My Two Favorite Play to Earn Games of 2022

Rising Star

Start as a lowly busker and work your way up to a global mega star! Earn STARBITS by completing missions and trade or use them to purchase cards to progress. Build a band, listen to music, and great funny sound effects. It is a fun grind, and the journey is quite humorous. This game runs on the HIVE engine, so you will need an account there. 

Sign up using my referral and I will send you a card to help get started: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=williamhessian

Splinterlands 

Collectible Card Game on BlockChain Technology

If you love physical collectible card games like Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh, Pokemon or online games like Hearthstone, Urban Rivals, and AFK Arena: (I have played a lot of them) I think you should try Splinterlands. I even invented and pubished my own card game in 2015 called PBL Robots. Splinterlands is extremely collectible, fun to play, and thanks to the blockchain the assets truly feel fluid across different internet market places. I purchased cards on the atomic market place before ever joining the game just because they were inexpensive and interesting and those purchases eventually led me to buy the spellbook (costs $10) and try the game. Almost 8 months later, I enjoy the game today more than ever and so many more game modes are on their way this year. I currently make between $2-5/day based on my staked assets and collection power (with a few hundred dollars investment) and my collection is currently valued at 3k usd. 

If you use my referral code to join I will send you a free NFT to help your bronze grind and I will invite you to my Guild, which gives you a community and extra perks and bonuses. https://splinterlands.com?ref=williamhessian

Crypto Kitties and the Fate of the World as we know it

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just adopted my first CryptoKitties with Etherium, at www.cryptokitties.co    Check out my cute little kitten friends above!

The last four weeks has been a cannonball into the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. I invested only as an excuse to learn what it was all about and found myself passionately believing in blockchain technology and the problems it could hypothetically solve. And a few weeks later I have found myself making transactions to buy digital beanie babies online.....What the heck happened?

I do not plan to go into the politics or beliefs of cryptocurrencies, because I have not fleshed out my understanding to a point where I feel comfortable blogging about it and because some of what I feel is speculative. Needless to say I suggest everyone go learn about it and see if it something that appeals to you as well. I love the idea of monetary systems backed by the people and not the untrustworthy banks, and I also love the idea of protecting data, anonymity, and freedom online. 

As far as kitties go, in a way, Cryptokitties is a cute little test to see if this new technology works, and how exactly it will hash out. I had to get in and try it out. In some ways right now it feels a little like Pokemon GO to me, as people are getting into to something new and clambering for details on how it is all going to work. I suspect a big boom, which is already happening, and then a cool down which will breed new and amazing things to come down the road. Essentially I stumbled through buying currencies and figuring out metamask and coinbase and binance (heads up: referral link!) all finally culminating in a few kitties and watching my other investments fluctuate like wild bull in candy store (.....ugh I dont know what that even means except volatile).

Anyways, it has been fun to ride this wave of new technology, ideas and ideologies rolling out.  Go check out my kitties and give them some hearts if you have time! 

PBL ROBOTS card and dice game has just published the full gallery for all of the cards in the base set (the game will is released Summer 2015). You can find a gallery of Crew Members, Action cards, Armor Upgrades, Expert Pilots and Hangars. Some of the popular cards will be getting bios where you can learn about the characters and the back story. You can order PBL ROBOTS on the website.

Another excellent feature on the website is the extensive Frequently Asked Questions section which covers the questions that many first time players have when playing the game, and other interesting interactions that certain cards have with each other. If you enjoy card drafting games, PBL ROBOTS is perfect for you and the game comes with everything you need for 2-3 players to play over and over.  The website is completely prepared to assist new players getting into the game, and will be adding new questions weekly as players submit them. 

PBL ROBOTS card and dice game is a head to head, card and dice drafting game where you blow up robots! You control a 100 foot robot, you select a pilot, slide him/her into your robot and build up your robot's armor by stacking cards on top of it. As the game progresses your robot either gets bigger and stronger, or gets blow up limb by limb. Check out: www.robotcardgame.com 

To start the game each player takes turn drafting piles of cards to build their deck. Each player gets to craft their strategy and tries to assemble combos and a well rounded deck. 

The game play itself is a mixture of Magic the Gathering and Risk, as you play resources down onto the field (crew, armor, pilots, hangars) and you roll dice for the combat. Each card in your hand can be discarded to buy extra dice during combat. At the end of the game, each starter pilot goes into critical mode and you get a special boost or power up. 

If you enjoy table top games, and you enjoy complex competitive head to head battling games, this is a great one to pick up. In addition, if you enjoy games like Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh, Pokemon the trading card game, Netrunner, Mucnhkin, Risk, Hearthstone, or deck building games like Star Realms or Dominion you should give PBL ROBOTS a try! 

Learn more: www.robotcardgame.com 

One day left to back PBL ROBOTS card and dice game

PBL ROBOTS the card and dice game is down to its last 24 hours on Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robotcardgame/pbl-robots-dice-and-card-game

William Hessian and John "Sighless" Supinski have spent the last two months playing demo nights in every game store in greater Portland area, calling game stores across the country, e-mailing friends and family and posting everything on social media. Their goal was to raise $22,000 to print their brand new card and dice game PBL ROBOTS! This last week they had to turn up the volume on their effort and make a trip with 3 friends to New York City on a mission to play PBL ROBOTS with as many people as possible, in as many places as possible. The mission was a success as the trip generated over 6 thousand dollars in new donations on Kickstarter.

William and John started Hidden Ladder Games in Portland, Maine a year ago after deciding to develop the game and turn it into a real thing. William and John both belong to the Hidden Ladder Collective, a group of artists and musicians in Portland. This artist collective helped develop the game from the ground up, inventing characters, play testing and editing. Other local companies like Walker Film Productions helped create the game play video for the company. R Choice 2 Gaming in Portland, and Weekend Anime in Westbrook has hosted weekly demo events during the last two months and have been extremely supportive.

"The card game itself is a blend of Magic the Gathering, Risk and Settlers of Catan: only with giant Robots!" says William when explaining PBL ROBOTS. Each player own a giant robot and builds cards on top of the robot to upgrade armor and increase the power. Other cards like crew members, hangars and action cards help develop a strategy. The game typically begins with a draft, where each player selects which card will be in their deck and not long after battles begin and the dice start rolling. Blow off all 4 limbs of the opponent robot and you win the game. The game itself is traditionally a 2 player head to head game, but has over 12 different variations, some for younger players and faster games and others for multi-player, tournament modes and puzzle modes. "The game can be played so many diverse ways that it appeals to wide range of people and a wide range of play styles."

Each game has 113 cards and comes with a variety of dice, a rule book and two control panel cheat sheet are also in the game box. This gives you everything you need to learn and play the game. With only 48 Hours left on the Kickstarter the pair of game developers are gearing up to place a giant order of 5 thousand games and will start to ship and sell them as soon as they arrive! You can find their Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robotcardgame/pbl-robots-dice-and-card-game

ROBOT CARD GAME

PBL ROBOTS is the ROBOT CARD GAME you need to try. Pilots climb into your robot and your upgrade your armor to build a giant powerful robot and start blasting your opponent. The goal is to blow off all of your opponents limbs and get a termination. You can have hangars, crew members, action cards and expert pilots to gain the advantage! Search for neat combos and find new ways to win!

Pro Bionics League ROBOTS: the best robot card/dice game

The robot card game that lets you build the ultimate robot and destroy your opponent. Pro Bionics League Robots is the culmination of all competition. In the future technology has surpassed athletics and sports are a test of the mind. This dice/card game forces starts you and your opponent(s) with a base robot that you upgrade with new armor during the battle, you hire crew, build hangers, you contact new pilots and play action cards and then make attacks to blow off limbs of the challenging robots. 

http://www.pblrobots.com

https://twitter.com/pbl_robots

https://www.facebook.com/pages/PBL-Robots/1424908744390609

 The beginning of the game involves a simple draft circuit where you begin to pool your resources and then begin to make moves and actions to put yourself in the best position to make attacks and defenses by rolling dice. Above you can see a buff hanger which gives your robot an attack boost during the game and allows two crew members to enter the game. 

Action cards have various instant effects that can change the outcome of the game. The art seen above is for the card, "COMMABACK" which allows you to draw three cards after one of your Robot's limb is blown off. 

 Maxine Trinidad, Trace Law, Shero, and Pelpe Derdae make up some of the games most popular characters. In the background you can see one version of a robot you can build during a typical game of PBL ROBOTS.

 Each body part has upgrades of different levels and powers. The AracnaClaws are a level 3 head armor designed by crew member Tormax, fusing spider DNA with robot parts. His designs are a controversial addition to the league, but such popular and powerful designs have slowly made acceptance into the league over the years. Tormax may be one of the most bizarre characters on the PBL ROBOTS roster, but it is no doubt his ideas may be the future of the sport.

 Artwork of a PBL ROBOT in the middle of the game with many level one and level two upgrades making an attack. The Yahtzee Bazooka is the current shoulder weapon, which provides an additional attack after each combat. You can also see the pilot pit in the center of the robot. The real question is, what will this attack be? What did they roll?

The game itself was invented by William Hessian in 2001 and spent 10 years being developed and play-tested until William play-tested the game in 2013 with another Hidden Ladder Collective artist John Supinski. Directly after the game John made a comical bet that he gain control of the game with a role of a 7. A seven was rolled. The fate of die roll was meant to be, and William Hessian began a partnership with John Supinski in a deal that resurrected PBL ROBOTS into full gear. The die roll was like an epico beam that has blasted the game towards completion. William and John have also played each other 100 times and keep a running tally of their current score against each other.

The final artwork for this introduction to PBL ROBOTS: the ultimate robot card game is crew member Soda Fats! He gives you a larger card size and the ability to boost your attack and he constantly yells, "HOT DOGS FOR LIFE!"

Follow PBL ROBOTS as we work towards a North America release and kickstarter campaign:

http://www.pblrobots.com

https://twitter.com/pbl_robots

https://www.facebook.com/pages/PBL-Robots/1424908744390609

The State of the Blog

In six years the blog, Zombie Robot Frosting, has gone from being a catch all for all my interests, and birthed 4 other blogs including a bearded bunny art blog, a blog about inventing games, and a blog about blogs. There was a time I was writing on average 3 blogs per day for this site. I wrote blogs about immortality, essays about science, updates on technology I enjoyed, reviews about health and wellness, and the list goes on. In the last year, I have only written twice on this blog.

I understand that this blog was a catalyst for so many of my projects, including my daily web comic project, my art tour across and country and my eventually land square in the middle of the Occupy movement. My blog helped me become an activist, it helped me continue learning long after school, and it helped me organize my budding art career. Zombie Robot Frosting is now neglected like stale cake in the fridge; unable to be discarded because of what it meant in the past.

My life has taken all sorts of turns, including break ups, moving all across the country and getting involved with new and bizarre projects. I will always have this blog as my sounding board for venting about everything under the sun, especially if I have no other vehicles to carry it. It will still be a place I sent people who want to know more about why I am anti-cell phone (although I do own one now), or why I hate GMOs and Chem Trails. My essay on what Occupy meant to me helped shape this attitude of Sheep No More:

It led to a series of drawings that were important for me as an artist. I feel empowered to speak my mind, because I spent the time analyzing my thoughts and researching my fears. I still want to live forever, although I do not think it is very probable (I will hold on hope - you can't take the sky from me). I still pay attention to technology news and pay very close attention to my health, but now I prefer to do it with the company of my community rather than my computer. It is just too easy to write, and too easy to change, and then too easy to regret what was written. Or simply find yourself stuck writing blogs and never living life. But, I know there is a balance for everyone, I just found myself crossing my own lines and sacrificing far too much.

At one point I thought I could make money blogging, maybe even make a lot of money blogging. But I was sniffing the cheap manufactured perfume of the lies of the internet. Blogging became a painful process much of the time and again, this was my own undoing. I think blogging was the backwards gateway to my community, and everything I really wanted in life. I still love writing, and I am still pretty terrible at it. I could benefit from writing 3 blogs a day for eternity and still have endless things to learn about communication, structure and engaging the reader. I never got good at it, but I did learn a lot and did find many other benefits from the practice. Introspection. A new found love of research.

In the end, here I am writing my now clockwork one blog every 6 months. Trying to be positive about a practice I let slip into from my attention. Something that needed to slip away from my priorities, but something that is greatly missed. Like reigns waiting to be picked up, and that is where I leave this entry.

Zombie Robot Frosting is the docking station for my future thoughts, currently lying cold and dormant. Packed high with boxed up old memories, articles, posts, links, rants, reviews, still accessible if you dig, but ultimately outdated; old news. I plan to return now and again to put a few more things on the pile, but I know all to well that the next few years will be the age of my utter declutter declaration. The blog posts that never make it online are the purged posts being set free into my moonlit sky. A new day of different adventures.

And if you want to find these adventures, you are always welcome:
http://www.williamhessian.com