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Rulebook Shelf Français

Free strategy games in a browser tab

Four strategy games, written up like the sheet inside the box lid

Each one gets a rule card: what you're trying to do and what the first minute looks like. It also says what the game expects from you in ads and money.

1How a game gets on the shelf

Five things have to be true before a card gets written.

  1. It's free to start, with nothing to pay before the first move.
  2. It runs in an ordinary browser tab, no installer.
  3. It has a real home site of its own, and that site loads.
  4. No betting of any kind, and no prizes paid in money.
  5. Its first hour can be described plainly, without guesswork.

The shelf is small on purpose. Four cards we can stand behind beat forty we skimmed.

2The cards

Territorial.io

A coloured blob on a shared map, and a slider that decides how hard you push.

Goal Hold more of the map than anyone else.

Read the card

Generals.io

Find the enemy general in the fog before they find yours.

Goal Capture the enemy general's tile while keeping your own.

Read the card

Lordz.io

Take buildings and send units across the map, then watch rival lords do the same.

Goal Grow your holdings and push rival lords off the map.

Read the card

Grepolis

A Greek city that grows over weeks, with alliances doing the heavy lifting.

Goal Grow your city and add more by conquest, standing with an alliance on a world that runs for months.

Read the card

3Reading a card

Every card answers the same six questions, in the same order, so two games can be compared at a glance.

Goal
What counts as winning.
First move
What the opening minute asks you to do.
What keeps you coming back
The reason a second session happens.
Worth knowing
Ads and spending, plus who else is in the room.
Who it suits
And who should probably skip it.
Devices
What it runs on.

You won't find scores or star ratings on the cards. A number would pretend to a precision we don't have, and the cards are written to let you decide.