How to play The Crate Game
Free online multiplayer game · plays in your browser · no download
- The Crate Game is a free online multiplayer game for desktop and laptop browsers: a squad shooter you play with friends. You play as a guest: no download, no sign-up.
- Crates rain down on the island. Carry them home and stack them on your squad's pad: the shape of the stack decides the weapon or vehicle, the crate colour decides how strong it is.
- About 20 players in every battle, in squads of two or three. Flatten every other squad's HQ to win.
- Play with friends in a party (one squad, one battle, voice chat), or alone: bots fill the empty places.
How a battle works
Every battle is on one of three islands: Greenhollow, Twin Isles or Frostpeak. Each squad has a base with an HQ and a pad, the place where you build.
- Grab crates. Crates rain down on the crate spots all over the island. Stand in a spot to capture it: then only your squad can lift its crates.
- Stack them on your pad. Carry a crate home and drop it on the pad. Crates that touch make one stack, and the pad tells you what the stack will become.
- Punch it open. A finished stack stays shut until somebody punches it open. Enemies can open your stacks too, and take what is inside.
- Flatten the other HQs. You come back 8 seconds after you are knocked out, and the rest of your squad in waves every 10 seconds, but only while your HQ stands. A squad whose HQ is destroyed stops coming back until a wall rebuilds it.
You lead your squad with orders: follow me, defend here, attack or capture there, build, or let the squad decide.
Crate recipes: every weapon and vehicle
The pad is a 2 x 2 floor with room for four more crates on top. The shape of a stack decides what you get. The highest crate colour in it decides the tier: one blue crate turns the whole stack blue, one green crate turns it green. Nothing is luck: the same stack always gives the same thing.
| Stack | Red | Blue | Green |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 crate | Rattler SMG | Hand Cannon | Pulse Repeater |
| 2 side by side | Boomstick | Thumper | Hive Launcher |
| 2 stacked | Grenades | Mortar | Crate Strike |
| 3 flat | AK-47 | Long Rifle | Rail Rifle |
| 2 side by side + 1 on top | Scorcher | Mender | Arc Caster |
| 4 flat | Rocket Tube | Spinner | Plasma Cannon |
| 4 flat + 2 on top | Pickup Truck | Technical | Gyrocopter |
| All 8 (the full pad) | Tank | Mech | Titan |
| 2 side by side + 2 on top (wall) | HQ +20% | HQ +50% | HQ +100% |
The wall is not an item: it mends your HQ, shields it, and rebuilds it after it was destroyed. Every squaddie starts with fists, and comes back after a knock-out with a Pop Pistol.
Where blue and green crates come from
The colour of a crate depends on where it falls. The fields in front of the bases only give red crates. On the borders between two bases 1 crate in 10 is blue. In the Big Drop in the middle of the island 3 in 10 are blue and 1 in 20 is green, so the best weapons are worth fighting over.
Game modes
Deathmatch
Knock out the other squads and flatten their HQs. The last squad standing wins, however long it takes.
Domination
A fortress stands in the middle of the island. Your squad scores a point every second while it holds the Fortress and no other squad is inside. The first squad to 120 points wins, or the last squad standing.
Capture the Flag is on its way.
Squads, parties and friends
- Squads of two or three. Each solo player or party gets a squad of its own; bots fill the places nobody took.
- Parties. Start a party and send the link or the six-letter code. Everyone in it drops into the same battle in the same squad, and the party has voice chat.
- Friends and clans. With a free account you pick a gamertag that friends add you by. Clans hold up to 30 players under one tag, with a clan chat.
- Matchmaking. Play finds other players and puts you in one battle. It starts once the battle is full, or sooner when nobody else is around.
Controls
Aim with the mouse, shoot with the left button and zoom with the right button. A gamepad works too. Every key can be changed in Settings.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| W A S D | Move |
| Shift | Sprint (in a Gyrocopter: fly lower) |
| Space | Jump (in a Gyrocopter: fly higher) |
| F | Punch, and punch a stack open |
| E | Use, pick up a crate or weapon, drive |
| 1 to 5 | Squad orders |
| G | Ping (hold for the ping wheel) |
| B | Emote wheel |
| Tab | Scores |
| Enter | Chat to your squad |
| T | Voice chat |
| H | How to play, with every recipe |
Levels, coins and the shop
- Levels and ranks. Battles give XP. Your rank goes from Recruit to Crate Legend at level 100, and emotes open up as you level.
- Coins. Battles played with a free account pay coins: 12 for a win and 5 for a loss.
- Weekly leaderboard. It starts again every Monday, and the best 100 players of the week win coins: 400 for first place.
- The shop. New looks every Monday: weapon wraps, gloves, hats, eyebrows, eyes, titles, name cards and emotes. Nothing in the shop makes you stronger.
What you need to play
- A desktop or laptop computer with a keyboard and a mouse or trackpad, or a gamepad.
- A recent Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari with 3D graphics (WebGL) switched on.
- Phones and tablets cannot play yet.
Questions and answers
Is The Crate Game free?
Yes. The Crate Game is a free multiplayer game: free to play in your browser, with no download. The shop only sells looks, such as weapon wraps, hats and emotes: nothing you can buy makes you stronger.
Is The Crate Game an online multiplayer game?
Yes. Every battle is online with about 20 players in squads of two or three. You play with your friends or with players from anywhere, and bots fill the places nobody took, so a battle always starts.
Do I have to download or install anything?
No. The game runs in the web browser of a desktop or laptop computer. Open the page and press Play; you start as a guest without signing up.
Can I play with my friends?
Yes. Start a party and send your friends the link or the six-letter code. Everyone in a party plays in the same squad in the same battle, with voice chat.
Can I play on a phone or tablet?
Not yet. You move with the keyboard and aim with the mouse (a gamepad works too), so the game needs a computer.
How many players are in a battle?
About 20: ten squads of two or seven squads of three. Each player or party gets a squad of its own, and bots fill the places nobody took.
How do you get weapons and vehicles?
Carry crates to your squad's pad and stack them. The shape of the stack decides what you get and the colour of the crates decides the tier; then punch the stack open. One crate makes an SMG, four flat make a rocket launcher, and the full pad of eight makes a tank.
Do I need an account?
No. Guests can play everything. A free account keeps your progress on any device and gives you a gamertag, coins from battles and a place on the weekly leaderboard.
Is The Crate Game safe for children?
Players under 13 can play everything, but text and voice chat stay off for them until a parent agrees. Every player can mute, block and report others.
Who makes The Crate Game?
The Crate Game is made by Pontus Höglund at Webstra Games in Sweden. It is in public beta.