Learn how to play and earn value from your Cryptokitties (ERC-721 tokens) on HB Wallet Dapps.
TABLE OF CONTENT
GETTING STARTED
Creating an account
How to buy
How to breed
How to sell
Via NFT Marketplace
Via Cryptokitties Auction
COST TO PLAY
What is Gas?
How should I set the Gas Price?
VALUE OF YOUR KITTIES
Rarity
Gen 0
Fancy Kitties
Low ID Number
Exclusive Kitties
Original Artwork/ 'Misprint'
Utility
Quick Cooldown Speeds
Low-Generation Kitties
Multiple Mutations
Purebred Kitties
Appearance
Colors
Eyes and Mouth
Gems
The X-Factor
LOCAL DICTIONARY
In 2017, Cryptokitties was introduced as the first big blockchain game on the Ethereum network, developed by Axiom Zen. The game soon became surprisingly popular with the concept of collecting virtual cats as non-fungible tokens (ERC-721 tokens) that congested 25% of all Ethereum traffic.
Players in Cryptokitties are able to purchase, collect, breed and sell their virtual cats. Every cat features different attributes that make them unique and cannot be replicated. Some cats are rarer than others for some certain reasons, which values can reach to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In October 2018, CryptoKitties achieved the milestone of 1 million cats being bred, with a volume of 3.2 million transactions on its smart contracts.
To play Cryptokitties, you will need some Ethers in your HB Wallet. Once your wallet is loaded, let the fun begin!
GETTING STARTED
Creating an account
1. Download HB Wallet desktop on Mac or Windows to create or restore your account.
2. Access ‘Dapp’ feature on the side menu, then select the Cryptokitties card or enter ‘Cryptokitties’ on the Search box to find the game.
3. In the welcome page, press “Start” to create an account.
4. After signing up, a message will show up with the request to authenticate with Cryptokitties, click ‘Sign’ to proceed to your account.
5. You can choose to go over a Kitten Class to learn how to breed in Cryptokitties, or press 'Close' to get started immediately.
How to buy
To get your first kitty, simply go to HB NFT marketplace as shown below.
In HB NFT Marketplace, you can find all NFT assets that are up for sale from any Dapp Games. Players are able to view and buy different types of assets in one place without having to switch between games.
HB Wallet is also the first Ethereum Wallet to form up an entire built-in NFT Market with most essential functions for trading in Dapps.
To buy a kitty, go to the list of Dapp games and choose 'Cryptokitties'. Select one of the kitties that displayed on the HB marketplace or sort them out by price.
A profile will show up with brief information about the Kitty such as its price, generation, birthday, color, and cooldown speed.
In this profile, Ruwa Meanmuffin kitty was born in Gen 4 with the ID number of #1071288. Number 2 in cooldown index indicates that it takes only 5 minutes for this kitty to rest between breeding sessions. Further explanations of these attributes can be found in the next sections.
Click 'Buy' to start buying this kitty.
In the confirmation message, you can choose how fast you want your transaction to be executed. For every transaction to be approved, a player must pay a small amount of transaction (Gas) fee to the Ethereum network to confirm the transaction. You basically pay Gas fee by using Ether (ETH), so don't worry too much.
The speed of your transaction depends on how you to set the Gas Price. A higher Gas Price means faster processing, and vice versa.
When specifying transaction fees, you should be aware that different kitties can have different gas costs.
Your purchased assets will be stored in 'My NFT Assets', as well as in the game's collections.
How to breed
When you already have your own kitties, you can breed two of them together or breed with any siring partners from the Siring Auction to create new kitties that may reveal new traits. Some of those siring partners can come with a price of breeding designated by their owners.
To start breeding, simply choose one of your existing Kitties to be the Sire (this would be the daddy Kitty), then select one of your other kitties to be the Dame (the mother). Or you can choose one of your kitties to breed with another player’s Sires.
Go to ‘My Kitties’
Select the Kitty who will act as Sire
Press the breeding button
Choose another Kitty as Dame
Approve the Ether transaction
Your new-born kitten will appear in ‘My NFT Assets'!
You can decide to keep these kitties or sell them in the HB marketplace at your designated price. Keep in mind that you cannot breed a kitten with its parents because it’s...weird and impossible.
How to sell
There are two ways to sell your Cryptokitties in HB Wallet: through HB Marketplace and through Cryptokitties Auction.
Via HB NFT Marketplace
Your purchased assets from any Dapp Games can be found in 'My NFT Assets'.
All of your assets will show up here.
Select a kitty then click on 'Sell' to place your kitty on the HB marketplace or select 'Send' to sell it to a specific address 'via smart contracts' or 'direct message'.
One of the benefits of selling in HB NFT Market is that kitties are often sold for higher prices than those in Cryptokitties auction.
Occasionally, most Dapps markets charge a commission fee approximately 2.5% on each transaction requested by users. Users in HB Wallet, otherwise, do not have to pay for any additional fees when using HB marketplace service besides the Ethereum network fee due to the current promotional policy.
HB Wallet also enables users to sell their assets via Smart Contracts and on HB marketplace simultaneously. By this way, users can avoid scams and frauds, and multiply the opportunities of getting their assets sold.
To do this, simply select the asset and choose 'Resend to store' to sell it on the HB marketplace while waiting for payment from another user using sending via smart contract.
Players can also request to 'Change price' or to 'Retrieve' the asset. These requests will need a small amount of Gas fee to be processed.
To view a transaction history, access 'My Requests' on the right side of the screen. Click on the TxHash link to proceed to Etherscan site.
Via Cryptokitties Auction
Players can also sell their Kitties in the Cryptokitties marketplace. Simply select one of your kitties and press ‘Sell’. Now your kitty will be placed for adoption. Kitty auctions can go up or down in price, and when time expires, the price stops moving. You must cancel the auction for it to end, at which point your kitty is returned to your litter.
COST TO PLAY
What is Gas?
Gas is what is used to calculate the amount of fees that need to be paid to the miners on the Ethereum network who crunch the numbers and confirm the transaction.
Transaction Fee (sometimes written as ‘Tx fee’) is determined by two factors: the Gas Price of your transaction and the amount of gas used to process it.
Gas Price (Gwei) is the amount of ETH offered per gas unit to pay miners to confirm your transaction. As mentioned, 1 Ether = 1,000,000,000 Gwei.
Gas Limit is the maximum amount of computational power you will allow the miners to use before they reach its climax and stop processing your transaction request.
The maximum possible fee of a given transaction is calculated by multiplying the gas price by the gas limit.
How should I set the gas price?
It is literally up to you. The higher the gas price you set, the faster your transaction will get processed by the miner.
Bear in mind that your actual transaction fee will almost always be lower than the potential maximum. You will keep the left over from your gas limit once the transaction is processed. However, if you set your gas limit lower than the required amount, your transaction will get cancelled before the process is done and you will still have to pay the entire fee.
VALUE OF YOUR KITTIES
'How do I value my kitties?'
This is probably the most commonly asked questions by new players.
There is no exact price for a Kitty since each of them carries features that makes them unique and cannot be replicated, similar to that of a human's DNA. But in fact, there are three primary things that make some Kitties more sought-out than others: rarity, utility, and appearance.
Genesis, the first and the most valuable kitty, was sold for 246.9255 ETH (~$117,712 USD) on December 2, 2017. As being one of the founder kitties that started the game and cannot be created through breeding.
However, there are more than just the above reasons to get your kitties valuable.
Rarity
Some Kitties are rare because they are difficult to create. Some have set limits or caps which will preserve their scarcity over time.
Gen 0
There are only 50,000 Gen 0 Kitties set by the publisher and this number is immutable, thanks to blockchain technology. While higher-generation Kitties can be created through breeding, the new Gen 0 ones cannot. That explains their scarcity and value over time.
Fancy Kitties
Only a certain number of each kind of Fancy will be produced. If a Fancy has reached its cap, the only option for you to own that kitty is to buy one. Since the demand for those Fancies is growing without an increase in supply, their value will for sure increase proportionally.
Low ID Number
The low ID numbers indicate that a Kitty was born early in the game and can be seen as a piece of Cryptokitties history. As these early IDs can’t be recreated, Kitties with only four or five digits in their ID numbers are often sold for significantly higher prices than comparable high-ID kitties.
Exclusive Kitties
These kitties cannot be created through breeding. They are usually dropped into the game on special occasions by the developers. Exclusives include Genesis, Cathena, BuyCats, KnightKitties, and Golden Dogcats.
Original Artwork/ 'Misprint' Kitties
The interesting thing about these kitties is that they were born with artwork mistakes. When these accidents happen (which is once in a while), the developers won't go back to resolve the artwork on the kitties that were already created, but will only fix the error for future kitties. These mistakes actually increase the value of these kitties, making them distinct and appealing to the eyes of the collectors.
Utility
The value of a Kitty also depends on how useful it is.
Quick Cooldown Speeds
After breeding, Kitties have to rest before they can do it again. The amount of time a Kitty has to rest between breeds is called its cooldown. Kitties with faster cooldown are considered more valuable since they can create several offspring before they become a Catatonic.
You can check the cooldown speed of a kitty based on the index as shown below.
Low-Generation Kitties
These Kitties are useful because they can create offspring with quick cooldowns. As an example, a Gen 2 Kitty will always be born with a Swift cooldown and a Gen 20 Kitty will always be born with a Slow cooldown.
Multiple Mutations
Creating rare Kitties or Fancies can also count on the mutations you pack into your Kitty. The more mutations, the better your odds are of passing on those mutations. Players can visit guide.cryptokitties.co/guide/cat-features/mutations for more details.
Purebred Kitties
Each kitty has four gene slots for every Cattribute. In a purebred kitty, all four slots contain the same trait. This makes them effective at breeding Fancies and mutating genes.
Appearance
Everyone has a different taste. Some buyers like aesthetics. Some like weirdos.
Colors
There's a whole rainbow of colors to play with your kitties. Some get together perfectly, some of them don't. Some have nice names with meanings while some are called 'babypuke'.
Eyes and Mouth
These are the most expressive parts of a Kitty's personality. It's you who make or break a Kitty's appearance.
Gems
When a kitty adds a new 'Cattribute' into its family tree, it will be rewarded a 'Mewtation Gem'. This Gem may be passed on to their descendants and links your Kitty to pioneers in Cryptokitties history.
The X-Factor
This X-Factor may exist in any form, its value depends on the eye and feeling of the beholder. No matter what it is, each Kitty is unique in their own way and that's what makes it impossible to valuate their exact price.
LOCAL DICTIONARY
Cattribute: Genetic traits that determine the appearance of a kitty (except for Fancy Kitties).
Cooldown: After breeding, a kitty needs to rest. The amount of time it takes for a Kitty to rest between breeds is called its Cooldown.
Dame: Mommy Kitty
Sire: Daddy Kitty
Traits: Traits are genes that determine a Kitty's visual appearance (Expect for Fancies and Exclusives). Every Kitty has the same visible trait categories: pattern, highlight colour, eye colour, eye shape, base colour, accent colour, mouth, and fur.
Pregger: A Kitty when it's pregnant
Exclusive Kitties: These kitties are similar to Fancies as they feature special artwork, but instead of being bred these cats are the creations of the developers. Exclusive Kitties are often created to commemorate major events or partnerships and are the rarest cats in the game.
Fancy Kitties: These kitties feature special artwork and are often limited edition or time limited. They can only be bred through a unique genetic recipe until the cap is reached.
Special Edition Kitties: They are kitties with special artwork that are released for sale for in a limited quantity. They are similar to Exclusives in that they feature unique art, but while only a limited number of each Exclusive Kitty gets created, Special Edition Kitties are released in larger numbers. Special Edition Kitties are never obtainable through breeding.
Siring Auction: This is where players can allow others to breed with their kitties for free or with a designated price.
Hope this helps! ;-)