Claim

Objective

Hold half the field before your rival does. The moment your share reaches 50%, you win the round. Win two rounds to win the match.

Each round lasts 3 minutes. If nobody reaches half by then, the player with the bigger share takes the round; an exact tie is a drawn round that counts for nobody. A match stops after five rounds at most.

The Field

Claim is played on a square field of 48 × 48 cells. Each player starts with a strip of land three rows deep along their own edge, and a plane over the middle of it. Blue starts at the bottom and Red at the top, but everyone sees their own land at the bottom of their screen.

The open meadow in between belongs to nobody yet. In the middle drifts the storm, a raincloud that wanders over the open ground and cuts any line it gets near.

Your plane flies freely over your own land, and nothing can hurt it there. The moment it crosses onto any other ground — open meadow or your rival's land — it starts drawing a line.

Drawing and Claiming

Fly your plane off your land and it lays a line behind it. Fly it back over your own land and the line closes: the line itself becomes yours, and so does every pocket of ground it fences off.

Blue has flown off its strip, up and across, and is heading back down. One more step home closes the loop.

Home again: the line and the pocket inside it are Blue's land now.

While you draw, a few things stop you rather than hurt you: you can't step straight back the way you came, you can't cross your own line, and you can't leave the field. Your plane simply stops until you steer it somewhere else. You can also stand still mid-line — but every moment out there, your line can be cut.

Cutting Lines

A line is only safe once it's home. If your rival's plane touches any part of your unfinished line, the line is cut: it vanishes, and your plane goes back to the cell it left from and is dazed for a second before it can move again.

It works both ways, which is the heart of the game. Your rival is out drawing a long line — get to it before they get home and it's gone.

Red's plane is four cells from Blue's line. A few more cells and Blue loses the whole line, and has to start again from where it left.

A few details:

• Your own land walls you in. A plane over its own land isn't drawing, so it can't be cut — but if your rival's line runs into it, their line is cut.
• Heads on. If two drawing planes meet head to head, both lines are cut.
• Cuts beat claims. If your line is touched in the same instant you get home, it's still cut.

The Storm

The storm drifts diagonally across the open meadow, bouncing off land and now and then changing course. It never leaves the open meadow, and it's slower than a plane.

It cuts any line within one cell of it, yours or your rival's, exactly as a plane would. Keep your lines clear of it, or herd it toward your rival's side of the field.

The storm also decides what a loop can claim. When you close a line, a pocket that holds the storm stays open — only the pockets without it become yours.

Blue has drawn a big loop, but the storm is inside it. When Blue gets home, the pocket holding the storm stays open, so all Blue gets is the line itself.

That cuts both ways: trap the storm in a small pocket and every loop you draw afterwards claims the much bigger side.

Taking Your Rival's Land

Land isn't safe forever. A loop doesn't only claim open ground: if a pocket it fences off holds some of your rival's land, that land becomes yours too.

There's one protection. Just as a pocket holding the storm stays open, a pocket your rival's plane is over can't be claimed — and their land counts as part of whatever pocket it touches. So to take their land, cut a part of it off from where their plane is. Your rival can dash into that part to save it, if they're quick.

Red pushed a block of land down into the field and flew back to its strip. Blue has drawn straight through the block and is closing round its lower half: when Blue gets home, that half is cut off from Red and becomes Blue's.

Drawing through your rival's land is risky: they fly freely there and can reach your line in a moment. But claiming their land counts twice over — your share goes up and theirs goes down by the same amount.

Drawing Slow

Hold Slow while you draw and your plane flies at half speed — but the land the line claims is worth double. Slow land is planted in a plaid so both players can see it.

The catch is time: a slow line is out in the open twice as long, for your rival and the storm to find. And the whole line must be drawn slow. Let go of Slow once and the rest of the line, and the claim, is ordinary.

Blue's slow line is laid in puffs: it's worth double when it gets home. The plaid field beside it was claimed slow earlier.

Shares are measured in value, not cells: open ground and ordinary land count once, slow land twice. Your share is your land's value out of the whole field's, so the two shares and the open ground always add up to 100%.

Over your own land you always fly at full speed, Slow or not.

Winning

A round ends the moment one player's share reaches half the field. That player wins the round.

If the 3-minute clock runs out first, the bigger share wins. Equal shares make a drawn round, which counts for nobody.

There's one more way to win a round: if a player loses every cell of land — it can happen when their line runs through your land and your loop takes the rest — they lose the round on the spot.

Every round starts afresh from the two starting strips. The first player to win two rounds wins the match; if draws drag it out, the match stops after five rounds and the player with more round wins takes it (level means a drawn match).

Controls

Keyboard: the arrow keys or W, A, S and D fly your plane while you hold them. Hold Shift or Space to draw slow.

Phone or tablet: drag anywhere on the field and your plane flies in that direction for as long as your finger stays down; lift it to stop. Or use the round steering pad under the field, and hold the Slow button with your other thumb. On a phone held sideways the pad and the Slow button sit beside the field.

Your plane keeps flying in the held direction until it reaches the edge, its own line, or you let go — so you can hold a direction and watch the board rather than your fingers.

Strategy

Short Loops Early, Long Loops When It's Safe

A long line claims a lot, but it's out in the open for a long time. Early on, take quick rectangles off the edge of your land; go long when your rival is far away or busy drawing their own line.

Watch Their Line, Not Just Yours

When your rival is out drawing, count: can you reach any part of their line before they get home? A cut costs them the whole line and a second of standing still, while you lose nothing — and a plane that's already off its land is often closest.

Trap the Storm

Fence the storm into a small pocket and every loop you draw afterwards claims the big side of the field. If your rival does it first, carve into their land instead of the open ground.

Blue has shut the storm into a small pocket in the corner. Now one line straight across the field claims everything between it and Blue's land: with the storm shut away, nothing on that side is protected.

Stand Your Ground

A plane over its own land is a wall. Hold it next to the spot your rival wants to draw through and they'll have to go round — or risk flying into you.

Use Slow When They Can't Reach You

Slow land is worth double, so a slow loop drawn while your rival is far away, or dazed after a cut, is the fastest way to half the field.