# What is The Sandbox?

## The Sandbox Game's Evolution

#### How The Sandbox Became a Blockchain-Based Creative Platform

Pixowl launched The Sandbox Game in 2012 as a 2D pixel art game built to empower creators to share their content, which evolved over time with over 40 million downloads.\
\
By mid 2018, the Pixowl team announced its acquisition by Animoca Brands to launch a 3D version of The Sandbox, with a goal to become the new standard in world building games to empower global artists, storytellers, and game designers of all skill levels to create, publish, own, and monetise a myriad of unique content through the power of blockchain technology.

> **"You can’t have digital freedom unless you have digital property rights. The foundation of this is ownership.”**
>
> Yat Siu
>
> Co-founder, Animoca Brands

For more about our story, read:

{% embed url="<https://medium.com/sandbox-game/the-evolution-of-the-sandbox-762f0023349>" %}

## A Social Experience Platform

**A Decentralized Universe** of 166,464 virtual LANDs on the Blockchain created for and with the Community **where your NFTs come to life in unique Experiences**.&#x20;

Enjoy Play & Earn metaverse Experiences offered by our community and hundreds of famous IPs and brands, or build your own content with our free no-code tools to launch and monetize in their neighborhoods.

<div align="center"><figure><img src="https://3927767952-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F61fllYo416R30LRxku4v%2Fuploads%2F1XDkOr5nrQJ9T8sXpaUw%2FMap%20updated%20resize.webp?alt=media&#x26;token=7643ee36-f113-4484-9eb1-ddfbec02bcf5" alt=""><figcaption><p><a href="general/map">The Metaverse Map</a></p></figcaption></figure></div>

## Driven by Creators, Players, and LAND Owners

**Connected and Rewarded** through the Circular Economy and Play & Earn

Own a Parcel of the Universe through:

<table data-card-size="large" data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><a href="owners/sand">sand</a></td><td>The Sandbox's native currency and main utility and governance token</td></tr><tr><td><a href="owners/land">land</a></td><td>The Sandbox's virtual real estate</td></tr><tr><td><a href="../owners/play-and-create-tokens#avatars">#avatars</a></td><td>A 3D playable form that players can use to express their metaverse identities</td></tr><tr><td><a href="../owners/play-and-create-tokens#experiences-or-games">#experiences-or-games</a></td><td>Playable content, such as games, to share or publish</td></tr><tr><td><a href="../owners/play-and-create-tokens#assets">#assets</a></td><td>3D entities populating Experiences, passes to enter exclusive gated Experiences, and player equipment</td></tr><tr><td><a href="../owners/play-and-create-tokens#catalysts">#catalysts</a></td><td>Tokens used to increase the rarity of an asset, which increases its value and utility</td></tr></tbody></table>