College football, played as Risk

The Imperialism Map

3,142 counties16 empires171 battles2 raidsFinal · May 16

Surveying the counties…

Every county starts with the nearest FBS stadium. Win, and you take everything the loser holds. Lose it all, and the only way back is beating somebody who still owns dirt. This is the 2020 season, played to its final whistle.

Final conquests

Week 5

BYU def. Louisiana Tech45–14 · Oct 2+39 counties
Coastal Carolina def. Arkansas State52–23 · Oct 3upset+46 counties
NC State def. Pittsburgh30–29 · Oct 3upset+17 counties
West Virginia def. Baylor27–21 · Oct 3upset+13 counties
TCU def. Texas33–31 · Oct 3upset+97 counties
UAB def. UTSA21–13 · Oct 3+44 counties
SMU def. Memphis30–27 · Oct 3upset+70 counties
North Carolina def. Boston College26–22 · Oct 3+37 counties
Alabama def. Texas A&M52–24 · Oct 3+43 counties
Air Force def. Navy40–7 · Oct 3+47 counties
Tulsa def. UCF34–26 · Oct 3upset+109 counties
Arkansas def. Mississippi State21–14 · Oct 3upset+37 counties
Georgia def. Auburn27–6 · Oct 3+58 counties
Clemson def. Virginia41–23 · Oct 3+43 counties
New Mexico State def. Utah Tech36–29 · Mar 7+6 counties

Standings

The Empires

16 landholders · final

1Ball State669,001 mi² · 348 co
2Stanford628,107 mi² · 52 co
3Alabama511,574 mi² · 944 co
4Liberty491,995 mi² · 459 co
5Utah248,731 mi² · 122 co
6Oklahoma245,297 mi² · 237 co
7Georgia188,552 mi² · 342 co
8Iowa182,624 mi² · 178 co
9Iowa State105,925 mi² · 21 co
10Kentucky103,812 mi² · 126 co
11Eastern Michigan62,606 mi² · 110 co
12Louisiana56,418 mi² · 44 co

‹ 2019 season 2021 season ›All-time records ›

Articles of war

How the war works

The seeding

Before a down is played, every county in the fifty states is dealt to the FBS program with the nearest stadium, measured as the crow flies from the county's geographic center. Nobody starts landless in the FBS; nobody outside it starts with anything.

The conquest

When a game goes final, the winner takes everything the loser holds at that moment: home soil and every prior conquest alike. Games are replayed in kickoff order, so an empire can rise and fall inside a single Saturday.

III

The raid

A team with no land has nothing to lose, but it can beat any landholder and take the lot. That is how FCS, Division II and Division III programs raid their way onto the map, and land taken downward can stay there all season.

Ties, unfinished games and games without a score are ignored. Territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands) are off the map. Neutral-site games overseas do not yet award foreign soil. A week appears in the timeline once its first game goes final. The current map is refreshed automatically every morning during the season. The 2020 campaign is complete. Stadium coordinates, colors and logos are today's; conference and division come from each season's own results. The full rules and methodology have the details.