Take a classic mind puzzle game, turn it into a massively multiplayer online tournament, add in NFTs imbued with intrinsic value, and then put it all on a DeFi framework and you’ve got a product that is both addictive and lucrative. 

Blockchain-based Alchemy Toys is based loosely on PopCap’s Alchemy video game, which revolves around taking two items and transforming them into something new.

While all the player actions and basic gameplay rules are simple, the mechanics get complex due to the sheer number of potential actions and strategies — all of which offer the potential to earn rewards. 

Alchemy is an engrossing enough strategy game that it has been around in one form or another for two decades.

In Alchemy Toys, there are two types of tokens: The ERC-721 nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that are used in gameplay, and the ERC-20 based Game Ace Tokens (GAT) staked for yield farming.

The NFTs depict 127 different toys such as a yellow submarine, a ouija board, or a welding machine. These are grouped into seven levels, each with an ascending serial number, giving each token three values, all of which affect reward strategies. 

The game setting has an Indiana Jones in an Incan temple feel to it. While it is simple enough that learning the basic rules and strategy options can be done in 15 to 20 minutes, the five possible turns and four game strategies offer many ways to play — all of which can earn rewards. 

The core game mechanic involves melding and sacrificing — burning — two low-level NFTs to create a single higher-level one. These NFTs are used in several ways in the game. They can also be traded or sold for a fee on an in-game NFT marketplace, scheduled to launch in June.

Gameplay

Each game (or “epoch”) lasts until one or more players wins by collecting and burning (“sacrificing”) one of every toy token in all seven levels (the first has 64 toy types, the second 32, and the seventh has only one.) The games are also divided into eight-hour cycles, in which each of the eight players can take five actions.

The epoch begins when players “worship” at the temple, getting three NFT toys — an action that can be repeated over and over. They can be melded in pairs, sacrificing two toys to create a “recipe” that produces one higher-level toy. Some actions require a fee, and all of these revenues are placed into the game treasury.

When one or more players create and “sacrifice” all 127 toys, they earn a separate NFT “enlightenment” token, which a winning player can burn to become a ”prophet” and create a “Godhood” token, ending the game epoch.

More insights from Alchemy toys here

At that point 100% of the fees collected for actions and marketplace transactions are distributed, with 64% going to the winner or winners. How that pot is divided is based on various toy token sacrifice strategies involving each NFT’s three values. 

As for the rest of the treasury, the prophet gets 1%, the yield-farming “shamans” who stacked GAT tokens take 20%, and the remaining 15% goes into the next epoch’s treasury.

Remaining Toys are kept for future games but the toy-melding recipes — which affect strategy — change with each epoch. But sooner or later, all toys will be used in winning an epoch.

Profiting from play

The Alchemy Toys game is built on the Binance Smart Chain. All fees are collected in BNB tokens, and all the rewards are paid out in them.

That BNB can be used to play another game or to purchase more GAT tokens, increasing the player’s stake and future payouts. Of course, players can pull them out, hodling or selling the BNB. 

There is a maximum supply of one million pre-minted GAT tokens, half of which went on sale on the day the game went live — May 12.

Learn more about Alchemy Toys

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