Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game inspired by Pokémon that’s built on Ethereum.
Sky Mavis, a Vietnamese developer, launched Axie Infinity in 2018.
The game revolves around players breeding, raising, and battling cute creatures called Axies.
Players build a land-based kingdom for their Axies. If you don’t have any Axies, you can enter the game by purchasing Axies from other players on the Axie Infinity Marketplace.
Axies and virtual real estate are sold via an in-game marketplace in the form of NFTs.
The key difference between Axie Infinity and a traditional game is that players are rewarded with crypto tokens for their contributions to the ecosystem.
This new model of gaming has been dubbed “play to earn“.
As a “play to earn” game, players can sell items (including the Axies, in-game real estate, and accessories like lamps. barrels, and flowers) through the Axie Infinity Marketplace. while also collecting tokens the game generates.
Most transactions happen on a sidechain called Ronin, which Sky Mavis designed to have lower fees than the main Ethereum blockchain.
Tokens
There are two crypto tokens used in the game:
- Axie Infinity Shards (AXS)
- Small Love Potion (SLP)
The main token, Axie Infinity Shards (AXS), is an ERC-20 utility token, and is needed to play the game. Its supply is capped at 270,000,000 AXS.
Players can earn AXS when they play various games within the Axie Infinity Universe and rank high on leadership boards.
AXS also serves as a governance token, which allows holders to have a say in the future changes to the game.
You can also trade AXS like bitcoin, ether, Cardano or any other crypto.
The second token, called Small Love Potion (SLP), is awarded to players for spending time in the game.
You can earn SLP by defeating an opponent’s Axie or for completing in-game quests. The more you play, the more SLP you can earn.