So you want to learn more about Chicken Derby? Well, this is a good place to start. But it is going to be just that, a start.

Off the very top Chicken Derby is a game build around NFT Chickens. An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a unique item that is stored on the blockchain. If you are not familiar with NFTs in general it is probably wise to pause here and spend some time learning about the basics before deciding to jump in to Chicken Derby.

To play Chicken Derby you are going to need some Etherium (or ETH) and you will need it located on the Polygon network which will involve bridging your ETH from the Etherium network to Polygon. This comes with a fee called gas but the good news is that once you are on the Polygon network you are able to enjoy all the elements of Chicken Derby without those annoying gas fees. Check out our guide on how to bridge your ETH to polygon.

Right now, the only way to add a chicken to your coop is to buy them on Open Sea as all of the drops for the 33,333 spicy chickens have been completed. Buying and selling chickens on Open Sea also uses ETH on the Polygon network but you may need a tiny bit of MATIC in your wallet to get going. You can visit a faucet (matic.supply) to get enough of it for free to cover the fees so no need to stress about spending more money on gas.

Now that the technical stuff is out of the way. How about the fun parts?

The reality is that for a silly looking game Chicken Derby is going to be very complex and there is a lot to learn if you want to get the most out of your birds both on the race track and in the breeding barn.

With heritages, talents, perfections, and dozens of different cosmetics there are nearly endless combinations of different birds that you could own. It is worth spending time reading over every detail of the Chicken Derby tutorial available on the developers website. We still do not know what will make a chicken good or bad so reading the guide and determining what your own priorities will be is important before jumping in to the market for the first time.

Each bird will have its own unique combination of elements that you can see as well as some unseen factors that will only be discovered through racing. You may know the perfection and talent of a bird when you buy it but what you won’t know is their consistency, distance preference, or terrain preference. That information will only come from racing your chicken and tracking the data.

Success in Chicken Derby is liking going to come down to constantly learning and adapting your strategies to the newest information so you can stay one step ahead of your competitors.

So how do you make money in Chicken Derby?

Well, at the time of writing the only way to make money is buying and selling birds on the secondary market. Finding birds listed at undervalued prices takes time and effort but it can certainly done. Its also possible that prices will rise across the board as we get closer to the date of the game going live.

Once the game is live the first phase will be to introduce racing. That will add a second way to make money. By entering races and finishing in the top 3 you will earn ETH prizes. Start management of your birds and you could have a positive ROI (return on investment) from racing. There will be both paid and free races with a range of entry fees available to hopefully suit all kinds of budgets. Being smart on the racetrack and ensuring you know what birds to run in what kind of races will be vital to financial success. Birds will have terrain and distance preferences that you will have to figure out.

The third way to make money in Chicken Derby is through breeding and selling offspring. Breeding will be one of the final elements of the game to go live so it may take some time still before this is a viable source of profits. But by owning a spicy chicken you should be well positioned to breed profitable offspring when that time comes.

Deciding the best way for you to enjoy this game, and ideally make some money while doing it, is going to be important. It may look like a silly game based around animated chickens but the game engine running behind it is going to be very sophisticated. Take the time to read the games guide, watch for future articles here, join the discord, ask questions, and keep track of your own data.