Upland Guide: How to Play, Features, Pros and Cons

Upland Review

What is Upland?

 Upland is an NFT-based real estate mogul simulator created on the open-source EOS blockchain. In the game, “digital landowners” mint properties and land in the game that are mapped to actual properties in the real world, most notably the United States. Players can also participate in other activities such as:

• Collecting NFTs
• Participating in treasure hunts
• Building collections
• Attending events

Upland (whose official company name is Uplandme, Inc.) is based in Palo Alto, California, United States, and it claims that it has one of the fastest growing metaverses mapped to the real world.

You could own your home both physically and virtually thanks to this overlaying of virtual digital ownership over the real world. In the virtual world, you could even own famous buildings or trade your digital real estate for other plots of land or landmark properties.

Players have earned millions of dollars on Upland so far, and Upland claims it intends to completely shatter the play-to-earn game stereotype. However, you’ll still need to put in time and effort if you want to start making money quickly and accumulate valuable properties.

History of Upland

Serial entrepreneurs Dirk Lueth, Mani Honigstein, and Idan Zuckerman established the business in 2018 under the name Uplandme. They quickly raised more than $1.8 million in funding to start their game. The game was released in beta during 2020. 

In contrast to many other virtual real estate games, they took a Monopoly-like concept and set it in the real world. The NFT would authenticate that you are the owner of the virtual equivalent of a real property if you were to purchase it. You can use real money from your own pocket to purchase real estate in the virtual world, which you can later resell to others there.

From its launch all the way to the time of writing, the Upland community has been steadily growing, and it’s become one of the largest virtual real estate games on the blockchain. With a loyal community of virtual landowners and massive numbers of daily active players, it’s safe to say Upland is set for growth and progress in the years ahead.

How does Upland work?

 Upland currently offers 13 United States communities, and it attracts more than 100,000 virtual landowners from around the globe.

Since the start of this year, more than two million NFTs have been bought by players, and cities like San Francisco and Manhattan have pretty much run out of virtual land.

In addition to building homes, finishing property collections, and taking part in treasure hunts and city tours, more than 60,000 daily active users purchase, sell, and exchange digital assets on Upland every day.

The game begins with you as an Upland Visitor.

Visitors are required to reapply for their “visa” every seven days in order to prevent the recycling of in-game assets back into the game. Your visa may be extended as often as you’d like with no additional fees.

From then on, you can start exploring the Upland metaverse, purchasing properties, and making money.

Upland NFTs

In Upland, the property parcel NFT is made up of several 3m x 3m geo-unique “UpSquares.” These UpSquares are limited-edition assets because they are issued on the blockchain and linked to a physical address. The heart of what propels activity and value in the platform is the special property NFTs in Upland.

There are several types of NFTs in Upland, including:

• Property-tethered assets: These types of assets cannot exist without being tethered to a property. Trading the asset to which they are attached is the only way to change their ownership.

 

• Portable assets: A decorative object like a sculpture or a utilitarian item like a car are examples of this kind of NFT. Assets that can be moved around freely are called portable assets. This means they can be traded independently.

 

• Dual-phase assets: These NFTs initially exist as transportable, exchangeable commodities. A dual-phase asset, however, becomes tethered and unable to be traded independently once it’s connected to a piece of real estate. A tree is an example of this kind of NFT because it can be traded up until the moment it’s planted on a piece of land.

In terms of the property NFTs in Upland, you already know they represent plots of land and properties in the real world. You can click any NFT in the game to see its property details, each with its colors assigned by ownership status:

• Dark blue — Properties that you own.
• Light blue — Owned properties that aren’t on the market but are open to market offers.
• Bright green – Properties for sale that currently have no owner.
• Dark green – Properties listed for sale by their owner.
• Gray — Fair Start Act (FSA) properties that are available to newcomers in the game. Gray can also represent properties that aren’t currently available.

Upland cryptocurrency and tokens explained

 The Upland economy is built on two tokens:

• UPX — you use it to buy properties
• Spark — you use it to develop buildings on properties

 Due to the fact that UPX and Spark cannot be traded outside of the Upland game, they are not real cryptocurrencies.

Although some properties can be purchased with U.S. dollars depending on the seller’s status, you can use UPX to purchase in-game real estate.

In Upland, you can purchase UPX directly. By choosing GET UPX while playing the game, you can spend up to $25,000 USD to buy the equivalent in UPX. With a 1:1000 exchange rate, $1 will roughly buy 1,000 UPX.

By advancing in status, succeeding in challenges, and taking part in treasure hunts, you can earn the Spark token. You can also purchase it from the Upland Store.

Upland’s tokens are not tradable outside the actual game.

Upland price

The starting status for new Upland players is called “Visitor,” and visitors must amass a net worth of 10,000 UPX (or roughly $10) before they can claim true ownership of their digital assets.

How to play Upland

You can start in one of 13 cities, including San Francisco and New York City, after completing an in-game tutorial. From there, you can travel the world and buy properties to start making money.

Here are the main ways in which you, the player, can currently interact with the Upland metaverse:

• Collect properties: Each property in Upland is a non-fungible token, which means that no two of them were ever produced in the same way on the blockchain. These digital assets are essentially “real,” but virtual properties. The allure of owning and accumulating properties you love may wear off as Upland grows and expands and more people spend their time in the metaverse. 

• Complete collections: In the Collections Menu, the player will find property collections that they can strive to complete. With each collection, you receive a one-time UPX award, a badge for your profile, and a colored coin for your “UPX Stack” (which is a component of your game avatar). 

• Participate in treasure hunts: The Treasure Hunts section explains the three tiers of treasure hunts in Upland. These are fantastic choices if you need some UPX and you believe you can snag it before any of the other players.
• Compete in challenges: Challenges are occasionally time-sensitive events like owning the most homes in a particular neighborhood within 72 hours or having the most trades at a specific date. This is another way players can earn rewards.

How to earn money on Upland

Upland provides players with multiple ways to earn, some of which include:

• Flipping properties.
• Creating unique 3D structures and selling them.
• Designing and selling your own avatar.
• Collecting properties and completing the various property collections to earn even more passive income.
• Participating in treasure hunts and earning the in-game currencies.

Upland is currently working on new strategies for making money in the metaverse. They are working on giving players the option to run their own in-game company, among other things.

As soon as you achieve Uplander status (by purchasing more than 10,000 UPX), you can start increasing your wealth and getting involved in the community.

It is a fantastic way to stand out and develop relationships in Upland, both of which could be useful in the future.

UPX, Upland’s native token built on top of the EOS blockchain, is necessary to purchase a property. You begin with 6000 UPX and can buy 5,000 of them for $5 with a debit or credit card or even cryptocurrency.

While you can arbitrarily trade or sell your property, owning land will pay you interest based on the value of your property. Additionally, owning multiple parcels of land in various locations or particular distinctive properties, like museums, unlocks a variety of collectibles that function as passive skills, increasing your monthly income. Naturally, you will earn more UPX per month the more land you own. 

Upland Video Review

Pros and cons of Upland

Pros

• A very competitive game, even though it’s based on the collectible model.
• You can buy real-life properties inside the game.
• Playable from anywhere in the world on almost all platforms.

Cons

• A one-way economy
• Little-to-no token utility outside the actual game
• A bit overwhelming at first glance

Pros

A very competitive game, even though it’s based on the collectible model

One thing you can notice about most games oriented around collectibles is that there isn’t really much of a competitive element to them. This isn’t the case with Upland. Upland works like a metaverse monopoly in which players have to compete for the best properties and earnings. This gives Upland an advantage in both earning potential and entertainment value.

You can actually buy your real-life house in-game

One of the biggest feats of metaverse games is the ability to purchase your own real-life properties in-game. With Upland, you can purchase any property or land that has sentimental value to you, whether it’s something you own or something you want to own in the future.

Playable from anywhere in the world on almost all platforms

Upland is Available on iOS, Android, and even inside a web browser, and all of this while being playable from anywhere in the world.

Cons

A one-way economy

With a token with limited utility and a web3 wallet that is a custodian wallet controlled by Upland, the Upland economy is more of a one-way economy that doesn’t fully utilize the benefits of tokens and blockchain infrastructure.

Little-to-no token utility outside the actual game

Right now, you can’t really do much with your UPX since the digital currency is bound to the game, and there’s no way to redeem it for fiat or other cryptos such as EOS.

A bit overwhelming at first glance

Upon entering the game, the number of districts and properties you have to search through can be a bit overwhelming. Players will need to spend a significant amount of time doing their research before they can get started earning real money.

Getting started

 Here is a step-by-step guide on how to get started with Upland:

Step 1: Go to play.upland.me.

Step 2: Follow the simple on-screen tutorial (or optionally, you can skip the tutorial and sign up for an account.)

Step 3: Once you log into your account or sign in as a guest, you can start exploring the vast Upland metaverse and purchase the UPX you need to purchase your first property.

As your net worth rises, so does your status in the game.

You start out in Upland as a visitor. Your strategy might change as you level up because you’ll have access to more properties and options.

The first status after Visitor is called the Uplander status, and you can achieve it by owning more than 10,000 UPX. This status will give you access to an account and properties permanently stored on the blockchain, as well as the ability to sell your digital assets for USD or UPX after 30 days.

FAQs

What is the point of the Upland game?

The point of Upland is to own virtual real estate and become a real estate mogul in the metaverse. By purchasing, flipping, trading, and even owning properties, you can generate real-world earnings and build a portfolio of digital assets, all while enjoying an immersive, competitive gameplay experience.

Can you make real money on Upland?

Yes, you can make real money on Upland by participating in the in-game economy via ownership, flipping properties, selling avatars, and more.

Is Upland game legit?

Yes, Upland has been around for years now and only started revealing its blockchain integrations in the last couple of years. It’s a fully functioning game with countless players around the world.

What are the cheapest properties in the Upland game?

Every property under 10,000 UPX, or around $10, is considered to be one of the more affordable options.