I was never really into the school scene. When I started my high school career, some popular upperclassmen were intrigued by my style. They attempted to take me under their wings and give me the world class high school experience of some kind of John Hughes heroine. I think they just liked telling people they had a blue-haired friend. After a couple years of light and lovable hazing I found some semblance of acceptance there, but it wasn’t the academics or the parties. It was the leads.

You may already know this, but kids can seriously put candy away, and high school kids are no exception. They’re just adult-sized children. They have the metabolism of toddlers, the bodies of full-grown humans and the brains of jungle monkeys at the height of mating season. Basically, as long as I was hanging out around the high school, I had the perfect market for my candy sales.

Halloween was always cleanup time, Christmas bells sounded more like a cash register’s ker-ching ker-ching, and Valentine’s Day gave me an opportunity to play on the lust, guilt and insecurities of my peers. I loved the holidays, but they were just a little extra. Candy was a 5-days-a-week habit for most of these kids, and I was the pusher. I gave them the sweets they wanted at a reasonable price. I was the Candy Queen.

Second semester of senior year was mostly blow-off classes, just going through the motions. The Candy Queen was nearly free!

Improv, Pottery, Creative Writing… You know, things that would never make me a real living. Not like candy. Candy was my pride, my passion, and most importantly, my paycheck. I had a totally free Friday schedule for that whole semester, so I rented a local commercial kitchen over the weekends to expand my operation. The equipment was old and the building was a heap, but I got a good deal (partial gum drop trade) on the rent, so it became my first “location.” I had the production and the ingredients, but I started getting orders from all over town and I had never learned to drive.

One day in early spring, a hot rod sped into the school parking lot with rock n’ roll blaring out the open convertible top. In a fluid movement that looked completely effortless, the car spun around with a squeal and backed straight into the spot that was reserved for the vice principal. Without opening the door, the driver hopped out and removed his driving gloves.

He was a tall, cool guy with black shades and dark, moussed-up hair. Hanging casually out of his mouth was a stick that I’d recognize anywhere. It was a Weststone Excalibur — the Cadillac of lollipop sticks. I found myself wondering for a moment what delicious flavor was on the other side of that stick.

The car was incredible. My eyes took a walk over its sleek body as visions of my candy’s future filled my mind. Delivery. Delivery was the answer to my expansion issues.

I staggered toward the car as the dude approached it from the rear. Taking a firm grip with both hands on the metal wind-up handle, he gave it a few good turns. I remember the first time I heard that satisfying click sound like it was yesterday. Once he’d wound up the car, he looked straight at me and took off his shades. In a voice like hot silk, he spoke his first words to me: “Gotta be ready to run.”

His name was Pop. At first, I didn’t know who I loved more: Him or the car. It didn’t matter. They both filled my world like a blinding cloud of sugar dust. I had never met anyone else as passionate about candy as I was. We were a perfect team. I showed him the ropes of my candy-making biz and he hooked all my customers up with free deliveries all over town.

The Candy Queen had found a Candy King. Lolli & Pop’s was born.

Happy holidays, Town Stars! You’ve had a few weeks to play around with the new crafting and the new in-game Candy Shop building. Now you’re even testing your confectionary skills on our Candy Cane Meta, in which Stars are nerfed for all high-tier produced goods except Candy Canes!

We managed to get through Galaverse without leaking this one, but it required a whole team of guards to keep Todd from satisfying the community’s cries of “Wen leak?!”

Now, like a breath of fresh air, we’re thrilled to announce and launch the sale of Lolli & Pop’s Shop, the first souped-up NFT version of a Town Star production building!

Lolli is already a powerhouse of candy production on her own, especially with the reduced crafting requirements that come with the current Candy Cane Meta. Throw her new companion, Pop, and his hot wheels into the mix and the result is an unstoppable candy making force with the potential to ensure your local Town Star dentist’s business for many years to come!

Why NFT?

Everyone has access to the standard in-game Candy Shop. Simply pay the $150k of in-game money and place it in your town as long as you meet the building requirements.

The standard in-game Candy Shop has a relatively slow production time, and the main advantage you’ll get from using an NFT version is in the speed.

Production Speed

Legendary NFT — 100% boost to production speed

Wages

The greater the rarity on the Lolli & Pops NFT, the lower the wage that must be paid to the operators, Lolli and Pop. The Legendary shop is such an exquisite facility that both are willing to work there for free, simply for the experience.

Standard in-game — $150 per minute

Uncommon NFT — $100 per minute

Rare NFT — $50 per minute

Legendary NFT —No cost at all!

Unit Speed

When so many ingredients are being collected for a craft, unit speed is very important. This is when it pays to have a car. When Pop is in a good mood, he tears around town even faster, so naturally he really flies in and out of the Legendary shop!

Standard in-game — standard Lolli foot speed

Uncommon NFT — “Sunday driver” — 50% faster than Lolli foot speed

Rare NFT — “Wild and Free” — 2x Lolli foot speed

Legendary NFT — “Reckless Abandon” — 3x Lolli foot speed

Moar Benefits

In addition to all the above and the general awesomeness of seeing a sleek wind-up car cruising around your town, there are several more things to consider about actually owning your production building.

Place it for Free

This is a huge bonus (and head start in competition) when you consider that the standard in-game unit costs $150,000 to build. Being able to place it right off the bat and start making candy as soon as you can make sugar will almost always give you a big advantage in either Weekly Competition or your Daily Challenge. Plus, you can move it around and rearrange as often as you’d like.

Sell it if You Want

This is the backbone of our mission of empowerment at Gala Games, and it’s true of every NFT we sell. You actually own it, and that means that you can do what you want with it. Play with it for rewards, give it to a friend, or sell it on the secondary market! Soon, with the Town Market Board, you’ll even be able to lend it to other players for a passive share in their rewards!

Earn Daily TOWN Rewards

You’ll have to wait and see for yourself exactly what the rewards are, but like all Town Star playable NFTs, the Lolli & Pop’s Shop will be eligible for daily TOWN rewards. As long as you have some Gala Power and complete your Daily Challenge, you can collect rewards daily in Town Star Play-to-Earn!

You may have noticed that a light snow has begun to fall in your Town Star towns… Welcome to Town Star Winter!

Here you’ll find all the charm and coziness of a real winter wonderland, with none of the snow shoveling, freezing nights, power outages or in-law related nightmares. We aim to please.

Lolli and her Candy Canes

We hope you’ve all been enjoying Lolli, the newest addition to the diverse cast of Town Star characters, and her cute little Candy Shop. It’s no accident that Candy Canes are the very first craft available for that building, and you’ll probably see a Candy Cane related meta adjustment very soon, just in time for the holidays!

Here’s a tasty little teaser for you… If Lolli produces Candy Canes in her shop around Christmas, what kind of new delicious delicacies do you think she’ll craft later on through the year?

There are indeed plans for new candy crafts to hit the scene in 2022! After all, candy is all about variety. We weren’t expecting to get through the whole year with a Candy Shop that crafts only Candy Canes. What would the children think?

Community Art Project Coming Soon

Look for more details later this week on a Town Star Winter Community Art Project.

With the recent success of the creative community activities leading up to yesterday’s Mirandus VOX drop, we’ve decided to put out a community call for Town Star Winter art. This should be a fun excuse to make yourself a cup of hot cocoa and sit down with some paper and your favorite art medium (colored pencils, markers, crayons, pencil, etc.). That’s right people. Memes won’t cut it this time!

’Tis the Season

In this season of generosity and introspection, the Town Star team would like to remind you all how grateful we are for your love and support. Gala Games is gaining worldwide traction all the time and receiving greater attention every single day.

Without the unceasing devotion of our community, especially players of our flagship game, Town Star, we would not have enjoyed this level of prosperity and success. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

We hope you are feeling truly empowered by the paradigm shift we are creating together with own-your-experience and play-to-earn gaming. Our holiday wish is that your sense of childlike play has been renewed and rejuvenated, and we can hardly wait to see what wonders 2022 will bring.