Harberger Land

Challenge

Operal's research question: can a pure market-design game sustain itself — Harberger taxation, universal buyout, real-asset rewards — with no hype, no paid community, no venture allocation? “No Discord. No Telegram. No fake community.”

Approach

A wallet-connected web game on Base implementing Harberger taxation from Radical Markets (itself descended from the 1906 Landlord's Game): buy virtual land tiles on a desert-frontier map, set your own sale price, pay a daily tax of 1/7 ≈ 14.29% of it — and defend ownership, because anyone can buy your tile at the price you set. Unpaid taxes make tiles claimable by anyone. Landowners earn daily rewards in USDC and Denario silver-backed tokens, distributed equally per owned tile. $HRBG fair-launched via a Fjord Foundry LBP timed with Token2049 Dubai — no pre-sale, no private allocations, no team reserves — and the design was documented openly in a four-part series on Operal's Medium.

Outcome

Launched May 2025 with 1,000 USDC and 10 ounces of silver seeded across the map. The experiment ran its course — the market went quiet and the chain data shows it — which is exactly why we publish R&D honestly: as a 2025 experiment in game economies, not a live product.