FAQ

Accounts, phones, premium currency and random items.

Short answers to the questions people ask before a first game.

A board of square tiles with grey mountains, two small castle towns, stacks of red tokens and a blue crowned general piece — A square-tile board with mountains, two walled towns, army stacks and a crowned general. Illustration made for PlayWharf, not a screenshot.

Do I need an account?

Not for four of the six. Territorial.io, Lichess, webDiplomacy (against AI players) and Freeciv-web (single-player) start without one. Generals.io asks for a username but no email. Planets.nu needs an email address before you play.

Which games sell nothing?

Lichess, webDiplomacy and Freeciv-web have no shop and no membership; they run on donations. webDiplomacy now shows adverts; the other two show none.

Do any of them sell loot boxes or spins?

No. None of the six sells paid random items. We left out War.app because it sells coins and runs a coin wheel and paid-entry prize games, and the Supremacy war games because their terms allow loot boxes.

Does any membership make you stronger?

Only Planets.nu Premium, at $3.50 a month: it lifts starbase tech past level 7 and adds races. The Territorial.io Patreon and the Generals.io Supporter plan remove adverts and add extras such as a separate leaderboard or custom maps.

Which games work on a phone?

Territorial.io has Android and iOS apps, Lichess and Planets.nu have Android apps, and webDiplomacy and Generals.io run in a phone browser. Freeciv-web has no app and we did not test it on a phone.

How much time does each game ask for?

Territorial.io and Generals.io take minutes per match and nothing in between. Lichess runs from two-minute games to correspondence games over weeks. webDiplomacy and Freeciv LongTurn want one visit a day for weeks or months; Planets.nu wants a visit on each of its host days.

What are the age rules?

Lichess: 15 to register, or younger with a parent's permission. Freeciv-web: 13. Territorial.io and Planets.nu state no age, and their apps are rated PEGI 3. Generals.io and webDiplomacy state no age and have no app.

Why does webDiplomacy talk about bets?

Joining a game costs free ranking points, which the site calls a bet paid into a pot. The points cannot be bought and refill to 100 if you run low, so no money is involved.

Why is the Freeciv link a .com address?

Because the old .org address showed a slot-machine site on 23 October 2026. The game runs at www.freecivweb.com.