Frequently Asked Questions
Getting the swing of things
What is Porcupine Playground Pals?
Porcupine Playground Pals is a digital art collection and a family-friendly community that brings people together to have fun and support causes that are close to our hearts.
How will Porcupine Playground Pals support causes?
Unlike a lot of consumer fundraising where pennies on the dollar go to charity, 30% of the proceeds from Porcupine Playground Pals will be donated through the Porcupine Playground Pals Fund at Our Change Foundation. The Porcupine Playground Pals Fund will make grants to organizations that create opportunities for kids to play and provide support to lung cancer patients and families. Learn more about our Mission.
What do I get if I buy a Porcupine Playground Pal?
First off, you get a unique and fun piece of digital art that the whole family can enjoy. Each Porcupine Playground Pal is automatically generated with a distinct set of characteristics, from the type of playground equipment to clothing design to the facial expression. Like fingerprints, no two Porcupine Playground Pals are identical.
Second, you are welcomed into the Porcupine Playground Pals community, which gives you access to special family-friendly activities, products, and perks.
What do you have planned for the Porcupine Playground Pals community?
It is all about having family-friendly fun with a community that wants to make the world a better place. There will be games, children’s books, one-of-a-kind artwork, wellness resources, and other perks for our community to enjoy. We are currently at the last highlighted stop on our Roadmap. Check out all we have planned.
Why Connectible Collectibles?
When individuals come together with common interests and common goals, the combination can be greater than the sum of its parts. We wanted to capture this in the artwork itself and encourage our community to make connections. That is why we created Connectible Collectibles.
Can I connect my Porcupine Playground Pals with each other?
Short answer: Yes! Go to My.PorcupinePlaygroundPals.com to play with how they connect. Longer answer: If your Pals share the same playground equipment type and they are not both the start or end pieces, then yes, they will connect. For the Super RaresThere are 16 Super Rare Porcupine Playground Pals in based around the seasons in this collection. Each of these Super Rares is part of a 4-piece set that will only connect with each other. Every porcupine (or kid) deserves a great playground to play on, and the Super Rares demonstrate that there are other places where kids should be able to play throughout the year., all the pieces are corner pieces, so your two of the same scene will connect if they are not the diagonal opposites of each other. Share on social media the connections you’ve made with your Porcupine Playground Pals, and we may surprise you with special perks. And stay tuned for competitions that will allow you to connect your Porcupine Playground Pals with other community members’ Pals!
The whole idea behind Connectible Collectibles sounds really cool! How does My.PorcupinePlaygroundPals.com connect Porcupine Playground Pals together?
The Pals are sorted by playground equipment type. For ones in a horizontal line (like monkey bars) or vertical line (like slides), you can drag and drop to re-order Pals within the line. For every playground equipment type, there is a start piece, 1 or 2 middle pieces, and, with the exception of the rock climbing wall, an end piece. For example, with the swings, you might collect a start piece (the left edge of the swingset), a middle swing, a middle baby swing, and an end piece (the right edge of the swingset). If you have at least 4 connectible pieces ordered start to end, you have a set! The seasonal Super Rares are different because they are arranged in a 2-by-2 matrix. So they are lined up in their exact corners and cannot be moved around.
Someone said something about Candy Machines and Baseball Cards — what do they have to do with Porcupine Playground Pals?
Like with a candy machine, the Porcupine Playground Pals you receive will be fun surprises! Crank the handle, or in our case press the MintMinting means publishing on the blockchain. button, and your art will be revealed.
We hope you’ll collect more than one. And like with baseball cards, they all cost the same when you buy them new, but some will be more valuable than others. For example, one wearing heart-shaped sunglasses may be more valuable because it is more rare than one not wearing sunglasses. Getting one of the Super Rare Porcupine Playground Pals could feel like getting the Reggie Jackson of baseball cards! It isn’t just about rarity. Just like having a favorite baseball team, people may gravitate toward particular traits that they like.
Unlike candy machine gumballs and baseball cards, every Porcupine Playground Pal is unique. No two are exactly the same!
Who are the Artists behind Porcupine Playground Pals?
Opal, a middle schooler, loves digital art and is part of the Flower Girls Art Fund NFT collection, which supports youth artists. Opal teamed up with her lung cancer survivor mom to design, create, and produce Porcupine Playground Pals. Learn more about them and the whole Team.
How big is this collection and why?
5050. Opal’s mom was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 47 in 2020. We are so happy and grateful to launch this collection in the year she turns 50. 50 has become a momentous number for our family, and Opal’s mom also likes how 5050 looks like we’re flipping that hellacious 2020 on its head. We also wanted a number that could ensure an even distribution of playground equipment without having to solely rely on probability during the generative art engine run. If you subtract the 16 Super Rares (4 Super Rares in each of the 4 seasons), the remaining 5034 is divisible by 6, which is the number of different playground equipment types (3 vertical and 3 horizontal). That means that there are exactly 839 of each type of playground equipment. 839 x (3 + 3) + (4 x 4) = 839 x 6 + 16 = 5050. Playing with math is cool, too.
Purchasing FAQ
Jumping In
I don’t know much about NFTs, crypto, or blockchain, but the Porcupine Playground Pals are so cute and for good causes, can I get some anyway?
Yes! While you can purchase a Porcupine Playground Pal with crypto, you can also purchase a Porcupine Playground Pal with your credit card.
You don’t need to know anything about NFTsNFT stands for non-fungible token (pronounced with a soft ‘g’ like generation, not the hard ‘g’ in fungus). NFTs are one-of-a-kind digital items that represent ownership of a virtual good, such as art, other collectibles, virtual real estate, or club membership, whose ownership can be publicly verified., cryptoCryptocurrency (or crypto, for short) is a form of digital money that leverages blockchain technology and does not rely on banks or brokers as intermediaries., or blockchainBlockchain refers to the cryptographic technology that creates an immutable ledger of data that is shared across a network of distributed databases rather than stored in a centralized repository; blockchain technology is unique in generating trust in data fidelity and system security without the need for a trusted third party., but if you do want to know more, visit some of our favorite collections that have strong charitable components, like Prosocialites and The Flower Girls.
How can someone make a Credit Card purchase of an NFT on the blockchain?
Just enter your email address and make a payment with your debit or credit card. We are using Stripe to process the payment, then behind the scenes we will deploy the NFT smart contract, handle all the crypto payments, mint your Pals, and hold them in a dedicated wallet just for you. We’ll send you an email when this is all done with links to access your new NFTs. You can always request that your Pals be transferred to your own Phantom wallet at a later time.
If I used a Credit Card to purchase my Porcupine Playground Pals, what is my “Wallet Address” to view My Pals?
Your Wallet Address is a public key that is publicly visible on the blockchain. When your credit card purchase is fulfilled, we’ll send you an email with with links to access your new NFTs and your public Wallet Address. You can share your public Wallet Address with others, so that they can see which Pals you own.
Can I buy Porcupine Playground Pals for someone else?
Yes! Porcupine Playground Pals make great gifts for the playful kid, digital artist, or NFT collector in your life. If you purchase Pals, you can transfer them to whomever you want.
How can I get a full set of Pals?
Great question! Everyone wants full sets, right?! Before the collection sells out, you can keep minting Pals until — fingers crossed! — you get a full set. Once the collection is live, you can also go to OpenSea or MagicEden to purchase the Pals you need on the secondary market, if the owners are willing to part with their Pals. We are also planning to run some special games where you can find other owners and connect your Pals together to make full sets. What better way to bring the Porcupine Playground Pals community together!
How many Porcupine Playground Pals can I get?
Because our Mission is to support great organizations, there will be no limits on the number of Pals you can purchase.
Experienced NFT Collectors FAQ
Playing Like the Pros
What can you tell me about rarity in this collection?
We created several different options for different attributes of a Porcupine Playground Pal such as options for eyes (open, closed, winking, etc), options for mouths (smile, surprised, half-grin, etc), options for clothing color and designs, options for backgrounds, and so on. Each trait is assigned a rarity weight, so some traits such as a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses are more rare than circular glasses which in turn are more rare than no glasses. The beginning and ends of playground equipment are also more rare than the inner sections, and there is some variation in rarity weight within inner playground pieces.
Our collection also includes 4 sets of 4 Super Rares based on the seasons. Each of these 16 Super Rares has certain traits that cannot be found in any other Porcupine Playground Pal. Surprise! There is actually 1 more Super Rare out there. Not to give away too much about it, just know that this Pal connects with Pals playing on one of the types of playground equipment, … and is out of this world!
Why did you choose Solana?
Solana is a blockchain computing platform whose native cryptocurrency is SOL. We chose Solana for its low transaction fees (also called gas fees), its speed, and its dedication to being environmentally responsible by using proof of stake rather than energy-intensive proof of work mining. For nerdier reasons, we also like that Solana is reputed to have a highly engaged developer community and is respected for its technological innovations, most notably Proof of History. There are also some very cool, philanthropic Solana-based NFT projects like Belugies.
What kind of wallet do I need?
Unless you are purchasing Pals with a credit card, we recommend using a Phantom Wallet. You can purchase SOL directly through Phantom or transfer SOL into your Phantom Wallet through an exchange such as Coinbase.
How do I know my Porcupine Playground Pals are supporting causes?
30% of the proceeds from Porcupine Playground Pals will be donated. For purchases made with SOL using your Phantom Wallet, donations will be made through the Porcupine Playground Pals Fund at Our Change Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) organization itself. For credit card purchases, donations from the proceeds will be made directly to the supported charities. We will be selecting organizations that we are proud to champion because of their work creating opportunities for kids to play and providing support to lung cancer patients and families. We will report on our contributions from this fund, and we also encourage everyone to visit GuideStar to do your own research on the supported organizations. Some organizations may also elect to be reviewed by the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance.