How to earn SPS in Splinterlands

Hi Everyone! One of our favorite blockchain games, Splinterlands, has undergone some tremendous changes that will turn the entire game around! It will definitely do you good not to sleep on those, which is why we’re taking a closer look at Splintershards (SPS) — the most recent mechanic that aims to give players more agency and grant them even more earnings.
If you haven’t played Splinterlands yet, we recommend reading our guide.

What is SPS?
There are two ways you can approach SPS. On the one hand, SPS, a.k.a. Splintershards, are crypto tokens that all Splinterland players can earn on top of playing cards and the Dark Crystal token (DEC). On the other hand, SPS is a player’s key to deeper involvement in how the game evolves further.
Designed for governance, SPS will enable players to decide on the game balance, new tournaments, new quests, storylines and events. By giving players more agency through SPS, Splinterlands aims to translate the effort, time and money spent in the game into proportional rewards. Even without the materialistic aspect, the amount of SPS you hold can ultimately become a status token in the community and an instrument of empowerment.

How can I earn SPS?
The Splintershards white paper cites many ways of earning the token — but for you as a player, the Airdrop is currently the most relevant source.
The SPS airdrop will last until Summer 2022, issuing daily SPS rewards to players proportionally to their amount of points in the overall pool.

Anywhere you have a stake in Splinterlands will earn you those points — we’re talking the card power, their rarity, the decks you own, your Dark Energy Crystals — so pretty much anything within the game. The more points you have, the bigger your share in the airdrop will be.
You can see how these points are counted below — each value is assigned per asset.

The SPS you earn through airdrop can also be staked for additional rewards. You can stake it within the game on HIVE or on the Binance Smart Chain. The only difference is that the latter allows you to partake in decision-making on the DAO level. To put it simply, you would have a say in things beyond in-game changes, such as the SPS economy, promotional budgets, third-party development of tools for the Splinterlands ecosystem and so on.
You will find both staking and airdrop windows in the desktop version of the game right next to the DEC balance.

SPS airdrop and staking
Later on, you will also be able to earn SPS by staking it on other players or yourself in the ranked battles. Victory scores both you and your lucky bet some Splintershards. Tournaments and Guild Brawls are also included in the foreseeable SPS distribution over 65 months.
Finally, aside from the airdrop points, owning LAND in Splinterlands will also grant you SPS rewards, although the exact distribution model was not announced yet.
What can I do with my SPS?
Besides staking SPS to earn even more, you can lock them in DeFi liquidity pools to accrue extra tokens. For those who collect SPS on Binance Smart Chain or Ethereum, we recommend PancakeSwap or Uniswap.
However, passionate Splinterland players will want to hold on to these assets. Besides getting involved in the game’s further development, having some Splintershards entitles you to various discounts in the game’s show and special rewards during promo campaigns.
Wrapping it up
With the introduction of SPS, Splinterlands added even more gears into its already well-oiled play-to-earn mechanism. Hopefully, the mobile version of the game will incorporate Splintershaards staking and airdrop soon as well to make it a truly accessible killer feature!