What is a territory game?

A game where you win by controlling more of the map: you expand, defend your borders and take land from other players. Risk, Territorial.io and TapGuessr are all territory games.

What's a good territory war game that isn't a quick match?

TapGuessr runs one shared territory war on a real world map for two weeks at a time, so you can play a few minutes a day and keep your land.

Yes. The game is free to play in any browser, on a phone or a computer. There is nothing to download and no account to make.

How long does a game last?

A season lasts two weeks, and the map is shared by everyone playing. Most people play a few minutes at a time: spend your troops, check who's attacking you, and come back when your troops have built up again.

Territory games to play online for free

Territory games are about one simple urge: make more of the map yours. Here are the best ones to play in a browser, and what each is like.

Season 1 is live: 23 players hold land, 5 days left to take yours.

Territories in the TapGuessr map around Chicago, Toronto and New York, and in northern Mexico

What makes a good territory game

The best ones make every border a decision. Expand too fast and you're thin and easy to raid; turtle up and someone else takes the land you wanted. Good territory games also give you prizes worth fighting over, and a reason to come back.

TapGuessr

A territory war on a real map of Earth. Everyone shares one map split into 12,446 hexagonal tiles, and a season runs for two weeks. Big cities pay more troops, so the fights happen where they would in real life: around capitals, coasts and crowded regions.

How a TapGuessr territory war works

Plant your flag. Tap any free tile on Earth to start there. It's free, and you can't start right next to another player.
Earn troops. You get 20 troops a minute, plus 1 for every tile you hold, 3 for a big city and 5 for a capital or megacity. They build up while you're away.
Grow. Spend troops to claim free land up to three steps away (farther jumps cost more), or attack any tile right next to yours.
Rule countries. Hold more than half of a country's tiles and you rule it. Your name goes on the rankings next to it.
Win the season. Each season runs two weeks. Whoever holds the most land at the end wins, then the map resets and everyone starts again.

Territorial.io

A fast real-time territory game: spread across the map, out-grow your neighbours, win in minutes.

OpenFront

Real-time territory matches on maps of real places, with more to build and more ways to fight.

Paper.io 2

Grab territory by drawing loops, and get knocked out if someone cuts your trail. Pure reflexes, very quick.

Warzone

Turn-based territory wars on thousands of maps, in the browser.

Japan on the TapGuessr map, still completely unclaimed, with Tokyo, Ōsaka and Sapporo marked — Japan on the map. Tokyo pays 5 troops a minute to whoever holds it.