I rarely like to call an NFT project “undervalued” because I will never pretend to be smarter than the market, so this article is not going to preach on that angle for Book Games and VeeFriends Series 2. 

However, after spending a lot of time in the VeeFriends Discord Group, I have noticed that a lot of people genuinely do not understand Book Games or VeeFriends Series 2, which may affect the value that is placed on the NFTs now and in the future. 

When I say misunderstand, a good number of people don’t know what it is or how it works. 

I’ve seen questions as basic as “What are book games?” and “Can I still buy a book to get an NFT?”  

Questions like these are great and signal to me that there’s still a whole market of people who don’t even know what certain NFT projects are even if we think they do. 

I’m going to outline my perspective of the Book Games NFT and VeeFriends Series projects based on my research and experiences watching Gary V and his team for nearly a year. 

Please note: I own 10 Book Games NFTs. I plan to burn 5 for a new character in VeeFriends Series 2 and use the other 5 either for a VeeCon ticket (if that’s enough) OR for the raffle to be on the friend's list for Series 2. If you don’t know what those things mean yet, keep reading on, but do not blindly buy Book Games or Series 2 (when it comes out) just because I like the projects and think they’re still very misunderstood. 

What are Book Games NFTs?

If you want to dive right into the collection, you can do so by viewing it on TokenTrove.com here. 

Why not OpenSea? TokenTrove runs on Immutable X which is a layer 2 solution. All you need to know about Layer 2 is that you don’t pay any gas fees when transacting book games. How awesome is that?

I broke Book Games down here in a bit of detail, but a lot more information has since come out about the project. 

Back in August, if you purchased 12 copies of Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuk (I broke down the book and why you should get it in detail here) you were promised to receive something in return likely greater in value than your purchase. 

Anyone could purchase as many copies of the book as they wanted, so long as they did it within a certain time frame (this sale / NFT exchange is now done).

A few months later, anyone who purchased 12 or more copies of the book and verified the purchases received 1 Book Games NFT per 12 copies of the physical book that were purchased. 

For example, I bought 48 books and received 4 NFTs of random attributes and rarity. 

To put this in perspective, each book cost me about $20. 12 cost me $245 (which I used credit card points for since I left my full-time job to start a business and can’t spend that much on NFTs). 

Two of the NFTs I received at random are now at a floor price of .5 ETH, totaling 1 ETH, or about $3,000. 

My entire order was about $980. 

Someone revealed that they got one of the rarest book games tokens, which sold for 63.3 ETH (about $190,000 in today’s value) after buying 12 books while living in section 8 housing. It was life-changing money for them. 

There were people who criticized the project and even poked fun at the people who ordered books, but the VeeFriends team did a phenomenal job of verifying physical purchases and executing an accurate airdrop of NFTs. 

This in of itself is an accomplishment and speaks to that team’s capabilities. We scream about how important founding teams are yet we seem to overlook intricate execution that is an honest signal of their ability and innovation in the market.  

Gary V Created a Mini-Economy with Book Games as the Currency

The general NFT sentiment is that we are in a bear market. This may or may not be true as OpenSea volumes are still very strong but that doesn’t matter much here. 

My new advice to people getting involved in NFTs is to look for projects that can bring value without being dependent on the market. 

If you own an NFT and are thinking “if only the market goes on a bull run, then this NFT will double!” you are vulnerable to what the general market does.

If you own an NFT and know how the project creators can bring value outside of the NFT market (access, education, networking, events, physical goods, etc.) you are much less vulnerable. 

When Book Games first launched, most people paid attention to the exchange. 

You could burn your tokens in exchange for physical or digital goods like NFTs or sports cards. Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, and physical art from Gary Vaynerchuk were on the exchange. 

I even wrote a whole article about how to find arbitrage opportunities on the exchange. 

This alone created a mini-economy with book games acting as the currency that could be burned (read: deleted) for other assets. 

If NFTs went to zero, Gary has a lot of flexibility to bring value by putting goods in the exchange that are independent of market behaviors. 

For example, what if 100 Book Games Tokens would allow you to shadow Gary for 1 day? That creates value even if NFTs are zero. 

I’m fascinated by this because it isn’t talked about enough. He’s building an ecosystem of value with a scope beyond just NFTs that is value-adding in a lot of different ways, but the exchange itself wasn’t even the best part. 

Book Games Are Played Forever: Access to VeeCon, New Series 2 Characters, Series 2 Friends List, and Whatever Gary V Dreams Up 

Gary V has repeatedly said that book games will be played forever, and I think that may be very misunderstood by people. I know this because I’ve watched people in his Discord literally ask “What does it mean book games are played forever?” 

There were 125,000 Book Games tokens. 

A lot of people said that’s far too much supply to hold value. 

However, burned tokens are taken out of circulation. 

Some tokens were burned in the exchange but this will accelerate with: 

(1) Burning Tokens to get Access to VeeCon and the NFT that comes along with it (there are 1,000 tickets available if the burning requirement is 5 tokens, that’s 5,000 off the top of the supply)

(2) Burning Tokens to get VeeFriends Series 2 New Characters (13 new characters, 5 of the same frame required to burn) 

If you want the simplest explanation as to how book games can be played forever: 

There are two more VeeCons. 

Two. 

People will likely learn soon that Gary commissioned a popular artist for the VeeCon ticket (not announced yet but he said in a Twitter spaces that he’s “not fucking around” with it) and that it would hold value on the secondary market even after the conference. He even mentioned that it could hold more value than a VeeFriends Series 2. 

Projects by strong creators can release other NFTs that hold value in the market. 

VeeFriends Mini Drops are currently at a 2 ETH floor. 

Bored Ape Yacht Club has Mutant Ape Yacht Club with a floor of 15.25 ETH (with 18,000 NFTs in the collection) and 253,900 ETH volume traded, Bored Ape Kennel Club with a floor price of 6.7 ETH and 65,600 ETH volume traded, and Bored Ape Chemistry Club with 18.8 ETH floor and 41,700 ETH in volume traded. 

If I’m choosing between the third release of a project with demonstrated performance in the market and a killer team versus the first release of a project with an anonymous team, I’m taking the former all day long. 

My gut says after all the excitement of Series 2, and VeeCon tickets, book games prices will drop because people will forget that there are two more VeeCon conferences and there will likely be burn events in 2023 and 2024. 

Even beyond that, Gary most likely will offer people who have a certain combination of Book Games more access to benefits. 

He hasn’t stated these things before, but I could see him doing one or all of the following: 

(1) A brunch with him 

(2) A tour of Vayner Media 

(3) Access to his keynotes 

(4) A Zoom hang-out session 

And so much more. If those don’t appeal to you, that’s okay! But he’s pretty damn good at understanding what his audience and tribe of millions of followers want (access, recognition, and advice) and he can deliver that regardless of the NFT market. 

In 2030, he could invite Book Games holders with various combinations to come to shadow him for a day. How cool would that be?

He can literally bring value any time he wants to with book games! 

That’s why Book Games becomes a currency. It’s a currency for access to new projects like Series 2, which mints in April, and Book Games holders have a set number of tokens reserved so they don’t have to experience gas wars. 

There are new characters, which act as a VeeFriends 1b that you can potentially get by having 5 of the same framed book games. 

VeeFriends Series 2 will be at a 55,555 supply, and maybe that scares some people, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the NFT space will see consolidation to the core top projects with legitimate founders. If Gary V released less than 55,555 supply I would have been mad at him. 

I’m kidding, of course, but again I ask you: would you rather have 1 of 55,555 from Gary V with his demonstrated performance, or 1 of 10,000 from somebody anonymous and unproven. 

My prediction is that more projects will try to follow suit — the community will get much bigger and if you like Gary V, it’s more chances to be part of what he’s building. This is why I’m happy the supply is much higher. 

What Sports Cards Can Teach Us About the Potential Value of Series 2, Book Games, VeeCon Tickets, Mini Drops, etc. 

Predictions are fun, but they are just that: predictions. I have no idea what the market will value. I don’t know all the behind-the-scenes of what Gary and his team have planned. 

But I do know a few things about collectibles behavior. I’ve studied and written about sports cards professionally (meaning, I get paid to do it) for 18 months. I’ve been collecting more seriously for about 3 years. Others have done this their whole lives, I respect that, but there’s one obvious lesson from sports cards: 

Rookie cards are NOT always the most valuable cards. Michael Jordan’s rookie cards sell for six-figures in high grades, but his seven-figure card sales come from non-rookies. 

I use this example a lot, and if Gary V is reading this (he sometimes does) he may be smiling knowing that I keep bringing it up. 

A 2003 LeBron James Topps Chrome PSA 10 Refractor is valued at $78,000 with 173 copies. 

A 2004 LeBron James Topps Chrome PSA 10 Refractor is valued at $4,192 with 55 copies. 

A 2004 LeBron James Topps Chrome BGS 9.5 Gold Refractor with 19 copies is valued at $30,000. 

In this case, Lebron’s second-year cards aren’t worth as much as the refractor equivalent from his rookie year. However, two of the three are worth more than the 2003 LeBron James Topps Chrome Base PSA 10, which is valued at $9,200 with 2,165 copies. 

In the past 24 hours, $25,730 was spent on 955 LeBron James cards. 

The point is that the star player will see action across multiple sets and years of that player’s cards. 

In fact, a LeBron James 2012 Prizm Gold BGS 9.5 (9 copies and first year of the popular Prizm set) is valued at $577,316. 

And James’ sports card market cap is $772.87 million. 

And that’s just for sports cards, which can’t provide access to events, physical goods, or access to new cards. 

VeeFriends has done 43,700 in total volume in ETH, which at the current price is over $113 million.

I don’t say this to pretend like there’s boogeyman demand (thinking every millionaire or billionaire will just buy your stuff without logic) but that the top creators (like Gary V) will command attention and value from their entire ecosystem. 

Series 2, Book Games, Mini Drops, VeeCon ticket art, will all have their place in this ecosystem. 

VeeFriends is now at a 16.39 ETH floor. Mini drops are at a 2 ETH floor. Book Games is hovering a .4 ETH floor. 

There are different price points, rarities, and benefits of owning each, and that will attract a larger community. There will probably be many people who played Book Games / Series 2 well and will use that to flip into VeeFriends Series 1. 

There may be people who can’t afford 16.39 ETH but could afford .4 ETH. It’s great to have varying levels of NFT access to allow you to buy into someone of the caliber of Gary V. 

And hey, if you don’t believe or see it, that’s okay, you don’t have to buy in.

How My Entire NFT Strategy Changed and How I Think the Market Will Evolve 

I’ve been a fan of Gary V for years. If you don’t like him, that’s okay. You do you. 

If you don’t like NFTs or can’t afford NFTs, don’t force yourself to do something that makes you unhappy. 

I think that the NFT market is due for a crash. There are too many projects sucking too much ETH out of the ecosystem that does not and will not deliver value to its holders. 

I won’t name projects in the spirit of cheering for them, but it’s clear that there’s a lot of money funneling out through scam projects with high-pressure sales and marketing tactics. 

To simplify my NFT strategy, I am not playing the trading game anymore. I hold Curio Cards, CryptoStrikers, Chi Modu (original collection), Book Games, and will mint a Midnite Movie Club (I love the team and value) but that’s about it. 

Everything else will be focused on Gary V and his projects. 

Why? 

It makes me unhappy to chase down dozens of projects and waste money trying to flip them, especially because I’m building a non-NFT related business. 

Gary’s demonstrated performance over decades is too much to ignore. He’s got “it”, he’s passionate and I believe in what he’s doing. I’m keeping it simple, buying what I can afford, and strategizing within his own ecosystem. 

I predict the market will also start to narrow its focus on core projects. 

In two years we will look back and think “my gosh, I can’t believe that person raised $5 million with zero experience”. 

We’ll see consolidation and I’m betting on the VeeFriends ecosystem. 

This isn’t to say that artists and creators don’t have a market. There are lots of great creators in the space but it’s too much to research and invest in them all. I’m sticking with what I know, what I’ve seen, and what I can afford.