I see each Upland city as a Monopoly board sometimes with more than 500k properties, as players collect 2/3/4 properties (unique NFTs) on a theme in order to unlock bonuses in-game. That makes the Upland metaverse a collection of Monopoly boards with unique strategies applicable to each.
Player generations are defined by the new city release that they first went big in Upland. I started by buying on the secondary market in Chicago before going big on LA and Detroit. That makes me part of the Upland LA generation.
Short-term cycle #1 — Spark Week provides good USD discounts
Spark can be earned by treasure hunting, completing city tours, and other in-game events. However, the quickest way to accumulate spark is to buy it. Spark Week typically comes once a week (but note the calendar has the next Spark week scheduled for the 1st week of April instead of the 3rd week, so the pattern may be changing). For ppl accumulating properties in collections, Spark Week is great as some players will sell their properties for a discount in USD in order to buy spark.
Short-term cycle #2 — New City Releases provide UPX discounts
New cities are likely to occur every 4–6 weeks, with the next release on the East Coast [NB: Queens is showing up in the EOS blockchain, so it is a good candidate for the next release]. Two forces are operating at once here. In the two weeks leading up to Chicago, I sold 100+ properties for 15% UPX profit (including fees). Over that period, my volume steadily declined as players undercut the floor in order to get UPX for LA. Three days out, volume largely stopped altogether as players started to anticipate the new city. The best UPX discounts are found between new city announcements and new city releases, as players are looking to sell.
Long-term cycle #1 — Some Whales driving down the USD floor
The first ppl to sell new city properties for USD are always Executives as they only have to hold properties for three days. Don’t panic. The game is still seeing relatively stable spending each week. LA is now over 60% minted with collections being minted first. Non-FSA in Detroit is over 96% minted out. However, I picked up all Standard, most Limited LA collections under mint in USD. I got my first rare collection (Franklin Ave, LA) for around 140% markup. The USD markup in Detroit is now around 67% and LA is 51%.
Strategy #1 — Short-term USD flipping
At this markup, I’m buying with the intent of flipping for USD. This strategy probably requires at least Director status (one-week turnaround for USD sales) and cannot be done at scale as players can only list 20 properties for USD at a time.
Strategy #2 — Long-term flipping of LA collections
Take your choice (USD and UPX) but prices in collections in some newer cities are likely going up over time. Even with the heavy selling pressure for Chicago, Standard collections are still around 140% mint versus 75% in LA. The cheapest properties in Limited collections in Chicago sell for 161% versus 81% in LA (Pacific Palisades). Even then, the floor in Wicker Park (Chicago) could easily jump to 200% with only two purchases. That 140% markup for a rare in LA compares favorably to over 2000% in Chicago. Detroit doesn’t have the same discounts, as Non-FSA in collections are essentially sold out and the floor is already rising.
Long-term thinking on Upland — the authentic marketplace for NFTs:
Upland will evolve to include even more types of collectibles. Think cars, music, sports — all having a vibrant collectible marketplace in Upland. As part of that expansion, Upland is very careful to protect IP by not allowing UGC NFTs for sale. Even when UGC content will be sold for USD in player-owned metaventures, everything must be approved by Upland so that copy-cat ripoffs will have no place in Upland. That also means no scams as Upland is doubling down on authenticity. When players can import their NFTs back to popular blockchains (coming soon), Upland will increasingly come to be seen as the place to buy authentic NFTs, even by non-Uplanders. That will drive a greater investment of third parties into creating high-value NFT collectibles for Upland. It's all happening in Upland in 2022.
A shoutout to the new followers — Orion Dvvorkin and Pete Berry. Thanks for the claps, Sander Arts and Fran Extremera. My goal is to get to 100 followers on Medium, so please follow me if you like more Upland content.
The thoughts expressed here are my own opinions. Please do your own research on Upland. Full Disclaimer.
