Dock notes

Notes on how the games were chosen.

Each note explains one decision behind the list: why these games, which ones we dropped and what the labels count.

A map of Europe with coloured regions, small army blocks and ships, and two men in suits whispering, one holding an envelope
Europe around 1900 with army blocks and fleets, and two diplomats whispering over a sealed envelope. Illustration made for PlayWharf, not a screenshot.

Why War.app, the old Warzone, is not on the list

Warzone was the obvious first pick: a Risk-style game in the browser with games of up to 400 players. Its address now redirects to War.app, and its wiki describes coins that are sold for real money, coin games that charge an entry fee and pay coin prizes, a coin wheel and Global Chat raffles.

On the website the coin wheel is switched on by a paid upgrade called Idle Premium. Paying to enter a game for a prize, plus a wheel of chance, counts as a casino mechanic under the PlayWharf rules, so War.app stays off the list.

Why the Supremacy war games are missing

Supremacy 1914, Call of War and Conflict of Nations are the best-known browser war games that last weeks. All three now belong to Stillfront Supremacy in Hamburg, and their shared terms say the games are only for people over 16 and 'may include randomized mechanics (e.g., loot boxes or chance-based items)'.

Their apps list in-app purchases up to £294.99, and £799.99 for Conflict of Nations, on Google Play, and every game needs an account before the first screen. Behind that sign-up we could not see the shop, so the 'Paid random items' line would read 'possible, per the terms'. We left the three out.

The Freeciv address that now leads to a slot site

Freeciv-web has changed address since play.freeciv.org closed in March 2018. On 23 October 2026 freecivweb.org, the address still named on Wikipedia and in the game's own footer, showed an Indonesian slot-machine site. fciv.net redirected to another gambling site, and freecivx.net was a spam blog.

The working game is at www.freecivweb.com, where the Rules and Privacy pages also load. Every Freeciv link on this site points there.

What 'check in' on the plate counts

On each plate, 'Check in' is how often a game wants you back between sittings. For Territorial.io and Generals.io the answer is never: a match ends when it ends. For webDiplomacy and Freeciv LongTurn it is once a day, because turns resolve on a timer of about 24 hours. On Planets.nu, turns run on set weekdays: every day in 35 of the 148 running games.

These figures are estimates, marked est., worked out from each game's own turn timers and game lists. They count visits, not minutes: a webDiplomacy phase may take 5 minutes of orders or an hour of messages.

Why a chess site sits next to space empires

On this list, Lichess is the only game with no map, no armies and no luck. It earned its place on facts: it opens as a guest in seconds, it sells nothing, shows no adverts, sets a clear age rule of 15 to register and has a kid mode.

It also covers both ends of the Game picker. A 1+0 game fits a coffee break, and a correspondence game with days per move fits someone who can look in once a day.

No real-time war that runs for weeks made the cut

We looked for a game where armies march in real time for weeks, like Supremacy 1914, and none passed every rule. The Supremacy games are 16+ and allow loot boxes. Neptune's Pride showed no update we could find and every page beyond the first needs a login. AtWar put guest play behind a Cloudflare human check.

Astro Empires came closest: a real-time space empire with a new server started about 26 September 2026. It needs an account before the first screen, and we could not see its shop or prices, so Astro Empires stays a spare until we can check them.