Land Grab 3D

Four rolling balls carving an island into coloured tiles, and every line on the ground can kill you

Single player
arcade
3d
strategy

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About Land Grab 3D

A thirty-two by thirty-two island seen from an isometric camera, divided between four rolling balls. You start on a five-by-five patch of raspberry tiles and hold about two per cent of the ground. Every tile you own is raised, lit and unmistakably yours, and while you are standing on it nothing in the game can touch you.

The only way to grow is to leave. The moment you roll off your own land you start drawing a trail behind you, and that trail is the only part of you anything can kill - including you. Cross your own line and you die on the spot. Roll off the edge of the island and you die there too. Get back onto your own territory instead and the loop you drew is filled in: the trail becomes land and so does everything enclosed by it, including tiles you have just taken off a rival. Go two tiles out and you gain almost nothing. Go twenty and you can take a fifth of the board in one run, if you live to close it.

You get three chances a match. A death costs a life and the claim you were halfway through drawing, but not the land you already hold - you come back at the centre of your biggest block and carry on. Three rivals are doing the same thing with different tempers. The lime Farmer hugs its own border and takes shallow, safe bites. The violet Raider drives at whichever territory is biggest and cuts a wedge out of it. The cyan Hunter watches your trail, and when it commits you get a pulsing red ring and a chevron pointing at it at least a second and a fifth before it can reach you. Nothing in this game kills you without showing you first - the island's rim lights up in red three tiles before you reach it.

What is different about this version

Two fairness rules that most territory games do not keep. First, your land can only be taken by a rival that currently has a trail out, so parking inside your own colour is not merely usually safe, it is safe forever - there is no drain, no shrink and no catch-up that closes on its own. Second, a rival is not allowed to cut your trail until it has worn its telegraph for a full 1.2 seconds, and the island's rim pulses red three tiles - half a second - before you can roll off it, so neither the ambush nor the wall can arrive unannounced. The clock and the rivals also do not start until your first input, so a match can never be lost, or even shortened, before you have played. The three lives are deliberately cheap on land and expensive on momentum: you keep every tile you had claimed and lose only the loop you were partway through.

How to play Land Grab 3D

Arrow keys or WASD roll the ball in four directions; it turns at the next tile centre.
On a phone, drag the joystick in the bottom-left corner, or swipe anywhere on the board.
Standing on your own colour is completely safe. There is no timer damage and nothing that closes on its own.
Roll off your land to draw a trail, then return to your own land to claim everything the loop encloses.
Any trail is lethal to whoever drew it, so cut a rival's line and it dies - and crossing your own line kills you.
The island's rim kills too. It pulses red three tiles before you reach it.
You have three lives. A death costs the trail you were drawing, not the land you already own.
Reach 45% of the island to win outright, or hold first place on land when the 2:00 clock runs out.

Controls

Desktop	Arrow keys or WASD steer in four directions, or hold the left mouse button and point. Turns queue to the next tile centre. Escape or P pauses.
Phone or tablet	Drag the joystick at the bottom-left, or swipe anywhere on the play area. The pause button sits at the right of the HUD bar.
Players	One player. Any other characters on screen are run by the game.

Strategy

Claim in rectangles, not in ribbons. A long thin loop costs the same distance as a fat one and encloses a fraction of the tiles, so the moment you are out, turn early and come back across rather than running the perimeter.

Never loop back across your own line. With self-cutting lethal, the shape of a claim matters as much as its size - a run that doubles back on itself to dodge a rival kills you just as dead as the rival would have.

The rim is a weapon and a trap. Hugging the edge encloses ground cheaply because the island's own boundary closes half your loop for you, but there is no room to dodge out there and the red pulse is your only warning.

Raid whoever is leading. That ball has the most border for you to bite into, and a loop that swallows twenty of its tiles is worth forty to the rank order - you gain them and it loses them at once.

Watch the ring, not the ball. The telegraph gives you 1.2 seconds, which is roughly seven tiles of travel - enough to get home from a medium raid, never enough from a deep one.

Mistakes that cost you the game

Doubling back to dodge. Turning into the trail you just drew is now a death, and it is the most common one.
Running the edge of your own territory to feel safe. A trail one tile outside your border is still a trail, and it is the easiest one in the game to cut.
Treating a life as a free retry. You keep your land but lose the whole loop you were drawing, which is usually the best claim of the run.
Chasing 45% in one enormous run. Three medium loops carry a fraction of the risk and take the same time.
Ignoring the chevron because the rival is off screen. The chevron exists precisely because it is off screen.
Sitting at home once you are ahead on land. Rank is settled at 2:00, and the rivals do not stop growing while you wait.

Tips

Plan the whole loop before you leave home - you cannot correct it by turning back.
Turn for home the moment the ring appears; 1.2 seconds is about seven tiles.
Fat loops beat long ones; the same distance encloses far more ground.
Cutting a rival's trail frees all of its land, which moves the rank order twice.
Easy and Normal rivals are slower than you; on Hard they are exactly your speed, so set the ambush early.

Questions about Land Grab 3D

Can I be killed while standing on my own land?

No. Your own colour is safe for as long as you want to stand on it. You can only die outside it - cut by a rival, crossing your own trail, or rolling off the rim.

What happens if I cross my own trail?

You die, exactly as if a rival had cut it. It costs one of your three lives and the loop you were drawing.

Do I lose my territory when I lose a life?

No. You keep every tile you had already claimed and respawn at the centre of your largest block. Only the in-progress trail is wiped.

Can a rival take my territory while I am at home?

Only a rival with a trail out can claim anything, and it has to enclose your tiles to do it. Nothing shrinks your land on its own.

What happens when I kill a rival?

It is out for about a second and a half, then respawns on a fresh five-by-five patch elsewhere. All of the land it held is released back to neutral ground.

Does the match ever end on its own?

Yes. The clock runs for 2:00 and the leader on land wins. Reaching 45% at any point wins immediately, and losing all three lives ends it early.

What do the difficulty chips change?

Rival reaction time (380, 240 or 130 ms), how deep they will raid (6, 11 or 16 tiles) and how readily the Hunter locks onto you. Rivals are never faster than you on Easy or Normal, and exactly your speed on Hard.

Does it cost anything?

No. Land Grab 3D is free to play, runs in your browser, and needs no download, install or account.

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