How Terratory Run works

You run, we track your path, and the ground you cover becomes your territory on the map. Tracking starts the moment you tap Start run and stops the moment you tap Finish. Nothing before or after is recorded.

If your loop encloses an area, we fill it in. If you run a there-and-back, you paint a line. The more you run, the more of the map turns your colour.

Territory is last one wins. If you run over ground someone else already owns, it becomes yours and they lose it. So does the reverse, which is the whole point. Go take back what someone took from you.

Use the toggle on the map. Solo colours the map by individual runner. Teams colours it by team, so you can see the three-way fight at a glance.

Everyone is on one of three teams: Orca, Falcon, or Pronghorn.

An HQ is a special zone on the map that teams fight over. Admins draw them, and they come in different sizes on purpose. You will see them outlined on the Teams view.

A bigger HQ is worth proportionally more, and because a capture is measured as a share of the zone, a bigger HQ also takes a longer run to capture. Size is balanced so one giant HQ cannot decide a whole season on its own.

In a single run, cover at least 60% of an HQ's area. When you finish, that run counts as one capture for your team and adds to your contribution.

You can capture the same HQ at most 3 times per day, so it rewards showing up rather than looping the same block all afternoon.

Each team builds a score on every HQ from two things: how many times the team has captured it, and how long the team has held it. Holding accrues over time, so keeping an HQ is worth real points, not just grabbing it once.

The team with the highest score holds the HQ. A challenger has to clearly pass the current holder to flip it, so a tie keeps the current holder. Whoever holds an HQ when the season ends wins it for that season.

Before a season starts, each team picks one HQ as its home. While your team holds its own home HQ, the team gets a standings bonus (currently 5 points). If a rival captures and holds your home, that bonus goes to them. Your home is both an advantage and a target.

The home HQ is chosen by the team captain in the pre-season window, then it locks.

Every run you do counts toward your season contribution. It is a blend of:

• HQ captures (worth the most)
• cells of territory you claim
• cells you steal from rivals
• distinct days you go for a run (consistency)

Your team's top contributor is the captain. It rotates automatically: out-run them and the role is yours. The captain sets the team colour, picks the pre-season home HQ, and can post broadcasts to the team. See your standings on the Team page.

The game runs in seasons. HQ scores reset when a new season begins, so every season is a fresh fight. A season can be scheduled ahead of time. That pre-season window is when captains lock in their home HQ before captures start counting.

This part is for running with Terratory Run in a web browser. The browser only tracks while this tab is open and in front of you, so it pauses if you:

• take a phone call
• switch to another app or go to your home screen
• lock the phone

Whatever you already ran is saved, your location uploads every few seconds, and we never draw a fake line across a gap. Tracking just picks back up when you return to the tab.

Tips: the screen stays on by itself during a run. Use Lock to make the phone pocket-safe and keep it in a pocket or armband with the tab in front. Chrome on Android works best and supports fullscreen. On iPhone Safari it works, but there is no fullscreen and iOS pauses background tabs quickly, so be careful not to switch away.

The Terratory Run app for Android and iOS tracks in the background, so none of this applies. If you have it installed, use it for your runs.

This is a running game. We drop points that move faster than a run, so driving a route does not paint it. If a run looks thin, your GPS likely had gaps. We fill in what we could track honestly rather than guess at the rest.

The public map is pseudonymous by default. We only track between Start and Finish. Read the full privacy policy for the details.