Introduction 

Last August, Gary Vaynerchuk gave his audience a hint: buy 12 copies of his newest book Twelve and a Half, and you will get a gift sometime later in the year. There were no limits to the gifts — you could buy as many books as you could afford or wanted to. 

For example, one fan bought 25,000 books for $350,000 and the 2,100 Book Games NFT tokens he received in return are now valued at over $4 million. 

In total, ~125,000 sets of 12 books were purchased and for each set, buyers received 1 NFT, dubbed “Book Games”. 

The immediate floor price of the tokens at the time was 0.15 ETH — 0.2 ETH, mostly because people didn’t know what the games would be about. 

At launch, there was an exchange, where holders could burn tokens in exchange for other NFTs, physical goods, and grand prizes like Gary V's original hand-drawn art that was PSA authenticated. 

In the following months, it became more clear what the book games are about: they act as a currency in the VeeFriends ecosystem. 

A lot more has come out about the currency aspect of the tokens and despite the project having 125,000 tokens (that’s a large supply in NFT land), Gary has created just as much demand. 

For example, Book Games holders could burn 5 Book Games Tokens with Wood Frames in exchange for a GOO (Gary Originally Owned) Veecon ticket (burn value was ~2 ETH, but the ticket value has been around 3–4 ETH and the art hasn't been revealed yet). 

It was also announced that owning a book games token gives its holder a 28% chance at getting on a friends list for the VeeFriends Series 2 mint (characters are randomly minted). 

On top of that, certain requirements (like holding 5 of the same frame) allow people to enter a raffle for a chance to burn those tokens in exchange for a new character, or a spectacular parallel of those new characters. 

Check out the requirements here: 

Source: VeeFriends Blog

Now that the floor price has hit 0.5 ETH (12 books were $240, 1 token now sells for about $1,500) lots of people are asking what they can do and what strategies they should take because there are a lot of decisions to be made. 

Shout out to Book Games Calculator for putting together the amount of ETH required to burn for new characters and specs of those characters: 

Source: Book Games Calculator

Note: when book games first launched, lots of people poked fun at the ones (like me) buying multiple copies of the book and many were frustrated that they had to do “work” to understand the value. That seems to have changed.  

So many people have been asking what to do now that the value is more understood, so I’m going to break down some strategies and approaches, kicking off with some for those who don’t yet have a book game token. 

This is not financial advice. You and you alone are responsible for any decisions you make. I never ever encourage anyone to spend money they can’t afford to lose on NFTs. I get asked all the time about specifics of a trade or a buy — I can only provide frameworks in which you can operate and make your own decisions. 

Before we dive in, make sure to check out the Book Games Manager Tool, which shows you the floor price of your Book Games tokens, the average recent sales, the number of tokens, probability of getting on the Friends List. Christian Bates-White built the tool and is an exemplary member of the VeeFriends community!

Also - if you need help buying an NFT using TokenTrove and ImmutableX, we put a step-by-step guide together for you here.

What to Do About Book Games if You Don’t Have Any of the NFTs

If you don’t have any book games NFTs but are now very interested given the benefits, you have a few questions to ask yourself: 

(1) Do you want to get 1 token and chance it on a friends list spot? 

(2) Do you wait to buy VeeFriends Series 2 on secondary? 

(3) Do you try for the public mint? 

Note: this assumes that $1,500 — $3,000 does not put you in an uncomfortable financial position. If this is the case, please be patient. Gary has repeatedly said that FOMO is fake, move on, book games are played forever and he will continuously create opportunities for those who “miss it” this time around. 

Option 1 — you want a token but need to get some money to do so. 

This is advice straight from Gary in his AMA: if you don’t have the $1,500 to buy book games token, but want to get one, stop reading this right now and go look around your apartment, home, and car for things to sell on Facebook marketplace. 

I’ve sold hundreds of items on eBay, Mercari, and the Facebook marketplace. The biggest misconception amongst my peers was that they assumed people wouldn’t want to buy what I listed. 

They were wrong. 

I sold old iPods, clothes, Nerf Toys, Action Figures, sneakers, etc. 

Go to eBay, search for items you have, navigate to sold listings, and list them for less than they last sold to try and make some quick sales. 

You’d be surprised how much stuff you have that would get you close to the value of 1 Book Game token, which would get you a 28% chance to mint a VeeFriends Series 2 for $995. 

The best part? 

If you are awarded the spot, you will have 12.5 days to mint a VeeFriends Series 2 (for $995). If you don’t get awarded a friends list slot, you can still sell the token and make a play on secondary. 

You can read about the snapshot and details of the friend's list on the VeeFriends blog here. 

If you plan to do this, you will need to convert your US dollars (or other currency into ETH). I have been using Coinbase since the start of my NFT journey and highly recommend it for beginners. I've trusted it with a large number of transactions and you will want to sign-up ASAP as it can take a few days for the transfer. You can do that here. The previous links are affiliate links and I may receive a small commission at no cost to you if you sign up.

Option 2 — another approach you could take (especially since the snapshot is only 2 days away) is to sell things (or NFTs) and make a play at secondary. 

The behavior of minting in NFTs has been pretty consistent: people like to make quick flips to reduce risk and make a profit. 

It’s likely that upon reveal you could have a chance to strike early and for a good price. The lesson is not to assume what the secondary market will do. 

I’ve made that mistake many times — I assume, don’t check and kick myself when my assumption was wrong. 

There will be 55,000 tokens in this project, and there will be doubters who want to flip quickly because of the larger-than-average supply. 

You never know, there may be people who list their characters for less than 1 ETH just to take profits and move on. 

It may be riskier because no one can predict secondary behavior, but it’s an option. 

Option 3 — you could try to mint a VeeFriends Series 2 during public mint. 

The price is $995, but you may have to pay more in gas (say $500) to get your transaction processed before the supply runs out. 

I personally don’t have much experience with gas wars. There’s some technical know-how with MetaMask to raise the amount you’re willing to pay for gas so that your transaction gets processed first. 

If you aren’t skilled at this, you may want to seek option 1 or 2. 

But if you learn it up, you might be able to set a budget and mint for less than what it would cost at secondary. 

Given that book games are about $1,500, and Series 2 mints for $995, if you could purchase at the mint for less than $2,495, you’ll get it cheaper than the book games route (although you won’t be left with a book games token for future exchanges, opportunities, or to sell it). 

Should you try and get 5 of the same frame? 

This is just my opinion, but 100% yes you should try to get 5 of the same frame as they give you a chance to mint one of three new VeeFriends Series 2 characters. 2.5 ETH is the minimum floor on those right now, and it’s still just a raffle spot, so again, please be mindful of what you can or can’t afford. 

Pro Tip: The raffles for the new characters will occur after the Friendslist snapshot and take place over a 15-day period. You have more time to acquire these frames to be eligible for the raffle. If you are panicking now, know that you have some time. 

I always call back to my sports card days when evaluating a second-year project. There will be tokens in this set that sell for more than the floor price of a Series 1 (at least that’s my belief). I predicted this with book games, and it happened on day 1. 

I’d rather have a new character, a spectacular of that new character, or hope to get lucky minting a Series 2 Very, Very, Very, Very Lucky Black Cat, Empathy Elephant, or Patient Panda. 

The market is hot right now, so you run the risk of waiting for your tokens to sell and hoping the price doesn’t increase on the frames you need. 

Gary said decisions would be made. There are no right answers. 

It helps if you are liquid and have ETH to make up the difference if the tokens increase in price, but it’s a strategy worth exploring. I can’t predict the floor price of the new characters, but my bet is that it will be higher than the average Series 2 NFT. 

You can also look at data from other second-release projects. Bored Ape Yacht Club has a 105 ETH floor (10,000 NFTs), and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (~18,000 NFTs) has a 23.7 ETH floor. 

There’s no formula to predict any floor prices, but Series 2 will have 5x the supply of series one, and my guess is the floor price will settle around 2 - 2.5 ETH for cores, and 5–6 ETH for new characters (cores, not taking account background rarity or specs).

I actually predict VeeFriends Series 1 Cores will be underpriced relative to what the market does for Series 2 (given the hype and the attention), but time will tell. 

Should you try and acquire the frames needed for a Spectacular or Red Devil potential raffle spot? 

Source: Book Games Calculator

Gary answered this in his AMA with a pretty clear “Yes”. 

Let’s break down an example: 

2 Champagne Frames are about 6 ETH. 3 are ~10 ETH. 

You aren’t guaranteed to win a raffle spot, and you’ll have fewer chances at a Series 2 friends list if you sold all your tokens to go all in. 

If you got a spec of a new character or Red Devil, that would be pretty special. 

The floor of VeeFriends is 14.45 ETH, but the rarest NFTs from top characters have sold for 100 ETH, 105 ETH, 120 ETH, and 130 ETH. 

That’s about 8x of the floor price. 

This is very rough math, and we don't know how the market will behave but let’s dive in: 

If Book Games are 0.5 ETH floor, you could buy 12 of them instead of buying 2 Champagne frames. 

Maybe all 12 get friends list spots and you get a few good characters. That might total out to more ETH than 1 Red Devil. 

I think in this case, using rough math, you’d need about 8 Series 2 “core” tokens to make up for the 1 very rare token. If the floor price is 2.5 ETH for cores and you got 8, that’s 20 ETH. 

It wouldn’t shock me to see a 30 ETH sale for the Red Devil, or close to 20 ETH for specs of the new characters. This is speculation, but that seems to be the highest upside play. 

I don’t think you can go wrong with either approach. On the one hand, 12 tokens could get you as many as 12 friends list spots (or none, or a few) and you could mint a Very Very Very Very Lucky Black Cat, Empathy Elephant or another top character. 

On the other hand, you could get win the raffle for a Red Devil or spec, which would have a big payout. 

You could miss both of these and still have book games tokens to play with in the future, as Gary has repeatedly said there will be opportunities over the next 40 years. 

Conclusion 

There are no right strategies here. 

If you have some Book Games, I think you are in a good spot. If you don't, focus on the future.

So many of us were focused on other projects or getting a VF1 (which Gary continually says is the holy grail) that it blinds us from other opportunities or plays.

Take a step back and figure out where you are - your career, age, savings, and what's feasible for you.

I love Gary and his projects, but I also quit my job to join a business I started full-time. That will always come first.

The lesson here is to think outside of the box in a way that makes sense for you. Don't think in black or white - "I can't afford a book games to I'll shut my laptop and forget about NFTs."

Don't do that if you're curious. Learn about NFTs. Read more posts from this blog, join the Discord, and get active. Sell things around your home. Split a Book Games token with a friend.

Don't have tunnel vision and miss future opportunity.

That said, if you want to make moves, you will need to convert your US dollars (or other currency into ETH). I have been using Coinbase since the start of my NFT journey and highly recommend it for beginners. I've trusted it with a large number of transactions and you will want to sign-up ASAP as it can take a few days for the transfer. You can do that here. The previous links are affiliate links and I may receive a small commission at no cost to you if you sign up.