Splinterlands, formerly known as Steem Monsters is a turn-based play-to-earn strategy digital card game where players possess customizable cards to build their own deck with unique attributes and abilities that they can use to play against other players with fast-paced matches lasting only around 2 to 3 minutes. First established in 2018 and launched in 2021, Splinterlands supports cross-platform gameplay, making it playable on both mobile and browser. Having a fairly low barrier to entry, with the game not being too demanding on hardware and only costing $10 to start earning. Making it clear why this play-to-earn game already boasts an average of 350,000 daily users as of April 2022.

Gamers in the play-to-earn scene are typically used to expecting an initial investment of hundreds if not thousands of dollars to start. With Splinterlands, it requires buying their “Spellbook” which only costs $10. After that you can start earning Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) in their game through various methods: Winning a ranked game with the rewards naturally growing the higher the rank you are, renting your deck to other players, acquiring loot chests through daily quests or seasonal rewards and entering tournaments. The latter being hosted by either Splinterland itself or various third-parties.

There are also passive ways to earn in Splinterlands. By simply owning assets such as Cards, Dark Energy Crystals, land, skins or any in-game item. With the new release of Splinterlands Shards (SPS) there have been daily airdrops calculated by how many assets a user owns. These could also be staked to help you potentially earn more rewards, sadly the airdrops are set to end in July, 2022.

 The developers have been hands-on with releasing updates to balance the power scaling of cards which in turn makes the game more exciting and competitive but I have noticed several aspects of the game that could be worked on: such as their bland animations, sound effects, and the generic look of the game. I hope that these will continue to be worked on in the future to pique the interest of new players rather than deter them away.

Personally, I think Splinterlands is heading in the right direction with its nature being more skill-based rather than "pay to earn.” There are also tons of ways to earn money in-game. If you know the value of the cards, you can even become a spot trader within the game. Despite some of the issues I’ve had with the title, I do believe that Splinterlands is a heavy contender in the play-to-earn scene and I look forward to seeing how it will shape in the future with updates.