Ready to up your poker game? Sweep It Poker, Gala Games’ free-to-play casual poker game, is here to help you hone your skills while giving you a chance to win $GALA in our weekly Sweepstakes!
In this series of blog articles, we’ll dive into the basics of poker to get you playing like a pro in no time. In this series, we’ll stick to the games currently included with Sweep It Poker, Texas Hold’em and Omaha Hold’em.
Let’s start with the fundamentals
Understanding the Basics: Poker Hand Rankings
Mastering poker begins with knowing the hand rankings. Here’s a quick rundown from the highest to lowest:
Royal Flush: A, K, Q, J, 10, all of the same suit.
Straight Flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit.
Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank.
Full House: Three cards of one rank and two cards of another.
Flush: Any five cards of the same suit, not in sequence.
Straight: Five consecutive cards of different suits.
Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank.
Two Pair: Two different pairs.
One Pair: Two cards of the same rank.
High Card: When no other hand applies, the highest card wins.
Betting is a crucial aspect of poker that can make or break your game. Here’s a breakdown of common betting actions:
Check: If no one has bet, you can choose to check, passing the action to the next player. This action is signified by the player saying “check” or knocking on the table felt.
Bet: Wager chips into the pot. Once a bet is made, players must call, raise, or fold. Betting can be verbally announced or visually as the player slides or tosses chips into the pot area.
Call: Match the current bet by announcing “call” and contributing chips to the pot.
Raise: Increase the current bet by announcing a raise or adding at least 2X the chips that have already been bet. If you don’t have twice as many chips in your stack, you must raise all in or fold.
Fold: Discard your hand and forfeit the current round, indicated by tossing cards face down onto the table.
Your position at the poker table affects your strategy. Position in this case refers to your location on the table relative to the “Dealer” button, which moves clockwise around the table hand by hand.
Early Position: The first few seats to act. Play conservatively here because you have less information about other players’ hands. If you’re first to act in a new round of betting with several players, you’ll probably want to let another player open the betting for that round.
Middle Position: The seats in the middle of the table. You can start to play a bit more aggressively in the middle position, but you should still be cautious. A raise here could risk a reraise from a late-position player with awesome cards.
Late Position: The last few seats to act, including the dealer. You have more information on how opponents are playing, allowing you to be more aggressive. The player with the Dealer button has the last choice, allowing them to “position bet” if every other player has checked in that round.
Play Tight-Aggressive: Focus on playing strong hands aggressively. This makes you less predictable and maximizes your winning potential. Play into your patience and fight the urge to play every hand no matter your cards.
Bluff Wisely: Bluffing can be powerful but should be used sparingly. Always consider your position and your opponents’ tendencies. More chips are won by betting appropriately on mathematically winning hands than bluffing with rags (bad cards).
Observe Opponents: Pay attention to how your opponents play. Look for patterns and tendencies that you can exploit. This doesn’t necessarily mean only physical and vocal mannerisms– More often, it’s patterns in their betting and raising habits. Any time the cards are shown at the end of a hand, there is a lot to learn from your opponents.
Bankroll Management: Set a budget for your poker play and stick to it. Whether you’re playing in a real money game or a casual free game like Sweep It Poker, never chase losses.
Sweep It Poker offers a fantastic platform to practice these basics without the risk of losing real money. The more you play, the more entries you can stack for the weekly Sweepstakes, enhancing your skills in a fun and engaging environment surrounded by members of the Gala community.
Stay tuned for our next blog post where we’ll dive deeper into advanced strategies and tips to help you dominate the poker table. Thanks for being a part of our vibrant community and may your hands always be winning!
Greetings, Common Grounders! This week, we are excited to introduce a new delicious twist to your town in Common Ground World. Starting tomorrow, you can sell tangy, mouthwatering Kimchi crafted from fresh Lettuce and a Shrimp-based Fish Sauce at the new Korean Restaurant. Spice up your town and ferment your way to the top with this new exciting addition!
As always, landing on the leaderboard in the Kimchi Craze will get you standard $GALA rewards at the end of the competition, depending on your final rank.
As you collect more Stars for producing and selling goods, you’ll rise on the leaderboard.
The higher you finish on the leaderboard, the greater your $GALA rewards!
New Crafts
Kimchi
Cash: $22,460
Stars: 518 (increased to 50K for this week’s event!)
To ensure you get the best results from playing Common Ground World, here are some crucial reminders:
When using offline mode, make sure to log back in before the event ends to trigger fast forward.
Regularly check in if you use Fast Forward to keep your town up to date.
Ensure the game runs as the only tab in your browser for optimal performance.
Relaunch the game if another window covers the browser fully while playing.
Join a Guild
Guilds are live, and a great chance to enhance the Common Ground World experience with cooperative strategy while unlocking new levels of competition!
Every Common Ground World Node represents a Guild, as described in this blog. If you don’t own a Common Ground World Node, ask an operator friend to invite you to their Guild. You’re likely to find Guild leaders recruiting in the Common Ground World Guilds Discord channel. Go make some friends!
Community Feedback
We are actively seeking feedback on the lite paper released a few weeks ago. Your insights are invaluable to us. Please share your thoughts using the links below:
Don’t forget to catch up on the latest updates and discussions from our recent biweekly Town Hall. Watch the YouTube replay to stay informed about all the exciting developments in the Gala ecosystem.
Imagine an unchangeable digital ledger that records transactions across numerous computers in a way that guarantees the security and transparency of the data. This is the fundamental idea behind blockchain technology.
A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed ledger that records transactions in a way that is secure, transparent and immutable.
The Gala ecosystem has its own blockchain, built first for gaming but prepared to power projects from numerous industries beyond entertainment. It’s called GalaChain.
How Does Blockchain Work?
To understand the meaning of blockchain, let’s break down its key components and processes:
Blocks
A block is a collection of data or transactions. Each block contains a list of transactions, a timestamp and a unique identifier called a hash. The hash is like a digital fingerprint that uniquely identifies the block and its contents. No hash is identical to any other.
Chain
Blocks are linked together in a linear sequence, forming a chain, hence the name “blockchain.” Each block contains the hash of the previous block, creating a secure and chronological order of transactions. This linkage ensures the integrity and immutability of the blockchain.
Decentralization
Instead of a single central authority, a blockchain is maintained by a network of nodes (computers). Each node has a copy of the entire blockchain and participates in validating and recording transactions. This decentralized nature eliminates the need for intermediaries and increases security.
For example, the GalaChain ecosystem is largely powered by a decentralized network of Founder’s Nodes, operating through software on the home computers of community members. This is vastly different from a single warehouse that hosts all the data on centralized servers.
Consensus Mechanisms
To ensure all nodes agree on the state of the blockchain, consensus mechanisms are used. Common mechanisms include Proof of Work (PoW), where nodes solve complex mathematical puzzles to validate transactions, and Proof of Stake (PoS), where nodes are chosen to validate transactions based on the amount of cryptocurrency they hold and are willing to “stake” as collateral. We’ll dig deeper into these concepts in a future blog.
Cryptography
Blockchain uses cryptographic techniques to secure transactions and control the creation of new units. Public and private keys are used to sign transactions, ensuring that only the owner of the cryptocurrency can transfer it. The cryptography involved in public and private keys cannot be broken by any current computing methods, making it a secure and reliable way to store and transact data.
Why is Blockchain Important?
Blockchain technology offers several unique advantages, coming together to make it the cornerstone of the web3 revolution:
Security
Blockchain’s decentralized and cryptographic nature makes it highly secure. Once data is recorded in a block, it is nearly impossible to alter without changing all subsequent blocks, which requires consensus from the network.
Transparency
All transactions recorded on a blockchain are transparent and can be viewed by anyone. This transparency builds trust among participants and ensures accountability.
Immutability
A transaction cannot be altered or deleted once it has been added to a blockchain. This immutability ensures the integrity of the data and prevents fraud.
Decentralization
Blockchain operates without a central authority, reducing the risk of central points of failure and increasing the system’s resilience.
Efficiency
Blockchain can streamline numerous processes by eliminating the need for intermediaries, reducing transaction times and lowering costs.
Real-World Applications of Blockchain
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies like $GALA (commonly referred to as “altcoins”) rely on blockchain tech to enable secure and decentralized transactions. Cryptocurrencies use blockchain to record all transactions to transparency and prevent double-spending.
Supply Chain Management
Blockchain can enhance supply chain transparency by providing an immutable record of the journey of goods from origin to destination. This helps in verifying the authenticity of products and reducing fraud.
Healthcare
In healthcare, blockchain can securely store and share patient records, ensuring data privacy and improving interoperability between different healthcare providers.
Governance and Voting
Blockchain-based voting systems can enhance the security and transparency of elections. By providing a tamper-proof record of votes, blockchain can help prevent electoral fraud and increase voter confidence, no matter the context.
Gaming and Entertainment
Ecosystems like Gala use blockchain to manage digital assets and transactions. $GALA, the native token of the GalaChain ecosystem, facilitates secure and transparent in-game transactions and rewards.
To learn more about the GalaChain ecosystem and the $GALA token, read the Ecosystem Blueprint.
The Future of Blockchain
As blockchain technology continues to evolve, its potential applications are vast and transformative. Here are a few trends to watch:
Interoperability
Future blockchains will focus on interoperability, allowing different blockchains to communicate and share data seamlessly. This will enhance the overall functionality and adoption of blockchain technology.
While nearly every blockchain innovator sees interoperability as a key piece of the mass adoption puzzle, very few have made meaningful progress toward that goal and many blockchains exist “in their own world” with stringent onboarding requirements. This is why GalaChain was built to seamlessly bridge assets to and from the massively popular Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Scalability
Improving the scalability of blockchain networks is a key focus. Solutions like sharding and layer-2 protocols aim to increase transaction speeds and reduce costs, making blockchain more practical for large-scale applications.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
DeFi platforms are creating a parallel financial system that operates on blockchain, offering services like lending, borrowing, and trading without traditional intermediaries. This could democratize access to financial services globally, but it presents a unique set of challenges in terms of regulation.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
NFTs are unique digital assets stored on the blockchain. They are revolutionizing the way we think about ownership and value in the digital world, impacting industries such as art, music, and gaming. These digital assets are one of the easiest applications of blockchain to understand. Imagine a unique digital collectible with a built-in certificate of authenticity. That’s an NFT
Regulatory Developments
As blockchain technology gains mainstream adoption, governments and regulatory bodies are working to create frameworks that balance innovation with security and compliance.
Blockchain is Here to Stay
Blockchain technology is a revolutionary innovation that underpins the Web3 movement. By providing a secure, transparent, and decentralized way to record and verify transactions, blockchain is transforming industries and paving the way for a more open and inclusive digital future. As the technology matures, its applications will continue to expand, driving innovation and creating new opportunities.
Stay tuned for more blogs in our explainer series, where we’ll dive deeper into the fascinating world of Web3 and its key concepts!
Attention, Common Ground World players! We have an exciting new challenge lined up for you. While our Town Halls have switched to a bi-weekly schedule, we’ll still provide updates and answer your questions during the off weeks.
The next Common Ground World Town Hall is this Friday, June 21st. Get your questions in here!
🏆 Competition Details
Start: June 18, 2024, 8:00 AM PT End: June 21, 2024, 8:00 AM PT
This week’s challenge: Craft and sell Marine Ravioli filled with Salmon, Shrimp, and Eel. It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase your culinary skills and outshine the competition!
Event: Ravioli Rumble Objective: Sell Marine Ravioli Trade Time: 20s & 1 Gasoline Biome: Plains N Edges: Plains N, Ocean E, Plains S, and Plains W
Rewards
Earn standard $GALA rewards and a special Blueprint: Hasty Italian Restaurant.
New Craft Alert! Marine Ravioli is a new recipe introduced this week.
Crafting Recipe:
3 Flour
2 Butter
2 Eel
1 Salmon
3 Shrimp
Crafting Time: 60s Crafted in: Italian Restaurant Stored in: Storehouse
Standard Values:
Cash: $85,690 (meta value this week: $14,280)
Stars: 1,837 (meta value this week: 50k)
Boosts
Cash Boosts
Worms: $1,000 ➡️ $3,000
Butter: $20,000 ➡️ $50,000
Risotto: $44,000 ➡️ $100,000
Star Boosts
Marine Ravioli: ➡️ 50k
Upcoming Event Schedule
Note: All events are subject to change.
June
Free Storage NFT: Cheese Storage
June 11-14: Four-Cheese Pizza
June 18-21: Marine Ravioli (Blueprint Reward Week: Hasty Italian Restaurant)
June 25-28: Kimchi
July
Free Storage NFT: Coffee Bean Storage
July 2-5: Starlight Market Box (new craft ingredients)
July 9-12: A mystery Ice Cream flavor
July 16-19: A tasty new Cake
Important Reminders
Offline Mode: Log back in before the event ends to ensure fast forward happens.
Fast Forward: Check in often; prolonged offline periods slow down updates.
Browser Tips: Keep the game as the only tab in the browser and avoid covering it with other windows.
Lite Paper Feedback: We are still taking feedback on our lite paper. Check it out here and provide your feedback here.
Explore the massive selection of NFTs in the Common Ground World store to enhance the gameplay experience and supercharge your build. We have something for every type of strategy!
This distinguished Italian Restaurant features an expert pizzaiolo Chef, which besides being significantly faster, needs less Cheese to produce his magnificent creations, while inspiring all Italian Restaurants in your Town for increased Crafting Speed, including itself! (un-stackable). You can place this on a Dirt Road instead of a Paved Road.
See You at the Town Hall!
Don’t miss our live Town Hall on YouTube this Friday at 8 AM PT. It’s a great opportunity to stay updated and ask questions.
Guild Competitions
If you haven’t joined a guild yet, now is the perfect time! Participate in guild competitions for a chance at greater rewards.
Get ready, chefs! Let’s make waves in the kitchen and see who can rise to the top in this week’s challenge. Happy cooking!
In Gala’s earliest days, the only game on the platform was Town Star. As the ecosystem steadily grew, many other games entered the ranks, forming a vibrant and thriving platform for empowering games of all genres and interests. Town Star is now called Common Ground World, and to this day it stands apart as the root of the Gala gaming experience. Having come a LONG way since those early days. Common Ground World still holds a central role within the GalaChain ecosystem.
The transformative rebranding of Town Star into Common Ground World in partnership with Common Ground, the award-winning documentary from director Josh Tickell, introduces several new dynamics and features to the game, including both off-chain and on-chain assets. These new assets come along with fresh and fun ways to obtain and use them through competition and collaboration.
This paper represents an introductory list of all our exciting changes, the new mechanics to be implemented and their impact on your gaming experience. This paper includes tokenomics, a roadmap and features we will introduce in the near future.
All details shared in this document are inherently fluid as is customary with live service games; we always try to take our community’s feedback into consideration in the decision making process.
Recently Released New Content
Since Town Star became Common Ground World, we have seen players engage with exciting new features such as the first time user experience with Professor Chicken, Common Ground mode where you can build your own town and discover the wonders of regenerative agriculture, and Fast Forward and offline play, offering you new options to grow your towns. There have also been numerous quality of life improvements to the game along the way. As always, the Common Ground World team looks forward to making your gaming experience better everyday.
Roadmap
Guilds
Recently, Common Ground World Node operators received their Common Ground World Node Workload NFTs, first-of-their-kind fully transferable tokens that represent ownership of a Common Ground World Node. Common Ground World Node NFT owners will have the ability to create their own Guilds, inviting other players to join and participate in team-based competitions in order to obtain valuable Guild Resources!
Guilds can be improved to allow more member slots and more Vault space to store earned Guild Resources. These upgrades can take place by merging Common Ground World Node NFTs together through a crypto-crafting experience, combining these nodes with upgrade materials and DIRT/$SOIL!
In the continuous effort to evolve the gaming experience within Common Ground World, Gala is set to introduce two groundbreaking features: Bots and Library slots, further enhancing Guild dynamics. These additions promise to elevate the level of strategy and cooperation required, as they allow members to leverage their NFTs for collective benefits. Bots, such as the FarmBot (designed to speed up farming processes) or the TradeBot (aimed at boosting trading efficiency) can be assigned to specific Bot slots within a Guild. This strategic placement of Bots enables Guild members to optimize their in-game operations, fostering a more collaborative and efficient gaming experience.
Similarly, Library slots introduce a novel mechanism in which Guild Leaders can set their own NFTs, allowing Guild members to check them out and use them in their own towns, thus broadening the scope of strategic gameplay. Through this system, Guild members can share the benefits of specific NFTs, ensuring that every member gains from collective achievements and contributions. As Guilds evolve and improve, they will have the opportunity to acquire additional Bots and Library slots, further enhancing their capabilities and strategic advantages. This progression system not only incentivizes Guild development and cooperation but also deepens the game’s strategic elements, making the community and teamwork even more integral to success in Common Ground World.
Bots
In the early days of Town Star, the concept of Bots served a variety of future purposes within the world of the game. In the near future, these promises will finally be fulfilled to Common Ground World players. These Bots fall within two categories:
Major Bots: These Bots will have significant Guild-wide utility if equipped to a Common Ground World Node.
FarmBot: Speeds up farming processes across the whole Guild.
TradeBot: Boosts trading efficiency across the whole Guild.
BoomBot: Allows for the removal of a single obstacle by each Guild member daily.
Minor Bots: These Bots are deployed on the game board and serve their specific roles.
Cranebot: Transports resources
SaltyBot: Transports salt
Elfbot: Transports sugar
Bots are all created via crypto-crafting. On Ethereum, this is an incredibly expensive process from a gas burning perspective. This is why in the near future, all Bot parts in inventory will receive a 1/1 drop of the same parts on GalaChain, making the crypto-crafting process much more efficient and finally enabling people to build their Bots.
Note: Because the new parts will be dropped on GalaChain, your Bot parts MUST be in a GalaChain linked wallet in order to be indexed to receive the GalaChain Bots parts.
Upgradeable NFTs
Spend DIRT (off-chain game currency) or $SOIL, and a combination of three different types of upgrade materials of different rarities to improve the abilities and effects of this new category of NFTs through all 20 levels!
Here is the list of upgrade materials you will be able to obtain:
Red Common Material
Red Uncommon Material
Red Rare Material
Red Epic Material
Red Legendary Material
Blue Common Material
Blue Uncommon Material
Blue Rare Material
Blue Epic Material
Blue Legendary Material
Green Common Material
Green Uncommon Material
Green Rare Material
Green Epic Material
Green Legendary Material
Scheme showing relative cost of upgrading Upgradeable NFTs through each level.Compost Factory, a type of upgradeable NFT.
Daily Challenge
Obtain DIRT every day by collecting Town Points with your Earning NFTs*! Fulfill the daily requirement using your eligible Earning NFTs*, claim your Town Points when the challenge is complete, and receive your daily allocation of DIRT based on your performance!
*Earning NFTs include all NFTs with the capability to participate in earnings activities.
Consumable Boosts
These off-chain items can be obtained through competitions, Guild events and on the Gala Store by spending DIRT or $SOIL! They can be spent (burned) to provide time-limited boosts to one of your towns.
Common Ground Academy
This upgradeable NFT can be placed in-game to temporarily provide one or more chosen buffs to one of your towns in Common Ground, Casual or Competitive mode to maximize your strategy!
Common Ground Academy NFT image.
Schedule
We aim to deliver quarterly new features and mechanics into the game, including quality of life improvements.
Looking back at Q4 of 2023:
Common Ground mode: This brand new game mode features a persistent unique wageless town that players can customize however they want. (Delivered)
First time user experience: New users can learn the basics of the game by studying with Professor Chicken. (Delivered)
Q2 2024: Guild system & Daily Challenges
Q3 2024: Upgradeable NFTs & Common Ground Academy
Q4 2024 and 2025: Consumable Boosts, Referral Program, Town Visits, additional Guilds features including Library and Bot slots, and more!
Tokenomics
The premier fungible token to be obtained and used in Common Ground World will be $GALA, which can be obtained through PVP Competitions. $GALA can be used to obtain NFTs with special abilities in the Gala store, which can then be used inside all modes of Common Ground World. $GALA obtained in this way comes from Gala’s portion of the daily distribution.
A new off-chain in-game currency named DIRT will be introduced into the game as well.
Scheme showing Tokenomics flow.
Obtaining DIRT
Players will obtain DIRT by either operating their Common Ground World Nodes as exchange for their contribution, by collecting Town Points everyday using Earning NFTs in the Daily Challenge, or by participating in social competitions that reward this currency.
Daily Challenge
By the end of every day, a pool of DIRT will be distributed among every player that completed that day’s challenge. The amount received by each player will depend on the amount of Town Points the player contributed to the total pool of points of the day.
For example, let’s suppose only two players completed a day’s challenge. Player A contributed 800 Town points and Player B contributed only 200 Points. Player A, contributing 80% of that day’s Town Points pool will receive 80% of the DIRT pool and Player B with 20% of that day’s Town Points will receive the remaining 20% of the daily DIRT pool.
Guild & Regular Competition Rewards
Some competitions, whether they are solo or Guild-based, will grant DIRT as reward, depending on your position in the leaderboard.
Social Activities
Visiting other users’ Towns or engaging in community activities will also reward you DIRT!
Spending DIRT
DIRT will be extremely helpful to accelerate and customize your gaming experience. Users will be able to spend it on things like the following:
Improving their Common Ground World Node NFTs for Guilds
Leveling up all varieties of upgradeable NFTs
Exchanging DIRT for Consumable Boosts
Exchanging DIRT for quick in-game Cash(soft currency used to buy in-game items)
Purchasing Upgrade Materials or Crafts in the in-game store
Much more to come
Turning DIRT into $SOIL
All the DIRT collected will eventually be able to be turned into on-chain $SOIL, which will feature all the same capabilities as DIRT.
Conclusion
The team would like to deeply thank the incredible Common Ground World community for their outstanding support, whether you joined during the earliest days of Town Star or if you are recently starting this adventure. Your enthusiasm, feedback and passion pushes us to provide the best game everyday; we invite you to keep discussing, sharing your perspective and always challenging us to make the best possible gaming experience. We make Common Ground World together!
Common Ground World aims to transcend entertainment into global sustainability, promoting values and principles of environmental impact while providing a fun experience for players.
Our goal is to put power in the hands of our community to let them decide the future of the game through new content and features based on a collective mission: Organizing through Guilds, improving NFTs and enhancing the node ecosystem, among others.
Welcome to a new era of conscious gaming; welcome to Common Ground World.
The purchase or sale of any digital asset involves risk. The information in this Litepaper is provided for informational purposes only, and we urge you to read this material carefully and ask us any follow-up questions that you may have before joining the Gala Games platform. You should also consult with your legal, accounting, or tax advisors regarding any applicable laws, rules or regulations that might govern your purchase of the digital assets discussed in this Litepaper or your participation in the Gala Games platform, and regarding the tax or other financial implications of any purchase or sale. By your purchase or sale of any digital assets or tokens offered by Gala Games, you agree to assume the risks of such participation, and Gala Games disclaims any liability thereof.
THIS DOCUMENT IS PROPRIETARY TO GALA GAMES BOTH FOR PURPOSES OF COPYRIGHT AND AS RESTRICTED BUSINESS CONTENT AND IS INTENDED FOR PLAYERS USE ONLY. NO PART OF THESE MATERIALS MAY BE REPRODUCED OR DISTRIBUTED TO ANY THIRD PARTY EXCEPT WITH WRITTEN PERMISSION.
