The blockchain ecosystem is rife with discussion and debate about scalability, hard forks, network upgrades, and enterprise adoption. Quietly in the midst of all the international discussion, online gaming has emerged as one of the earliest and most robust proofs that blockchain and Ethereum have the ability to revolutionize an existing industry.

Core to the revolution of online gaming are non-fungible tokens, also known as ERC-721 tokens. Quick explanation: So far in the Ethereum ecosystem, the main playershave been ERC-20 tokens, which are fungible tokens. A “fungible” asset is anything that has equal value to its counterpart. The regular US dollar is a good example. I don’t really care if I trade a dollar bill with another person — they are worth the same in value. A “non-fungible” asset, however, does not have equal value to its counterpart. I am not going to trade my holographic Charizard Pokémon card for your Magikarp Pokémon card — they are worth entirely different values.

In the physical world, collectibles such as baseball cards are the most common type of non-fungible asset. The issue with trying to transfer that to the digital realm is that collectibles could simply be copied and sent to someone else, diminishing their rarity and value. By representing collectibles as tokens on the Ethereum blockchain, you eliminate the ability to double-spend and ensure security, ownership, and visibility into what collectibles you own. The token protocol that allows for the creation of non-fungible tokens on Ethereum is known as ERC-721.

ERC721 Tokens: All are Ethereum-based tokens, but they’re not equal to one another.

Online, blockchain-based games have embraced the ERC-721 token and launched a host of games with active users and transactions. As all these tokens are built off the same standard, we are seeing the emergence of liquid markets across the digital gaming ecosystem with people able to trade assets between games. And the best part? There’s even some $$$ in it for you if you commit the time.

Don’t believe us? One of us at ConsenSys took a stab at it and made over $600 in three hours with NFTs on Ethereum.

So now onto the list. Here are sixteen, blockchain-based, live games you can make money with while playing. Really, all the ones below could be categorized as ‘Collectible Games’, but we’ve added some more nuance to the list.

Collectible & Trading Games

The most ‘basic’ kind of NFT-based game. Buy, sell, and trade unique tokens on Ethereum.

Etheremon — Strike out and capture, train, sell, and trade unique digital creatures known as “Mons.” Cryptokitties — Yes, yes yes. The ‘original’ NFT blockchain game. But it belongs on this list! Buy, breed, and trade digital cats. PlasmaBears — Build, sell, and trade digital bears. Send them on adventures to discover valuable, wearable (and tradeable) assets. 0x Universe — Build a spaceship and explore the galaxy. Colonize planets and sell resources to continue your cosmic mission.

Battling Games

These games are underpinned by the basic tenets of collecting and trading like the games above. However, they have the additional element of being able to battle other players in the game.

Chibi Fighters — Collect, trade, and battle digital warriors on the battlefield. Collect weapons and assets to trade as well. Hyperdragons — Collect, breed, train, trade, and battle unique digital dragons on the blockchain. MyCryptoHeroes — Collect, train and battle historical figures…all without worrying about gas fees. Axie Infinity — Collect, raise, and battle unique digital fantasy creatures. Gods Unchained — A ‘head honcho’ in the NFT gaming space. A card trading game with tournaments and rewards. Blockchain Cuties — Breed, raise, battle, and outfit your creatures. Not so cute when you get them in the ring. World of Ether — Discover, breed, and pitch digital creates against one another on the blockchain. Keep searching for a legendary monster.

Strategy Games

These games are still mostly collecting and trading games, but have included a little extra something pushing them past the realm and complexity of many others in the field.

Decentraland — Claim your NFT-based plot of land in this VR world and prepare to build and trade assets. CryptoAssault — Command armies in a 3D world. Capture territory, mine resources, and battle opponents. CryptoBaseball — Collect tokens that represent real baseball players and build your team to best reflect real-world performance.

Artwork Trading

Ok ok ok — no, these are not technically games. But we couldn’t leave them off the list. Buy, sell, and trade verifiably-unique digital art.

SuperRare — Buy, sell, and trade verifiably-unique digital art. CryptoSketches — Create, buy, and sell vector images.

So there you have it! At the end of the day, these games don’t exist purely for players to make money. They are designed to be fun, engaging, and addictive. So download MetaMask, try your hand in a few of the games above, and just imagine where we’ll go from here.