CyberKongz Weekly: November 28, 2021
Hi everyone!
Welcome back to the jungle and I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving no matter where you call home!
Before we start, let’s just give it up to our Council of Kongz again. In the spirit of giving for the Thanksgiving Holiday, they held a surprise raffle for 3 CyberKongz VX. Congrats again to the lucky winners of the raffle @Mehmetcan, @Shinobi, and @fapmachine, and thanks again to the team for their generosity!
The highlight of this weekly is the Featured Story “A Closer Look at the Play and Earn Potential of CyberKongz VX”.
Over the last week, I’ve been hunkered down in my comfy beachside shack, researching and digging up as much information as I could about our scientifically advanced CyberKongz VX.
As each new NFT trend cycle has shifted us closer and closer to full-on blockchain gaming in the metaverse, it’s definitely information you don’t want to miss. Just look at the recent explosion in SAND token, The Sandbox Land, Vox Collectibles, and you can just sense the metaverse is coming fast.
Of course, so much more has happened in our Kongiverse too including an incredible charity auction announcement, the IRL mint of a new baby kong, exciting update on 3D printing of our CyberKongz VX, return of NFTs to a certain extent, and much more, so let’s jump right in!
!ooh
CyberKongz Charity Auction in Collaboration with Christie’s x OpenSea
Just in time for Thanksgiving, we received some heartwarming and exciting news; the CyberKongz are having a charity auction in collaboration with Christie's x OpenSea!
Our charity auction will be officially part of this momentous collaboration between Christie’s x OpenSea which will mark the first ever on-chain NFT auction for Christie’s.
For the auction, we will be auctioning off two epic Genesis Kongz, the futuristic shade CyberKong #46, and the legendary Skeleton CyberKong #201.
What’s cool, is that our Kongz will sit side by side with other artworks by legendary artists such as Fvckrender, Mad Dog Jones, Victor Mosquera, and many more for bidding. It’s definitely nice to see Myoo get the attention he has deserved for so long.
The best part is that all proceeds from the charity auction will be donated to our good friends at Virunga National Park which will help to further conserve the 3,000 square mile UNESCO World Heritage Site.
So freshen yourselves up, press those white, olive, and black suits, put on your Sunday best as the CyberKongz are heading to Christie’s!
The auction will be open for viewing on OpenSea.io from December 1 - 3 and will open for bidding from December 4 - 7.
So, let’s come together and wish our Genesis Kongz the best of luck!
!ooh
New Baby Kong Born at Virunga National Park
A donation may just seem like a donation, but once you start digging into the stories of the humans and animals at Virunga National Park, you get a better sense of just how far of an impact we can have through our charitable giving.
On November 15 we received some wonderfully happy news. The 19-year-old mountain gorilla Kanyalire gave birth to a female Baby Kong! This is the first new Baby Kong that has been minted this year within the Humba family bringing their family to 15 Kongz in total.
If you didn’t know, Virunga National Park has a total of 8 different Gorilla families, with the Humba family being just one of them.
Not to get too deep into the jungle of Virunga National Park, but the genesis story of the Humba family (like many gorilla families) is a very interesting one filled with power grabs, adventure, and dare I say even betrayal.
However, before we get into the actual short story it’s worth learning a little about the 3 choices a male gorilla can make when they reach maturity (~11 to 13 years old).
These choices are:
- Stay: About 50% of male gorillas choose to stay in the group they were born into. If they decide to stay, they will challenge the other male gorillas in the group for dominance in the family hierarchy.
- Go Out on Their Own: Some gorillas choose to leave to start their own family. They can either leave with a female gorilla or steal a female gorilla from another male.
- Join Bachelor Group: Other gorillas will join an all-male group of gorillas called a bachelor group. Even though they don’t start families in this type of group, it’s a good place for young males to learn skills they might need when they do start a family.
source: https://gorillafund.org/dian-fossey/social-groups/
Now that you’re an astute mountain gorilla tracker, let’s get back to the Humba family.
The Humba family was formed in 1998 when the silverback gorilla Humba, his brother Nyakamwe, and 6 other members decided to split off from their Dad’s family, Rugendo. At its peak, this initial Humba family grew to a total of 16 gorilla members.
Unfortunately, peace was not kept and in 2014, Humba and his brother Nyakamwe had a huge fight which led to Nyakamwe splitting off from the Humba family with 10 of the 16 members to start his own family.
Although, it seemed like the lives of Humba and Nyakamwe were always filled with family conflict, the good news is that since that fateful fight in 2014, they have lived happily in their own respective families.
In fact, the Humba gorilla family is now known as one of the best families to visit because of their kind and peaceful nature. So, if you ever get the chance to go mountain gorilla tracking with our friends at Virunga National Park, you might actually get the opportunity to visit the Humba family IRL.
CyberKongz VX 3D Printing Files Ready to Go!
After many weeks of exciting anticipation, our mad Kong scientists have released ready-to-print 3D model files for all of our CyberKongz VX!
This means all you have to do to take your CyberKongz VX home with you is download the new “ID_for_3d_print.zip” under your CyberKongz VX downloadable assets and send it to a 3D printing service of your choice.
To make it all even more exciting our generous and kind-hearted @Coco__Bear is also offering a reward of 10 $BANANA to the first 100 people (maybe even 200 people) who create colorful 3D models or other cool 3D prints using material that’s not just plastic like steel, brass, etc.
To enter this contest post a photo of your 3D printed CyberKongz VX after you receive it in the #verfied-lounge Discord channel and tag Coco.
If you’re wondering how to get your 3D print started, make sure to check out this detailed step-by-step guide written by our mad Kong scientists which shows you how to download and order your 3D model from Shapeways.com.
A cool touch is that each 3D model is placed on 1 of 14 random bases and includes a barcode on the bottom that links to the Kong on our CyberKongz website!
I for one can’t wait to receive my handsome 1 trait apprentice hard hat CyberKongz VX. I uploaded my 3D print file to Shapeways just to get an idea and look at all the different choices you have and how cool the base looks!
After going back and forth on different combinations, I decided to go with the Matte High Definition Full Color as our mad Kong scientists suggested. I think it will make for some nice photos 😃
What material combination are you going for?
Kongz are Invading Miami 🌴
Just when you thought the Kongz were going to take a break from traveling around the world, more Kongtastic events have been planned, and this time in sunny Miami!
The CyberKongz will be heading to Miami from November 30 to December 2 for DCentral Miami, a private house party, and a super-exclusive Genesis Kongz only yacht party in the days leading up to Art Basel Miami Beach.
As always, our Council of Kongz looked after our community and raffled off 50 entrance tickets to DCentral. For those of you lucky enough to win, make sure to gib a golden banana to the team for making this happen!
Don’t forget either, the CyberKongz are an Emerald Sponsor of DCentral and will have a CyberKongz booth. So, for all of you Kongz that will be attending, make sure to visit our team and take some photos when you’re there!
The private house party is open to all Kongz holders and will take place on the afternoon of December 2nd. They will have a lunch served, an open bar, DJ, and even a comedian! For those of you interested in attending, make sure to head to the #verfied-announcment channel in our Discord to fill out the form. It’s FCFS so make sure to do it as soon as you can.
As for the exclusive Genesis Kongz yacht party, it will take place on the evening of December 2nd. If you’re a Genesis Kongz holder and are interested in going, make sure to check in Genesis Hall to see if there are still spots available. Fill out the whitelist ASAP as it’s FCFS and there are only 40 spaces available with no +1s.
There might be more Miami Kongz events added too, so make sure to keep an eye on our announcements so you don’t miss anything!
Featured Story: A Closer Look at the Play and Earn Potential of CyberKongz VX
Now, I’m not a hype guy by any means, but I must say the play and earn mechanics that are hinted at for our CyberKongz VX are extremely exciting. Not to mention, they are the cheapest entry point into our Kongiverse, so I think it’s worth a deeper look.
The plan is to integrate our CyberKongz VX into a wide variety of different metaverse platforms, not just The SandBox and as of today, there are 3 different metaverse experiences you can use them in.
What’s super exciting about this development is that each different metaverse experience comes with unique benefits for CyberKongz holders plus it de-risks us from a given platform. The best part is that for CyberKongz VX holders, each experience is essentially free to play and earn too.
In The Sandbox, you can tower over every other voxel and potentially earn SAND tokens while exploring the 3 different epic CyberKongz lands.
In Galaxy Fight Club, you can take to the battlefield with your VX (and Genesis/Baby Kong) and fight it out for eternal glory, and rare loot.
And in Untamed Isles, you can use your CyberKongz VX (and Genesis/Baby Kong) to capture, train, and battle Tames in a quest for gems, Guppy Fair Tickets, and other prizes.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I have yet to see another project with this much focus and energy being put into building valuable metaverse utility for its holders.
Here is what we know about the play and earn mechanics so far:
The Sandbox
For the sake of this Sandbox section, I’m going to focus on CyberKongz VX owners as a player and how owning a CyberKongz VX will benefit you when playing the different experiences in The Sandbox. Of course, since The Sandbox is huge, you could also be an artist, creator, player, landowner, investor, or a mix of many of them, but that’s for another article.
What’s most exciting about The Sandbox is that you’ll be able to use your CyberKongz VX to play in any Sandbox land including our 3 different, epic, and unique CyberKongz Lands. Even though our CyberKongz lands will be open for all players to access, there will be certain experiences only available to CyberKongz owners.
ICYMI, here are the CyberKongz lands that we have so far:
- Kongz Island: a 24 x 24 sprawling estate with dangerous jungles and ancient ruins that spans different biomes.
- Neo Kongz City: a 12 x 12 futuristic urban landscape where the city Kongz like to hang.
- Shrine of Kongz: a 3 x 3 estate featuring our 1 of 1 Shrine of Kongz build which is the spiritual home of CyberKongz and a beacon of hope for all lost souls.
When it comes to The Sandbox, there are some very interesting play and earn mechanics that have been outlined in their whitepaper (which you should read if you haven’t yet).
Here are two points that stood out:
- Playing: Players will be able to earn SAND tokens while playing the different games uploaded to The Sandbox ecosystem. They might win SAND by slaying a legendary monster, opening a chest, or even completing a quest; nearly endless possibilities can be created in games.
- Skill-Based Challenge: Players will be able to pay an entry fee to enter a challenge such as a race, a card game, a battle royale, or any other type of competitive contest. The winner takes all of the prize pool. The experience creator might take a % of the total pool for creating and hosting the experience.
How this will probably work is that each creator of a game experience will be able to determine if their game will have these play and earn mechanics or not. The rewards would then be funded by the creator or the team behind the game creation.
It’s likely that larger, big-name SandBox partners will have play and earn mechanics built-in and ready to go while smaller experiences will not.
As for our CyberKongz lands, nothing has been confirmed about how and if play and earn mechanics with SAND token will work. However, what we do know so far is that some experiences will only be accessible by CyberKongz VX and Baby Kongz will provide additional utility as well.
So, just use your imagination and think about all the endless possibilities that could be built out exclusively for CyberKongz VX owners (and the additional utility Baby Kongz owners could have too).
I mean, the 3 CyberKongz lands we have are incredibly huge, our lands have been under development for many months now, and our Council of Kongz are big brains, who have continued to prove they are going to push the envelope and innovate.
My guess is that whatever experiences we do end up building, they have a good chance of being some of the best in all of Sandbox.
Galaxy Fight Club
The best part about our CyberKongz partnership with Galaxy Fight Club is that we’ll be able to use our CyberKongz VX (Genesis and Baby Kong too) to battle it out against other NFT collections in the Galaxy Fight Club universe.
So if you own a sweet plutonium fur CyberKongz VX or you have a 🔥 wizard hat VX, you’ll be able to use that same Kongz to kick some ass in Galaxy Fight Club. Our CyberKongz fighters also get an exclusive banana weapon and a custom jungle-themed arena which is a nice touch too.
When it comes to game modes, there aren’t any exclusive benefits to just holding CyberKongz as we get the same access to 1v1, 3v3, and Battle Royal modes as everyone else.
However, what’s worth mentioning is that since we’re a partner collection we’ll be able to win Partner Keys in the 3v3 mode.
In theory, these Partner Keys will allow us to open loot boxes filled with our own project-specific loot such as $BANANA or even NFTs (e.g. Sandbox skins/merch) if we have the integration set up. (source: GFC Whitepaper “Play to Earn” section and Partners of GFC Medium Post.)
I say “in theory” because this hasn’t been confirmed yet. BUT knowing how we do things around here, I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point or another this becomes reality.
Don’t forget either.
If you plan to play GFC and want to give yourself the best chance at the most valuable high-tier weapons and armor, you’ll need a GFC Genesis Weapon.
If you don’t have a GFC fighter, the only way to win Gold Keys is to fight with a Genesis Weapon. Gold Keys are the highest tier key and allow you to open the highest tier loot boxes.
Untamed Isles
Untamed Isles is our most recent partnership announcement and has the clearest information available about the utility benefits for CyberKongz VX holders.
If you haven’t already, I highly suggest you read this article posted in our CyberKongz Medium and the Guppy Gang litepaper as it covers everything you need to know about this partnership and project in detail.
What’s cool about the Untamed Isles partnership is that not only will you get to use your CyberKongz VX (and Genesis and Baby Kong) directly in the game, but you’ll also receive a plethora of benefits exclusive to CyberKongz without purchasing other NFTs.
Additionally, there is a guild system built into the game, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we formed a CyberKongz guild at one point or another. If this did happen, there would be separate guild-drive events, tournaments with huge prizes, leveling systems with perks and benefits, and even territory battles against other guilds.
As for the utility benefits, they are generally split up into two parts. First, are the benefits for just holding a CyberKongz NFT, and second is the $BANANA integrations.
Benefits for Holding CyberKongz VX (also for Genesis and Baby Kongz)
- Access to annual tournaments that will allow CyberKongz to compete against each other for custom prizes.
- CyberKongz skins, mounts, guild-halls, and styled housings.
- A custom-designed, exclusive Kongz themed island where we can all hang out.
- CyberKongz Guild?
Current Potential $BANANA Integrations (more coming as well)
- Purchase of cosmetic NFTS exclusive to CyberKongz.
- Exclusive $BANANA Hodl airdrops of custom items and cosmetic NFTs with rarity levels dependent on the quantity of $BANANA you hold in your wallet.
- A $BANANA shop in the game launcher (client) for purchasing items.
- Tournament entries can be purchased with $BANANA.
Let’s not forget either that in addition to all the benefits we receive by just holding a CyberKongz NFT, play and earn mechanics are already built into the game. By just playing with your CyberKongz you’ll be able to capture, train, breed, and sell Tames, all while earning gems that can be sold on the marketplace.
There’s also a profession system including professions such as Fishing, Fruit Catching, Rune Crafting, Bug Chasing, and more which will most likely be part of the play and earn mechanics as well.
WSK in Review — NFTs are Back?
Well, well, well.
It looks like the early rumbles we felt a week and a half ago of the NFT market coming back came true to a certain extent. Now, it doesn’t seem like we’re back 100%, but over this last week, many pockets in the NFT market were refreshingly strong.
Solid NFT projects bounced back from the beating they took in the previous weeks, new projects minted out in the same day, and random degen minting of baby animals, bouncing dogs, and toddlers was happening again in WSK.
The big difference with this NFT “bull market” so far when compared to maybe a month and a half ago is that it looks like the volume is split between older more “established” projects and select new mints.
On one hand, this means if you were smart, had enough liquidity and conviction to accumulate the projects which took a hit over the last couple of weeks, you’re looking pretty good right about now.
A nice example of someone who did this well is @Nate_Rivers with his MAYC trade. As early as September 16 Nate had held conviction in MAYC as a club membership that was undervalued when compared to BAYC. He has been accumulating since then and after BAYC and MAYC’s most recent run-up, he is looking like some sort of mad scientist time-traveling trader.
On the other hand, a new trend in on-chain NFT projects emerged which was kicked off by the success of the new Wolf Game project. From its success, we saw other on-chain projects gain traction such as the newer Chain Runners, Wolf Game derivatives such Bear Game, and older on-chain projects like Ether Orcs, EvoSnails, Furballs, and Message to Martians come roaring back.
Because of this, I’m going to split out this week’s numbers into two different sections.
First up is the BTFD section for those Kongz who bought the blood and slurped up the projects they had conviction in when they were cheap. The second section will be the recent new mints including the successful launch of our first Kongz Tank project, the littles.
This week, only winners will be talked about as we all deserve a break from sad NFT talk. Plus we never know when BTC or ETH might blast off again, so let’s enjoy the wins while we can 😊
BTFD of Older More “Established” Projects
New Mints
See You Next Week!
That’s it for this week and thanks for joining me on this update of our Kongiverse!
The one message I hope you remember from this newsletter is just how much thought, effort, and innovation has been invested into our CyberKongz VX and how undervalued they still are
If you don’t have a CyberKongz VX yet, there really has never been a better time to pick one up, and plus, you can now easily 3D print them to take home too.
!ooh
