One of the questions most commonly asked by new players is, “How do I value my Kitty?” While it’s impossible to set an exact price for a Kitty — they are collectibles, after all — there are things that make some Kitties more sought-after than others.

So what do experienced players look for? There are three primary things to consider in a Kitty: rarity, utility, and appearance.

(Bear in mind that you don’t have to do an exhaustive evaluation of each kitty before deciding to buy. Pick a few simple criteria to start with, and over time, you’ll figure out what works best for you.)

Rarity

Some Kitties have set limits or caps that preserve their scarcity over time. Other Kitties are rare because they’re difficult to create.

Gen 0

There will only ever be 50,000 Gen 0 kitties, and they will cease to be produced in November 2018. Other generations can be created through breeding, but Gen 0 cats can’t, which makes their scarcity secured over time.

Fancies

Each Fancy has a cap, which means only a certain number of each kind of Fancy will be produced. For example, the SantaClaws Fancy has reached its limit, so if you want that type of cat, your only option is to buy one. You can no longer breed a new SantaClaws. If more people join the game and want to start collecting fancies, the demand will grow without an increase in supply, making the value of those Fancies increase.

SantaClaws is capped at 1002 kitties.

Low IDs

Kitties are numbered according to the order in which they were born, so a low ID number indicates that a Kitty was born early in the game (there are a few rare exceptions to this when we create Exclusive cats for a specific purpose, like Celestial Cyber Dimension). As we get more and more Kitties, the Kitties with only four or five digits in their number will really start to stand out. Those early IDs can’t be recreated, and owning one of those Kitties is like owning a little piece of CryptoKitties history. Collectors love low serial numbers, and we’re already seeing those low-ID Kitties selling for significantly higher prices than comparable high-ID Kitties.

(But don’t worry, you can still get monochromatic “Vintage Kitties” anytime.)

Exclusive Cats

Exclusive Kitties are a special type of cat that can’t be created through breeding. They’re usually dropped into the game on special occasions by the developers (who have reserved 5,000 Gen 0 Kitties for purposes like this). Exclusives include Kitties like Genesis, Cathena, the three BugCats, and the eleven KnightKitties. Historically, these are some of the most valuable cats in the game.

Founder Cats (Jaguars)

There were a hundred Founder Cats that started the game. There was Kitty #1, which was Genesis, and then there were 99 jaguars (#2 — #100). These are the only Gen 0 jaguars in existence, so all jaguar cats have a direct ancestral link to these Founder Cats. As a result, there seems to be extra appeal in jaguars for most people. And the Founder Cats themselves are among the most highly-valued cats in the game.

Original artwork, “Misprint” Kitties

Every once in a while, Kitties accidentally get released with artwork mistakes. When this happens, the developers will fix the error for future Kitties but they won’t go back and change the artwork on the Kitties that were already created. You want some examples? The artwork for serpent, onyx, ganado, and pouty have all be tweaked slightly. There were two Kitties that should have turned into Negato cats but accidentally came out as normal Kitties (#537559, #537593). There were a few early Kitties (e.g. #21391, #21392) whose artwork doesn’t match their genes at all. When these mistakes happen, it can actually increase their value for collectors.

New serpent eyes and original serpent eyes.

Low generation Kitties with mutations

Of all the Cattributes that we will see in this game, about half will be released through gen 0 cats (base traits) and the rest will have to be discovered through mutations. Mutations only occur a small fraction of the time, and only when two specific traits are combined through breeding. For example, if you breed a salmon Kitty with a shawdowgrey Kitty, you have a small chance of creating a cloudwhite Kitty. (After that happens, however, the cloudwhite Kitty may pass on its cloudwhite gene in the usual way.)

Because mutations are more challenging to create than base traits, they stay rare in low generations for a much longer period of time than base traits. In particular, low generation Kitties with multiple mutations or high-tier mutations (i.e. mutations of mutations) are particularly hard to come by.

To see which Cattributes are base traits or mutations, you can visit third-party sites like KittyCalc.co/traits or kitty.fyi (check out the Trait Charts).

Utility

Some Kitties are valuable because they’re useful:

Quick cooldown speeds

The amount of time a kitty has to wait between breeds is called its “cooldown”. The slowest speed is Catatonic, and those kitties wait a week between each of their breeding sessions. Kitties with faster cooldown speeds are considered more useful because they can create offspring more quickly. The more a kitty breeds, the slower it gets at breeding, until it drops all the way to Catatonic. Once it does, it stays there.

Low generation Kitties

Low generation kitties are useful because they have offspring with quick cooldowns. This is because a Kitty’s cooldown at birth is determined by its generation. For example, a gen 2 Kitty will always be born with a Swift cooldown and a Gen 20 kitty will always be born with a Slow cooldown. To get low generation offspring, you need low generation parents. (A Kitty’s generation is one generation higher than its highest-generation parent.)

Multiple mutations

The more mutations you can pack into a Kitty, the better your odds are of passing on those mutations (and maybe creating higher tier mutations too!). This can be useful for creating rare Kitties or Fancies.

Fancy breeders

Kitties that have multiple traits required for creating a Fancy are very useful (as long as that Fancy is still in production). Even if you don’t want to go for a Fancy yourself, you can sell or sire Kitties that are useful for creating Fancies. Fancies themselves are very useful for this same reason — you can use Fancies to breed Fancies.

Did someone call for a ninja?

Appearance

Whether a Kitty is beautiful, ugly, or hilarious, a striking appearance is a great way to catch a buyer’s eye. Aesthetics are highly subjective, of course, but there are a few things to think about.

Colours

Some colours go great together, like bananacream with pastels or onyx with bright highlights. Other colours clash terribly.

Some colours have great names that inspire feelings of success, like gold. Other colours have names like babypuke.

There’s a whole rainbow of colours to choose from. Please use them responsibly (or don’t).

Jewels

“Family Jewels” are awarded to the first Kitties who introduce a new Cattribute into their family, and those jewels may be passed on to their descendents. Jewels are not only beautiful, but they link your Kitty to pioneers in CryptoKitties history.

The Eye of the Beholder

When it comes to appearance, no two people will have exactly the same taste in Kitties. But over time, we’ll see market preferences for certain traits or combinations of traits. Already, it’s pretty clear that American buyers prefer wingtips over crazy eyes. But that doesn’t mean that a crazy-eyed cat can’t defy all odds and get added value by winning a gold medal in a Kitty contest. Because he can. And has.

Derpface — Winner of the World’s Ugliest Cat Contest

The X-Factor

Beyond the factors of rarity, utility, and appearance, there’s also an “X-Factor” that can create added value to Kitties. This X-Factor may take any form, like sentimental value (your first Kitty), celebrity value (Kitty #19143, JokeCat’s offspring), or even something completely random (a Kitty’s name that makes you laugh). Whatever it is, it’s always going to be impossible to nail down an exact price for each Kitty because we each get to appreciate these Kitties in our own way. These Kitties are truly unique, and not just unique in an “ERC-721 non-fungible” kind of way. They’re unique in the many ways we can love each one.