For non-web 3 natives, this section will familiarize you with using some of the most crucial components of the Solana ecosystem.
What is Solana?
Solana is a layer 1 protocol, providing the most fundamental infrastructure to everything built on top of it. It is the base layer of the Solana blockchain. Solana uses the Rust programming language, implementing trustless smart contracts to perform various blockchain transactions across the network. Solana is currently the fastest and cheapest blockchain seeing wide network use, making it a fantastic fit for blockchain gaming due to it’s cost and latency. Since the blockchain is an open ledger of all transactions that take place on the network, you can (and should) familiarize yourself with navigating it. Here is a link to a commonly used Solana blockchain explorer – Solscan. You can learn more about Solana here.
What is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible token. Non-fungible means unique, and a token is a digital item unit. It is essentially a blockchain-verified address generally linked to a digital file (such as a picture, video etc) which can be exchanged through smart contract transactions.
Photo Finish ™ LIVE Generation Zero tickets are NFTs on the Solana blockchain, and are currently available for purchase on several NFT marketplaces (Magic Eden, Open Sea) – priced in $SOL.
What is $SOL and how do I use it?
$SOL is the Solana network token, it is the currency which drives transactions on the Solana blockchain. Simply put, $SOL is a blockchain CURRENCY with a fluctuating value – you will need it to purchase a Generation Zero racehorse ticket!
But first, you will need to set up a wallet to store your SOL and eventually, your NFTs!
Phantom Wallet
Phantom Wallet is a wallet application built for the Solana blockchain – it it the most widely used and accessible wallet application on SOL. Download it here. It is also available on mobile, so check it out on your phone’s app store. Here is Phantom’s set-up guide.
Buying SOL
There are multiple avenues to exchange your fiat currency (dollars, pounds, yuan etc) for SOL. An easy way is to use MoonPay – a fiat onramp featured in the Phantom Wallet itself. Here is Phantom’s guide to onramping using MoonPay or another exchange.
Transferring SOL to your wallet
Provided you have set up your Phantom Wallet (instructions above if not!), you can withdraw your SOL to your Phantom wallet if you used another exchange such as Coinbase to make your SOL purchase. Here is Phantom’s guide to transferring funds into your wallet.
Connecting to an NFT marketplace
Here is our Photo Finish Generation Zero ticket page on Magic Eden. Make sure you have adequate funds, select your ticket of choice and finalize the purchase! Congratulations, you now own a Generation Zero racehorse!
Redeem your ticket
You will need to redeem your ticket into our live game!, make sure you’ve created an account and connect your wallet at the top right of the screen. Make sure the wallet you connect is the same wallet that contains the ticket you purchased! Once connected, you will see your ticket(s) displayed next to your wallet address at the top.
Notice the “1 Ticket” displayed at the top right.
Click your ticket(s), you will be taken to your “My Tickets” page.
Click the “Redeem All” button and follow the prompts from your Phantom Wallet… once you’ve successfully redeemed your ticket you will receive a confirmation – your horse is ready to go!