ZED RUN is a blockchain-based horse racing game in which participants can own, raise, and breed horses. The makers of ZED RUN refer to their digital horses as “breathing NFTs,” with each horse having its own breed, pedigree, and other DNA attributes. However, you will need to make a small investment to get started.
What is ZED RUN?
ZED RUN is a popular blockchain horse racing game that allows participants to own, breed, and race with virtual horses. Horses are divided into four bloodlines, from the rarest — Nakamoto — to the most frequent — Buterin. The game has over one million completed races and has been well known for its play-to-earn features.
Rarity characteristics such as bloodline and breeding characteristics such as genotype determine a horse’s likelihood of winning a race. You can earn cryptocurrency by winning races or breeding and selling valuable horses.
How ZED RUN Works
Players begin the game by registering for a “stable,” or account, on the ZED RUN website and purchasing a starter racehorse from the official ZED RUN OpenSea collection or Hawku. When a player obtains their first horse and completes a few introductory races, they are ready to compete for cash prizes!
Players must pay a buy-in fee to compete in races with a prize pool. The larger the prize pool, the greater the buy-in! The first six horses to cross the finish line win a share of the prize money in the majority of these races, which feature 12 horses of a comparable class competing against each other. Of course, higher rankings entitle you to a larger share of the prize pool.
Unlike many other horse racing simulations on the market, ZED RUN bases your horse’s pace and the likelihood of winning on its unique traits.
The most essential of these qualities are lineage, breed type, and genotype. The rarer your horse is, and the fewer times it has been bred down, the faster it will be, and the better your chances of winning! This breed mechanic also allows players to earn cryptocurrency without ever competing in races by breeding and selling horses.
Prize money is available in the player’s wallet and can be withdrawn at any moment.
Gameplay
Playing ZED RUN doesn’t require much skill — it’s more strategy than anything. Races automatically play out, and your horses’ stats are what determine a race’s outcome. Breeding horses only takes a few clicks as well.
To get started, head to Zed.Run and select Sign Up. Choose to sign up for ZED RUN with a social media account — Google, Facebook, Twitter, Discord, or email — or sign in with MetaMask.
After you’ve created your wallet, link it to a digital stable on ZED RUN’s website. This digital stable also functions as a portfolio management tool, displaying your thoroughbreds’ victory percentages.
Then you must purchase at least one horse. Go to OpenSea or Hawku – these are the secondary markets that ZED RUN trusts.
To buy horses, you’ll need some ether (ETH) and a crypto wallet. Prices can range from $5 to thousands of dollars, depending on the horse’s characteristics.
Image source: OpenSea
Racing horses
The races are divided into tiers based on a horse’s “Z rating.” There are six classes on these tiers:
- Class 5 – Z-rating of 0-20
- Class 4 – Z-rating of 21-40
- Class 3 – Z-rating of 41-60
- Class 2 – Z-rating of 61-80
- Class 1 – Z-rating of above 81
- Griffin – Unraced
Class 1 contains the top horses and highest-rated classes. The goal of this tier is to keep the games fair for all players. Before they can advance, newcomers must first compete in Griffin Class races to determine their starting base rating.
Once you’ve determined your horse class, you can participate in class events.
Go to the Events page to sign up for a race. You’ll find upcoming races, as well as free races to try out. There are also tournaments with high prize pools that cost a fee.
Image source: Zed Run
Breeding horses
There are multiple types of horses that you’ll encounter in the game, such as:
- Colt — Male horse that has yet to have any offspring.
- Stallion — Male horse that has at least one offspring.
- Filly — Female horse that has yet to have any offspring.
- Mare — Female horse that has at least one offspring.
If you just possess a female horse, you must pay stud costs in order to breed. This charge is set by the owner of the male horse. The revenues are divided among the owner of the male horse, the prize pool collected, and the platform.
Monthly, a male horse can participate in the breeding of three offspring. Females, on the other hand, are only allowed to have one breeding event every month. Horses cannot compete in races when they are breeding.
Furthermore, there is a 0.075 ETH minimum basic breeding charge, which may vary based on the lineage and breed type.
Go to your Stable to breed ZED RUN horses. Locate your male horse and press the breed button in the Stable interface.
ZED Run Token
ZED RUNdoesn’t have its own, unique token yet. According to its whitepaper, there’s an upcoming in-game utility token that would be called the ZED token. It would be allocated to users that perform well in races, and It will be an ERC-20 token.
The game is built on the Ethereum blockchain, and currently uses the blockchain’s native currency ETH as its in-game currency.
How to Buy ZED RUN token
To purchase horses for ZED RUN, you need ETH. Luckily, ETH is available on nearly every major cryptocurrency exchange.
Find an exchange to buy, sell and trade ZED by comparing deposit methods, supported fiat currencies, and fees. Select Go to the site to sign up directly with the provider.
How to Earn Money On ZED RUN
There are three earning methods in Zed Run:
- Race horses. Winners of class races and tournaments earn cryptocurrency.
- Trading horses. Sell your Zed Run horses on secondary marketplaces.
- Breeding. If you have a stud, you can earn income through breeding fees, or breeding your own horses to sell on secondary marketplaces.
Like any investment, returns aren’t guaranteed.
What are ZED RUN NFTs?
The horses are the game’s NFTs, and they have multiple attributes.
Coat color is another attribute that has no influence on their performance during races, but can affect a horse’s personality.
Bloodline
The bloodline affects the performance and rarity of a digital horse. There are four bloodlines, named after cryptocurrency pioneers: Nakamoto, Szabo, Finney, and Buterin.
- Nakamotos are the rarest and purest thoroughbreds. They’re the most expensive of all bloodlines.
- Szabos are also relatively rare but are more affordable than Nakamotos.
- Finneys are common bloodlines that can be trusted to participate in races effectively.
- Buterins are the most common of all bloodlines.
Genotype
The genotype affects the purity of the horse as seen in its Z rarity. The purer the horse, the lower its Z number.
Genesis bloodlines are the purest, which have Z1 to Z10 genotypes. However, note that it doesn’t necessarily mean your horse is always better.
Breed
There are six breed types: Genesis, Legendary, Exclusive, Elite, Cross, and Pacer. Genesis horses are distributed via airdrops and are the purest of all breeds.
How to get NFTs on ZED RUN
Head to a secondary marketplace to purchase NFT horses. OpenSea and Hawku are the recommended and trusted marketplaces.
OpenSea has an official Zed Run collection. Filter horses by coat color, bloodline, breed, gender, or genotype. Once you’ve found a horse you want to buy, select Buy Now or Make an offer. You’ll need crypto and a digital wallet to buy and store your newly purchased NFT.
Image source: OpenSea
How to sell NFTs from ZED RUN
To sell your NFT horses, head to OpenSea or Hawku. You’ll need an account to list NFTs for sale, and connect your digital wallet to the platform to access your digital assets.
To sell your Zed Run NFT horse on OpenSea, follow these steps:
- Connect your wallet and sign in. You need an ETH-compatible wallet to use OpenSea, such as MetaMask or WalletConnect.
- Profile page. After you’ve connected your wallet, head to your profile where you can view your owned assets.
- Select the NFT to sell. Select the NFT horse you want to sell, then choose Sell.
- Complete the listing. Choose your desired price, sales method, and other details. Once done, hit Post Your Listing. OpenSea charges a one-time fee for first-time sellers. You can sell in an English or Dutch auction, Fixed price, or in bundles on the platform.
You can also sell NFTs on Hawku, which is an NFT marketplace that focuses on selling NFT horses.
Image source: Hawku
About the ZED RUN Developers
The creators and founders of Zed Run are Chris Laurent, Rob Salha, Geoff Wellman, and Chris Ebeling. Zed Run is based out of Australia.
Laurent and Salha are also cofounders of Virtually Human Studio, a startup dealing with gaming and mixed-reality tech. Wellman comes from a background in software and web development, and Ebeling has a background in VR and AR projects, gaming, and digital art.
ZED RUN Roadmap
Zed Run has an official product roadmap, which outlines the upcoming projects and ideas under consideration for the NFT game. A few ideas under consideration include:
- Betting on races
- Custom races
- Automated racing (racing queue)
Some updates in development include:
- Leaderboards
- Updating class system
- ZED token
Conclusion
ZED RUN is a digital horse-racing platform powered by NFT that hosts many race events every hour. ZED RUN’s horses are entirely digital. Horse owners can easily participate because each race costs between $2 and $15.
Because of NFT technology, these horses can have unique and variable bloodlines, genotypes, and breeds, which collectively determine each stud’s strengths and limitations, as well as their rarity and overall value.
You might profit from winning races as well as selling and breeding expensive horses on several NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. There are no gas fees because the game operates on the Polygon network and uses the ZED RUN Wallet.
Zed Run has definitely established itself as one of the top NFT games. However, it’s got a direct competitor: Pegaxy.
