Over the years, the crypto space has evolved into an ecosystem with new and exciting use cases, one of which is gaming. The gaming sector, worth billions of dollars, offers players a platform to immerse themselves in thrilling and fun experiences while reaping tangible rewards. Although the gaming market continues to grow, some projects, including The Sandbox, have stood out.
What is the Sandbox Blockchain Game?
The Sandbox is a virtual metaverse where users can build and monetize their gaming experiences. The game is built on the Ethereum blockchain, and players can create, own, buy, and sell several digital assets in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
After creating these digital assets in The Sandbox, players can upload them to the ecosystem’s marketplace and integrate them into numerous games. The Sandbox is powered by its native cryptocurrency, SAND, an ERC-20 token that facilitates transfers, governance, and staking.
This blockchain game aims to create a decentralized virtual world where players control the content and the in-game economy. Hence, the project has three major products that enhance user experience: Game Maker, Marketplace, and Voxel Editor (VoxEdit), which allows users to create and animate 3D objects like people, animals, foliage, and tools.
How to Play Sandbox Game
The Sandbox ecosystem offers unique experiences at both single and multiplayer levels. With so many things to do on the platform, there are different ways to access playable content. In fact, each game offers a unique experience with its set of gameplay mechanics.
However, The Sandbox offers general experiences that entail logging into the Creator Portal to create games, exploring the Game Maker Gallery to find games to share and play, and visiting the marketplace to buy or sell digital assets.
The cost of playing a game depends on the designer’s choice. Many games are free-to-play (F2P), while others require a small fee or owning NFTs from a specific collection to access experiences and some features.
Players may earn SAND and NFTs through play-to-earn (P2E) games. They can use SAND to buy assets and avatars to support creators, enhance gameplay, and access gated experiences.
Step-by-Step Guide to Play Sandbox Game
To gain access to the experiences mentioned earlier, players need to follow these steps:
- Go to The Sandbox website and create an account. Players can also connect a crypto wallet. These wallets do not need to have any tokens, but they must be safe enough to receive any cryptocurrencies earned while playing games.
- If a player chooses to create an account instead of connecting their crypto wallet, they must provide an email address and choose a nickname.
- After creating the account, The Sandbox will prompt the player to create a customized avatar with many choices of body parts and outfit ideas.
- With the avatar, a player can navigate The Sandbox world, which is structured according to a map. There are plots of digital land and numerous games created by other players in the metaverse.
- A player can now choose which game or experience to immerse themselves in, whether acquiring land to build their projects or buying assets to play other games.
Sandbox Cryptocurrency Use Cases
SAND is the utility token of The Sandbox. While the token was initially created on the Ethereum network, it is currently supported on Polygon. The Sandbox deployed on Polygon in 2022 and launched a marketplace on the network last year. The Sandbox Bridge allows players to move their SAND between the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. SAND has a maximum supply of 3 billion, with 2.43 billion tokens already in circulation.
SAND Use Cases
- Medium of Exchange: Players need SAND to buy everything in The Sandbox, ranging from equipment to NFTs, land, and even customized avatar characters. While they can earn SAND through gameplay, players also spend the token to upload assets to the ecosystem’s marketplace.
- Staking: Players in The Sandbox can also stake their SAND to earn passive rewards. These rewards encompass other Sandbox tokens like GEMs and CATALYSTs, which are geared towards enhancing the creation of assets.
- Governance: SAND powers the governance of The Sandbox ecosystem. Users holding the token can participate in governance decisions, vote, or delegate their voting rights to other players.
Notably, there is another token called LAND. A LAND is a digital piece of real estate in The Sandbox, and it is needed to build anything within the game. Players populate their LAND with games and assets. Multiple LANDs can form an ESTATE. LANDs have a finite supply of 166,464.
Other Crypto Games Like Blockchain
Besides The Sandbox, other blockchain-based games have gained traction since their inception. It is worth mentioning that The Sandbox has been making mobile games since 2011. However, the company pivoted toward blockchain experiences in 2018 and had its major break during the NFT boom in 2021.
The Sandbox was not the only blockchain game to boom alongside NFTs in 2021; others like Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and Gods Unchained also experienced massive growth.
- Decentraland: This online gaming and virtual reality platform was launched in 2017 but opened publicly in February 2020. In 2017, the ecosystem’s developers sold land parcels for $20 each, but by the NFT boom in 2021, pieces of real estate were worth between $6,000 and $100,000. Decentraland is based on Ethereum and powered by the native token MANA, allowing players to create unique experiences and trade assets and avatars.
- Axie Infinity: This project also took the blockchain gaming sector by storm. Built on the Ronin network, the game is powered by the AXS token, with holders participating in governance, staking, and in-game activities. Axie Infinity allows players to battle, collect, and build a digital kingdom for their pets.
- Gods Unchained: This is one of the longest-running P2E trading card games on the blockchain. The Australian gaming studio Immutable launched it in 2018 on the Ethereum network. The game offers fast-paced gameplay and strategic deck building and is powered by the cryptocurrency GODS, which fosters governance, rewards, and staking activities.
Where to Buy The Sandbox Crypto
Over a dozen centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges allow the buying and selling of SAND on their platforms. Centralized exchanges that offer SAND include:
- Binance
- Upbit
- Huobi
- KuCoin
- Gemini
- Crypto.com
- MEXC
- Bithumb
- Coincheck
- BitMart
- Bybit
The Sandbox users can also purchase SAND on decentralized exchanges such as:
- Uniswap
- Poloniex
These trading platforms support many trading pairs that enable traders to buy SAND conveniently. Most exchanges offer trading pairs that link SAND to stablecoins, such as SAND/USDT, SAND/USDC, and SAND/FDUSD, or pairs linking to cryptocurrencies, like SAND/BTC and SAND/ETH.
How to Buy SAND on Crypto Exchanges
Since it is difficult to find a direct fiat pair for SAND on crypto exchanges, the best way of purchasing the digital asset would be:
- Open an account on your preferred crypto exchange. An already existing account would do just fine.
- Fund your account with Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USD), First Digital USD (FDUSD), bitcoin (BTC), or ether (ETH), depending on the trading pair available on your chosen exchange.
- Search for SAND on the crypto exchange’s Explore page, click buy, and input the number/USD equivalent of tokens you want to purchase.
- When you are done, you can find the tokens in the exchange’s “Assets” or “Portfolio” section.
- Some crypto exchanges like MoonPay and CEX.IO allow users to buy SAND using credit or debit cards. You can choose to explore such options.
Is the Sandbox Crypto a Good Investment?
It is difficult to tell if SAND is a good investment because the price trajectory of assets in the crypto space is uncertain. However, investing in SAND could be profitable in the long term, as the blockchain gaming sector could witness a boom in the coming years.
With projects like The Sandbox remaining leaders in the gaming space, they are better positioned to attract more capital from investors. Regardless, this is not investment advice; investors should research before putting their money in any token.
Sandbox Crypto Price Prediction 2025-2027
While the future of SAND remains to be seen, analysts have released predictions for the asset’s price.
Data at the time of writing showed SAND trading at $0.542, down significantly from its all-time high of $8.44 during the bull run in November 2021. Although the cryptocurrency has performed poorly this year compared to other digital assets, analysts see the token rallying above $2 in 2025, $4 in 2026, and $11 in 2030.
According to PricePrediction, SAND could be worth an average of $1.42 in 2025 and $2.05 in 2026, while the token could rally over 400% and hit a maximum price of $3.43 in 2027. However, from a longer-term perspective, SAND could be worth at least $748 in 2050. While these predictions are not highly bullish over the next two years, they signal that SAND could experience notable growth in the coming months.
Conclusion
The Sandbox is a growing ecosystem attracting users over time. The project could record even more growth as the blockchain gaming sector expands. Users seeking immersive online experiences and digital ownership of assets can explore this project as it offers a platform that blends virtual real estate and user-generated content. While the growth trajectory of SAND remains to be seen, The Sandbox is well-positioned to take advantage of the increasing demand for fun experiences like the metaverse.