I've been exploring play2earn games as part of my low cost crypto accumulation strategy.  The game I'm enjoying the most at the moment is Rising Star.  Its a music/band based card game - where you collect cards (band members, instruments, etc) and do missions (gigs, music lessons, festivals, etc).  The game is built on the Hive blockchain.  You can start playing without any investment, and start earning straight away.

I started playing it in early November and basically got hooked.  Never mind the fact that I'm keen to earn crypto from it - I just like playing the game !  Also - Rising Star does not need constant attention which is a bonus in my book.  You can set of an hour long mission, let it do its thing and check back in on it an hour later.

Earnings progress:

The table above shows my Rising Star earnings progress over the last two months.  November was slow while I was building up Starbits (the in game currency that is earned from doing gig missions, etc).  However, once I was able to buy some cards with the starbits I earned, you can see that it made quite a big difference to my Starbits earnings in Dec - grew by just over 4 times.  It is worth noting that about 10,000 of the Starbits came from giveaways on Hive Blog.

However, when comparing to the USD earnings, the exchange rate to USD for Starbits (as per Hive Engine) dropped by half, so my USD earnings only doubled over December. 

At this point in time, my aim is to keep investing the Starbits I earn into new cards that will help me earn more.  At the same time I can continue to monitor the exchange rate to USD and pick a time that suits to cash any out if I want. 

Card (NFT) Progress:

The table above shows my Rising Star progress in gaining cards.  It is worth noting that I gained 2 of these via giveaways on the Hive Blog.  The cards really do make a big difference, and the 2 boosters I bought are pizza slices which allow you to recharge all of your energy - and can be used once every 24hours - they have really made a big difference.

The cards can be sold within the game marketplace and seem to have a stable value, although I've not tried selling any to date, so dont know how long they would take to shift.

In Summary:

 - Rising Star is a great game, is free to play and has real earning potential - and is fun !

 - Gaining cards is quite key to earning, and I'll continue to focus on that over the next few months,

 - If looking to cash out at some point, it is important to monitor the exchange value of Starbits and time it appropriately, 

 - The giveaways on Hive Blog are really worth doing, especially if you are new to the game - they can really help to get you going,

 - When you first start out - it is much better to buy individual cards in the market place than it is to buy card packs from the game (10,000 starbits for 3 random cards) - I learned this the hard way.  When you first start, it is best to target the cards you need and buy them, rather than hoping to get the cards you need from the random 3 card pack.  Obvious with hindsight really !

Credits: All pics used are from screen prints from within the game

Links:

Rising Star - free play2earn crypto game - music and band based card game on the Hive Blockchain - its fun !

Other

Rollercoin - earn free crypto playing games with this fun mining simulator game

Coinbase https://www.coinbase.com/join/JBVEN3 free crypto from their learn and earn function

KuCoin Online crypto trading - with lots of trading functionality, offers and trading bots

etoro https://etoro.tw/3cnyeJs online crypto and stock trading

Nexo https://nexo.io/ref/d23jpvszkx?src=web-link earn great interest rates on the crypto you hodl with Nexo

CAKE DEFI https://app.cakedefi.com/ Referral code 877089 - Free $5 crypto and ~35% APY staking