Frequently asked questions about Hexfolk

Yes. The classic game, all expansions, games with friends, bots, tutorials and the Map Workshop are free, and there are no adverts. The only thing you can buy with real money is Ranked.

Ranked is a one-off purchase that unlocks rated games with a leaderboard, and you can also give it as a gift. Avatars, emotes, maps and board designs in the Shop are paid for with coins, which you earn by finishing games. Coins can't be bought with money.

Not to try it out. As a guest you play against bots straight away. For online games with others, friends, statistics, coins and your own maps you create a free account.

Yes. Hexfolk runs in the browser on phone, tablet and PC and is built for both touch and mouse. There's nothing to install.

Sign in and open a lobby with "New game". Share the invite link or code, or invite friends straight from your friends list. Bots fill any empty seats. You add friends using their friend code.

2 to 8. From 5 players the board grows to 30 hexes, from 7 players to 44, and after every turn there's a special building phase for the others.

Yes, with up to 7 bots on the levels Easy, Medium, Hard and Master. With an account, bot games are saved continuously so you can pick them up later.

16 languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Turkish, Swedish, Czech, Russian, Ukrainian, Japanese, Chinese (Simplified) and Korean.

No. Hexfolk is an independent game from the same genre: resources on a hex board, building, trading, victory points. If you know Catan, you'll find your way around quickly. Hexfolk is not affiliated with CATAN GmbH, Catan Studio or Kosmos and has its own artwork, its own maps and its own names for its expansions.

Both bring the settlers game to the browser. The main verifiable difference is the business model: according to its own store, colonist.io offers a membership for access to all maps and expansions. Hexfolk has no membership, all expansions are free, and further maps are unlocked with coins earned in games. A factual comparison with sources is on the page Hexfolk or colonist.io.

Rated four-player games under fixed rules: classic game, standard board, 10 victory points, 45 seconds per turn. After 5 placement games you receive a rank from Bronze to Master. If there aren't enough people in the queue, Master bots fill the table after two minutes.

Ships & Islands, Knights & Keeps and the Chocolate Market, freely combinable. On top of that there are three variants: Friendly Robber, Harbourmaster and event cards instead of dice.

An editor for your own islands. You paint hexes, place numbers, harbours, the robber and starting areas, test the map against bots and publish it in the Map Exchange, where others can play, rate and save it.

No, Hexfolk needs an internet connection. Bot games with an account are saved continuously, though, so after a dropped connection you carry on from the last saved point.

Yes. Online games are calculated on the server, and players only send their actions. Every roll comes from a cryptographic random number generator, with no weighting and no balancing. After every game the summary shows how often each number came up and how often it would be expected on average.

The main menu has guided tutorials. You learn the classic game in about five minutes, and Knights & Keeps, Ships & Islands and the Chocolate Market each have a tutorial of their own. Afterwards you carry straight on against bots.

Hexfolk shows no adverts and uses no tracking. For an account we store what running the service requires, such as your name, email address and saved games. Everything else is in the privacy policy, linked at the bottom of every page. You can delete your account in your profile at any time.

Yes. Tap the player's name in the game, the lobby, your friends list or the leaderboard and open their profile. You can report or block them there. We usually review reports within 24 hours.