Glowforge, the Seattle-based makers of a 3D laser cutter/engraver, is teaming with popular tabletop game creator Exploding Kittens to offer limited-edition, printable NFTs.
Ten winners in a contest run by Exploding Kittens will be able to use the non-fungible tokens to print a collectible hardwood box for “Happy Salmon,” the newest card game from the company.
The contest will be run on Exploding Kittens’ Facebook and Instagram pages, and winners can choose to either keep their NFT, print the unique box using a Glowforge printer, or sell their NFT to another collector, according to a news release on Wednesday.
NFTs have exploded in popularity in recent years as works of art and other digital creations stored on a blockchain fetch huge sums of money.
Glowforge’s technology now allows limited-edition designs and artwork to be traded digitally, then printed physically. The design file is only printable by the owner of the NFT (either using their own Glowforge, or printed by Glowforge and then mailed to the owner), and after the design has been printed once, the design file disappears forever.
An 8-year-old startup co-founded by CEO Dan Shapiro, Glowforge uses lasers to cut or etch raw materials such as leather, wood, acrylic, glass, fabric or cardboard, unlike most 3D printers that make objects out of melted plastics.
“My family’s been playing Exploding Kittens games together for years,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Their games have always come in amazing boxes — one box meowed, and another had to be shaved with a razor. It was a huge challenge to come up with something even more incredible.”
A post on the Exploding Kittens Instagram feed shows a rendering of what the “Happy Salmon” box might look like.
Exploding Kittens was founded by former Xbox game designer Elan Lee and The Oatmeal founder Matthew Inman. A Kickstarter project for the game is the most-backed project in Kickstarter history and Exploding Kittens has sold more than 17 million games.
“We’ve been playing with our Glowforge. We’ve been playing with NFTs. And we’ve been playing a whole lot of ‘Happy Salmon,’” Lee said in a statement. “Putting them all together, we thought we could do something amazing, delightful, and absolutely unique in the world.”
The Exploding Kittens NFTs will be minted on the Ethereum blockchain and the display image for the NFT will be hosted on OpenSea.
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