**Hey Hive Gamers and Non-Gamers,**

Like I said in my introductory post, I got into Hive through an X post from @splinterlands, so it only makes sense to check out the game and see what is so exciting about the fantasy game. After a stressful Monday at work, I decided to take a quick shower and relax with a beer in hand to help eliminate the Monday working stress that isn't friendly to 9-5 workers. Upon my relaxation, it clicked to me that it is about time I check out Splinterlands again and see how I can become good at this game. So I dived into the Splinterland community to read up on posts from other experienced gamers and what they had to say about the game, most importantly, if they had some winning secrets to share with a newbie. 

<sub>![splinterland2.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/southgamer/23xyT4utru5DAV7BmYWthKQwupoQ8KA2jJ44RrBVyMaz8LKwVCTPe73YdxjUedGuwQrUg.png)</sub>

There I came across a nice post from @meredorn whom I followed immediately after seeing he happens to be a gamer as well. That is a no-brainer, of course. In his post, he spoke about his love for fantasy, which made it easy for him to enjoy playing Splinterlands since the game is a depiction of fantasy. But what I took from the post is his dedication to grind, just continue grinding, and over a period, you will gain more results than you hoped. He started with this mindset, and now his cards are quite strong enough to battle with any contestant. If you want to read more from the post and gain insight of your own, click [**here**](https://peakd.com/hive-13323/@meredorn/my-splinterlands-journey-from-a-turkish-poolside-to-diamond-league) and you will be taken directly to his post to read more. 

With that kind of understanding of constant grinding and my dream of becoming independent from my 9-5 job through blockchain writing and gaming, I became even more pumped to get started with Splinterland. I navigated my way to the [**Splinterlands website**](www.splinterlands.com) and began with my registration. I must say the registration process was seamless and straightforward. Just your email address, password, and you are good to go after verifying your email address through the link sent to your email. 

<sub>![splinterland1.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/southgamer/23u5Z9p2R3BHwTRH8mMJAEDqUPskx8qCJnUu68Z526vBmqHLXem5MF9n7m6rDPejvN8r3.png)</sub>

Opening up the site, you can feel the fantasy around from its web page, and when I activated my account. I did what any newbie gamer should do. **Watch the tutorial video**, and a lot of your questions will be answered. Through the tutorial video, you will get to understand the cards, their strength, and even know what your summoner does and how important it is. Mind you, the stronger your cards, the better your chance of winning the game. Trust me, I had to learn this the hard way.

<sub><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m7CJ-crYmc4?si=ru2KcCU0dild9sGF" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></sub>


After the tutorial, I was itching to start playing. I just wanted to get paired and win. As I did, but on my second game, it wasn't funny anymore. I saw my cards get destroyed like they were nothing compared to those of my opponent. I needed answers why, and I came to realize my cards are not that strong. Although you get a couple of cards at the start of the game but through the marketplace, you have the opportunity of getting better cards or even renting them for some time. 


<sub>![Splinterland5.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/southgamer/23t74pFMMJBb2YGy3B8Hnoz1ZxXkXJ6yXStHhuFCPp4yrnUPxUYRK5T9uDEeAYoDXmDsb.png)</sub>


<sub>![Splinterlandvideo-ezgif.com-video-to-gif-converter.gif](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/southgamer/23tGZmxWA8vFwauGtgUQjVcsVcnJ4KBi2oKXi34zF9ag7mj3ye1K9sDC8WCq2uZjFUejg.gif)</sub>


Nonetheless, I have seen where I will be making some strategic investment moves on Splinterlands aside from powering up my hive like most successful hive writers do, because when I come to play any game, I am coming to win, and that will never change. If I reply comments late, just know I a busy with Splinterlands

Also, I am open to all strategy tips you can share with a newbie gamer to get better at Splinterland. 

*Thank you for reading, and I will always remain @southgamer on this journey of exploring Hive.*