Splinterlands is a collectible card game that is built on top of the Hive (HIVE) blockchain. Players are given access to collectible items that are non-fungible in nature, much like the popular Ethereum based collectible card game CryptoKitties. The game is available on desktop, Android and iOS.

The Splinterlands’ team’s mission is to make playing and winning as accessible as possible to as many players as possible, emphasizing that anyone can win in Splinterlands, not just expert players. Users only need a HIVE wallet, which is automatically generated upon registering.

Using the Delegated Proof-of-Stake algorithm, the Splinterlands team claims that its network and consensus algorithm are more efficient, and that unlike CryptoKitties, it can process significantly more transactions at no cost whatsoever. All actions executed in the Splinterlands ecosystem are conducted on the blockchain. 

The game has achieved a noticeable level of popularity, with over 70,000 matches a day, making it one of the most popular blockchain games globally. The vast majority of users are from the United States and China. The total estimated value of in-game assets is over $5.4 million, as of March 2020.

Like many collectible games, the non-fungible tokens representing the assets have real monetary value. Users can buy, sell and trade their cards in a marketplace, where it is priced in USD. These cards can also be sold on third party marketplaces like Open Sea, PeakMonsters and Monster Market. Users can also receive awards from completing in-game challenges, competing in tournaments and forming winning streaks, among other ways.