It would be a shame to launch a Gumball Machine only in the Metaverse, without creating a physical twin. So you can access NFT land via District Hall, Boston.

So if you launched from District Hall, Boston, where you received a token from the Internet-Connected  Metaverse Gumball Machine, this is what you'd have. 

A laser-cut physical token, burned into baltic birch. (Not from Russia -- a major supplier of this wood. We're boycotting). 

It would have been dispensed from a machine that looked like this.

The body of the internet-connected gumball machine. Note the stepper motor, the strip of blinky WS2812 LED lights, and the blobs of Sugru.

Here's another view, zoomed-out:

The 9-inch globe is the major feature, after all. 

So we've established here that we're dealing with the District Hall, IRL, meatspace, physical version. 

So how would you get that NFT?

Just go to an online form, and enter your crypto wallet address. 

That's the only prerequisite: you need a crypto wallet. They are free, and there are many choices. 

Metamask is one that's frequently recommended. That would make it easy.

Once you submit your wallet address in the form referenced above, we'll transfer a fully minted NFT -- for free -- to your wallet address. You don't have to do anything else. It will be there, easily verifiable on the blockchain.

Now you can have fun with it. For example, you can explore exactly what kind of NFT it is, what it looks like, how it was created, and so on. 

Or you can move on. You can come back to it in a few years and say to yourself in a semi-thoughtful distracted way, "Oh, yeaaah, I remember that."

More Information for the Interested

This NFT is on the Polygon blockchain. Polygon works on top of Ethereum which has become slow and expensive to use.

But here's the thing: Polygon syncs up perfectly with Ethereum, which is still the #1 NFT platform.

All that NFT bubble-ly behavior that has been so annoying to witness (Bored Ape, Crypto Punks, etc.) -- it has funded terrific development of Ethereum, which is the "settlement layer" of Polygon. So Polygon is now the smart kids choice for NFTs: virtually no gas fees, but ultimately "settled" on Top Choice, A-List Ethereum. 

Polygon is the smart kids choice for NFTs: virtually no gas fees, but ultimately "settled" on Top Choice, A-List Ethereum.

So, bottom line: even though many old-school NFT types might wince (because they are locked into Ethereum as their only option), Polygon delivers a better experience than Ethereum: faster and cheaper (tiny, tiny gas fees).

The gas fees are whispery, almost imperceptible (like 0.001 Matic, currently less than a penny USD). That's why we can offer this NFT for free. 

And best of all: the Polygon network was built to provide a better experience for projects that operate in harmony with the Ethereum chain.

Polygon's Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility makes it ideal for developers looking to build efficient and secure projects. The Polygon network is Ethereum-native, aligned to be interoperable with all of Ethereum’s existing, and future, infrastructures.

That's important, because think of all the developers who have been sharpening their skills on Ethereum, funded by early, crazy, well-funded NFT projects. All along they've been making Ethereum more solid, more bulletproof. Polygon taps into that, without saddling you with that layer-one mega gas fee.

So we're doing you a favor here: If you haven't used Polygon, it's time you do.