Ant Game

Ant Game is a cartoon colony strategy game seen from the side, like a slice through an ant hill. Dig tunnels and chambers, decide how many ants work, fight and forage, and grow the colony season by season while rain, a hungry beetle and a rival colony get in the way. Play the ant game online free in your browser, with no download or sign-up, on desktop or on your phone.

How to play

You start with a queen, ten ants and a short tunnel under the nest mound.

• Dig the nest. Pick a tool and tap the soil. Tunnel digs a path to that spot (drag to paint). Nursery, Food store and Queen’s chamber mark a two-by-two room and a tunnel to it. Workers dig it out cell by cell. Deeper soil takes longer, and grey rock can’t be dug.
• Raise the brood. Eggs grow through larva and pupa into adult ants. The queen lays about two and a half times faster once her own chamber is dug. Each nursery holds 14 more brood and each food store 45 more food.
• Split the colony. Two sliders set the share of soldiers and foragers; the rest are workers. Workers dig and nurse, foragers fetch food, and soldiers defend.
• Follow the trails. Scouts find bread crumbs, fruit and dead insects on the surface. A dotted pheromone trail then links the food to the nest, and foragers carry it home. Tap a food item to mark a strong trail that pulls three times as many foragers.

Seasons, threats and goals

Each season lasts 45 seconds at normal speed, and you can switch to 2x or 4x. In winter the queen stops laying, foragers stay in, and the colony lives off its stores.

• Rain washes every trail away and floods the top rows of the nest. The blue dashed line shows how deep the worst rain in that scenario can reach. Brood in a flooded nursery drowns, food in a flooded store spoils, and if the queen’s chamber stays under water too long, the queen drowns and the game ends.
• The beetle eats food, foragers on trails it crosses, and ants at the entrance. Tap it (or press B) to send your soldiers. Beat it and its body becomes a big pile of food.
• Rival ants march on your nest in the Rival Hill scenario. Win the fight at the entrance and the fallen raiders become food; lose it and they steal food and brood.

Three scenarios unlock in order. First Nest asks for 75 ants within one year, Rainy Meadow for 120 ants in six seasons with deep floods, and Rival Hill for 180 ants in two years with regular raids. Sandbox has no deadline. Progress and best times are saved in your browser, and you can continue an unfinished colony.

Strategy tips

• Queen’s chamber first, nursery second. Without them the queen lays slowly and only six brood fit.
• Dig below the blue line. Rooms above the flood mark lose brood and food whenever it rains.
• Feed the growth. Every adult and every larva eats. When food runs low, raise the forager share or tap the closest food.
• Keep some soldiers. Ten to twenty percent usually handles the beetle. Raise it when raiders are coming.
• Stock up for winter. Build food stores and fill them in autumn.

Real ant facts in the game

The facts under the board come from Wikipedia’s Ant article. Typical colonies are made of sterile, wingless females, mostly workers, along with one or more fertile queens that lay the eggs. Ants develop by complete metamorphosis, from egg to larva to pupa to adult, and workers feed the larvae. “Soldier” ants are larger workers with big heads and strong jaws. A forager that finds food marks a pheromone trail on the way home; other ants follow and reinforce it, and the scent fades once the food runs out. In real colonies a worker’s job often changes with age, from nursing to digging to defending and foraging. The sliders, numbers and threats are game design, not biology.

FAQ

Is Ant Game free to play?

Yes. It is completely free, with no account and no install.

Why did my colony stop growing?

Usually the brood counter is full, so you need another nursery, or the food store is empty, so you need more foragers. In winter the queen rests until spring.

Can I play it on a phone or Chromebook?

Yes. Tap the soil to dig, drag to paint tunnels, and use the sliders to set the split. Touching the nest does not scroll the page. On a keyboard, keys 1 to 4 pick a tool and the arrow keys and Enter dig.

Like building and managing? Try the City Builder, or our hive puzzle Bee Game.