Nifty Football — Where it all Began
Almost three years since the minting of 2,742 unique NFT collectible football cards, Nifty Football is finally set to take the classic football management game concept to a whole new level, but how was the project born and who’s behind the unique artwork?
Not a lot of people know this, but the Nifty Football project actually began life all the way back in 2019 as a novel idea for a game based on a collection of NFT trading cards. While the primary focus with many NFT projects is on the art, the creators of Nifty were among the first to see the potential value in adding utility to the aesthetic.
Today we’ll go back to the roots of Nifty Football: the idea, the artwork, the things that got in the way and how it all worked out for the best for this exciting new game that combines art, football management and Play-to-Earn.
Collectibles and NFTs
If you were born this side of about 1995 there’s a fair chance you don’t even know what collectible cards are. Back in the olden days, people used to collect stickers and cards that depicted their sporting idols. Where I grew up it was Panini football stickers; on the west side of the pond it was more likely to be Topps baseball cards. You’d buy these in packs and try to trade your way to a full collection over time. Specimens varied in scarcity and therefore some were extremely valuable.
Like many pleasures from that simpler age however, collectibles faded from the public consciousness as the digital age took form. That is, until the advent of NFTs.
Coincidentally, I’ve found in recent times that talking about old-fashioned collectibles is a good way to explain what an NFT is to the uninitiated. For the first time in the digital age, thanks to blockchain technology, we can attach value and proof of ownership to unique digital assets, just like we do to real world objects. Not since snail-mail gave way to email has there been a more fit-for-purpose technological transition than using NFTs to create digital collectibles.
It would be inaccurate to suggest however that old-fashioned collectibles had no utility. Many collectibles featured statistics that could be used to play games and the Nifty Football project sought to bring that whole package into the digital age with a game engine that would pit players’ attributes against each other and generate imaginary football matches.
Nifty Football 2019
On May 9th 2019 Manchester-based Blockrocket excitedly announced that the first 1000 football player card NFTs of the Nifty Football project’s genesis mining phase had sold out in a frenzied four hours and 19 minutes. A week later the first transfer record was set when American striker Dylan Robinson changed hands on OpenSea for the princely sum of one shiny Ether token (≈ $170 at the time).
Nostalgia and modern technology married and went on their honeymoon.
The Blockrocket team, led by Andy Gray (no relation to the former Sky Sports pundit) in collaboration with artist Stanley Chow had a visionary idea: to give NFTs a purpose beyond simple collectability. As a product with a unique selling point, a ravenous market and virtually zero competition in the field, it was a no-brainer. It was Championship Manager but with real monetary value on players.
“When we envisaged Nifty Football our primary objective was to create something where the assets, in this case, trading cards, had value but more importantly had a reason to exist.”
-Andy Gray, Blockrocket, April 2019
The concept was genius in its simplicity, but there was one small problem; Blockrocket didn’t really know much about developing computer games. The secret to the success of Championship Manager was in its gameplay and that was no small feat, especially considering it was based on real-life players and teams. Nifty Football didn’t even have to contend with that problem — its players are entirely fictional — but replicating the subtler features that made users spend hundreds of hours playing was a whole new ball game.
“It became apparent this is a catch-22 scenario; you need help to build the gameplay but without the gameplay it was difficult to get help.”
-Andy Gray, June 2020
Nifty Football were ahead of their time. Few people had even heard of NFTs in 2019 let alone foresaw the explosion they were about to cause in the Cryptosphere. The team bus stuttered, spluttered and ground to a halt. The project paused indefinitely, with the subsequent escalation of Ethereum gas prices also making it unfeasible.
But that’s all ancient history now.
Nifty Football now has the support network it always needed after being acquired by a consortium of fans, with Andrew Ivison of the Alphabit blockchain asset fund taking the CEO role at Nifty. Ivison is also a co-founder of Launchpool, the blockchain project incubator that seeks to promote egalitarian investing by allowing individuals to get into projects at seed phase, where hitherto only major funds would have access.
“Nifty football reinvigorated my interest in Crypto.”
-Andrew Ivison, CEO
Ivison was one of those who bought Nifty players in May 2019, purchasing them during a meeting with Blockrocket, who later created the card he uses as his avatar today. From that moment he was sold on the vision.
Nifty Football is also supported by Sequence, a blockchain design agency; Silverchip developing the backend and gameplay, and Troon Technologies, who handle the blockchain development.
Last but not least, the Nifty Football community is managed by the Fixers (that’s where yours truly comes in); a community of community managers hellbent on helping nascent projects develop their communities the right way, building trust through transparency.
Stanley Chow
While a utility for the NFT cards was paramount to the team’s vision, the design phase came first and their Manchester brother Stanley Chow was the obvious choice. A veritable pioneer in the medium of digital art, the child of Hong Kong immigrants had honed his artistic talents doodling on paper bags in his parents’ fish-n-chip shop in the 80’s.
By the time of the collaboration with Nifty Football, Chow was already an established force, having designed album artwork for the White Stripes and illustrated for the New Yorker. His first NFT project, Chow’s unique and forthright style captures the contemporary imagination and sets the Nifty brand apart.
Distinct from the worlds of gaming and football, Stanley Chow’s artwork completes the triangle that makes Nifty Football unique.
Stanley is also working on an exciting new project that allows anyone to mint an NFT of themselves using a combination of his designs. Combinations are so numerous that everyone in the world could have a completely unique ‘Chowie’ if they want!
What’s more, we hope to have Stanley back on board with Nifty in the not so distant future. For what purpose? Well that’s just for us to know and you to find out…
The OG Cards and the New Nifty Football
Buyers of the 2742 original Nifty Football cards (affectionately nicknamed ‘OG’ cards) were invested in the Nifty Football dream a long time ago and one of the burning questions abound in our community is, what kind of utility will they have in the new incarnation of the game? After all, they were minted and sold as players, not just digital art.
The truth is that right now Nifty Football are figuring out how exactly to bring them into the new game in a way that justly rewards those loyal fans who have hung on to them for three years, while keeping the game fair, open and accessible for new players.
One small issue is that those OG players already have a much higher level than that with which all new players will be generated, so to introduce them too early would be a bit like playing Premier League stars in a school team. Nevertheless, in time the second generation of players will reach their potential and that’s when the OGs will be integrated.
One idea that is 90% approved is that of making the OG players exempt from ageing. Eventually, the new players will begin life at 18 and fade in quality as they reach their autumn years, while OG players will be evergreen.
Another option is that OG players earn more XP for their achievements than ordinary players, a little like the SoRare model.
I want to make this absolutely crystal clear — none of this is set in stone. Put your comments and suggestions in the appropriate channel in our Discord.
So while it isn’t clear at present exactly what role the original player cards that were minted back in 2019 will have in the game, it is definitely worth hanging on to them. As Nifty Football takes its embryonic form for the second time, the asking price for the cheapest of only 112 cards visible on OpenSea is 0.0129 ETH (≈ $40), while the most expensive is valued at a cool 5 ETH (≈ $15,500).
Those who kept the faith will be rewarded!
Join the Nifty Football Discord community and follow us on Twitter to be among the first to hear the news and of course, to play the game in Beta. We’ll be on hand to answer your questions and pass your suggestions on to the team!
Disclaimer: This article is not trading nor investment advice nor financial advice. I am not a financial advisor. The above article is for informational and educational purposes only. Please do your own research before making any financial decision especially purchasing or investing in any stock or digital asset.
