Winter Battle

Mission briefing

The perfect winter season has arrived. Join the battle between Santa Claus and the Grinch under the snow. Collect all the gift boxes falling from the sky, but remember, some gift boxes are very dangerous. As you collect gift boxes, your size increases; naturally, if you collect the wrong box, your size will shrink. Collect the highest score before time runs out to win the game.

Field manual

*You can move with WASD and Arrow Keys. *Players can push each other using the Down Arrow key or the S key. *The player with the highest score at the end of the duration wins.

Launch orders: press Launch mission above and the game loads on this page itself — nothing downloads and no form stands between you and the first move. It is designed for a landscape (wide) screen and takes its orders from mouse, keyboard or touch, depending on the mission. It is built wide, for a landscape screen — rotate a phone sideways, or give it a tablet or monitor to stretch out on. If it offers a fullscreen control, use it — a fight this size deserves the whole screen.

Field notes for .io arena operations

• Eat at the edges. The centre of an .io arena is where the giants feed; the rim is where small players grow fat on leftovers nobody bothers to chase.
• Never chase a smaller player in a straight line for long. Every second of pursuit is a second the whole arena can see, and something bigger is always watching the chase instead of the chased.
• Use your size as a rumour, not a shield. The moment you make the leaderboard, you become content for everyone's evening — spend big size on safety, position and patience.

Winter Battle — questions from the ranks

What does it cost to play Winter Battle?

Nothing at all. The mission is free from the first order to the last — no sign-up, no download, no paid tier guarding the good levels. The advertising around this page is what keeps the board free.

What sort of mission is Winter Battle?

Winter Battle is filed in our .io Arena theatre. Like every operation on this board, it is a browser game — read the briefing above for the publisher's own account of what you are deploying into.

Can I run Winter Battle on a phone or tablet?

Yes. It plays in the browser on phones and tablets exactly as it does on a computer. It is built wide, for a landscape screen — rotate a phone sideways, or give it a tablet or monitor to stretch out on.

Do I have to install anything before playing?

No installation of any kind. Winter Battle is an HTML5 game: press the launch button and it loads on this page, and closing the tab leaves nothing behind.

After-action

Mission complete, or still pinned down? The full .io Arena theatre is one click away — The open arena: 45 .io operations where everyone starts small, the leaderboard is public, and growing bigger only makes you a more interesting target.