKitties. Many of these kitties are of ordinary quality and of little use to their owners, plus these kitties are difficult to trade. To solve the problem of such illiquid kittens, Wrapped Kitties was created. Now unwanted, non-exchangeable, illiquid CryptoKitties can be exchanged for replaceable WCK tokens.

WCK token holders can exchange one token for any kitties in the pool. Uniswap has a WCK token exchange where traders buy and sell dozens of virtual cats at once. Redemption tokens can be offered to players at a lower price than creating new kittens.

How exactly I can make money in CryptoKitties?

The main way to earn money in the game is by breeding and selling virtual pets. Apart from that, there are only a few options to get extra currency — such as mini-games for browser extensions made by enthusiasts. The creators themselves are planning to create a separate website with all additional cryptocat projects.

The kitty is sold on the principle of an auction. The owner himself sets the starting and final price, and after a while it stops changing. The price drops to the final price until someone buys the item. When the auction ends, the kitten can be bought at the final price, or the owner cancels the sale.

How to start playing?

Step 1 — Create an account

To play on the official website, you'll need Chrome or Firefox browsers, an online cryptocurrency wallet and Ethereum to make your first purchase. Other browsers also support CryptoKitties, but the developers recommend only using Chrome and Firefox. Click on “Get your Kitty” and enter your details in the pop-up window.

Step 2 — Connecting a cryptocurrency wallet

To start playing CryptoKitties, you need a digital wallet. The developers themselves recommend Metamask. You can read a review of it on our website. You will need to top up your wallet to make your first purchase.
If you don't already have a wallet on Metamask, CryptoKitties will offer to get one after registration.

Thereafter, all you have to do is link the wallet to your account on the game's website. To achieve this, click on the Metamask extension and follow the instructions on the CryptoKitties website to link the wallet.

Step 4 — Start the game

The main aim of the game is to get the kitten with the unique and rare characteristics of high value. Several types of cats are themselves in the game, four in total: Normal, Fancy, Special Edition and Exclusive.

There is also a separate subspecies of pets in the game, the so-called founding cats. These are the first 50,000 cats of the zero generation, who are the progenitors of all current kittens. These cats have a distinctive Founder Badge.

CryptoKitties Gameplay

Breeding

To start breeding kittens, you need two individuals. You can either use a kitten from your collection or rent a pair for your pet through the Siring search. Cross-breeding takes place between two types of individuals, Dame, and Sire. Keep in mind that your pet can take on either role—as such, there is no gender identity in the game. He cannot, however, take on both roles at the same time, so a pregnant mother cat, for example, will not be able to take on the role of father.

Each cat has a breeding interval lasting from an hour to a week. The older the generation, the shorter the time interval, so early generation cats are much more expensive, not only because of their rarity, but also because of the possibility of frequent interbreeding. A tax of about 0.008 Ethereum is charged for each crossing. A birth fee for kittens is necessary because it registers them on the blockchain. Actions with them are therefore taxed, whether they are auctioned off or offered for services.

Each kitten has a 256-bit genome that stores the genetic sequence of its characteristics: background colour, kuldun duration, whiskers, stripes, eyes, fur etc. However, some genes may turn out to be recessive, so genetic combinations are sometimes completely unpredictable and number in the billions. In the game itself, the rarity of characteristics is only determined by the number of purchases by players, there is no internal ranking. For example, kittens with gold backgrounds sell more expensive than others. The CryptoKitties user himself can only change the pet's name, and this is often used to advertise valuable characteristics.

It is also possible to plan the characteristics of a future pet in advance. The https://kittycalc.co/ calculator can be used to get a report on potential offspring, all that is needed is a male and female ID.

Sell

To sell a pet, you need to click the “Sell” button on its profile. Whenever you buy, reproduce, create, or cancel an auction, your request is sent to the miners on the Ethereum network, who process the numbers and confirm the transaction. For this service, the miners receive a network commission paid by the person sending the transaction request. This commission, sometimes referred to as the “Transaction Fee”, is determined by two factors: “Gas Price” of your transaction and the amount of gas used to process it. The Gas Price (Gwei) is the amount of ether offered per unit of gas to pay miners for processing your transaction. To see the ether received in CryptoKitties auctions after transactions, check the 'Internal Transactions' tab in Etherscan.

Find out more about what CryptoKitties gameplay is like by watching the video below:

CryptoKitties Team

Dapper Labs is a Canadian studio focused on blockchain-based products. In addition to CryptoKitties, the company is known for products such as NBA TOP SHOT, NFL ALL DAY and Cheese Wizards, the first blockchain-based battle royale game.
The leading employees of the Dapper Labs team:

Whitepaper

CryptoKitties developers take their project very seriously. The game has extensive documentation, which can be found by clicking on this link.

Disclaimer

Play-and-earn games can be highly risky due to price volatility. This type of investment requires a balanced approach. Gamers' investment in the game could suffer. We do not encourage you to invest your money in such products, and we are not responsible for any money lost. All investments you make are at your own risk.

FAQ

Is CryptoKitties a pyramid scheme?

CryptoKitties is a long-term investment related project whose activities are in plain sight. So, this project is not a pyramid scheme.

Can CryptoKitties be hacked?

The developers of CryptoKitties take the security of their product very seriously, with no successful hacking attempts recorded to date.

Is CryptoKitties a scam in the UK?

CryptoKitties is not a scam. The game is legal in the UK.

Conclusion

CryptoKitties is a great introduction to Ethereum blockchain, with the main advantage being its accessibility to players of all levels. It's an intuitive game with a simple structure and cute pets, where you can create not only unique but also charming kitties by crossing them.

While CryptoKitties is not a game in the full sense of the word, the process of breeding new unique pets can also be fun, and it allows the player to choose which role they see themselves in — owner of a kind of cryptopetarium, collector, or maybe both.

Presently, a significant drawback is the lack of a mobile version of CryptoKitties, but the developers plan to release it, and also state that they will develop the game regardless of its popularity.