College football, played as Risk

The Imperialism Map

3,142 counties12 empires214 battles29 raidsFinal · Jan 10

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 2021 season, played to its final whistle.

Final conquests

Bowls 1

Middle Tennessee def. Toledo31–24 · Dec 17upset+182 counties
Montana State def. South Dakota State31–17 · Dec 18raid+105 counties
Miami (OH) def. North Texas27–14 · Dec 23+345 counties
UCF def. Florida29–17 · Dec 23upset+68 counties
Michigan State def. Pittsburgh31–21 · Dec 30upset+89 counties
Alabama def. Cincinnati27–6 · Dec 31+220 counties
Georgia def. Michigan34–11 · Dec 31+168 counties
Ohio State def. Utah48–45 · Jan 1+232 counties
Baylor def. Ole Miss21–7 · Jan 1upset+90 counties
North Dakota State def. Montana State38–10 · Jan 8raid+108 counties
Georgia def. Alabama33–18 · Jan 10upset+658 counties

Standings

The Empires

12 landholders · final

1North Dakota StateFCS784,508 mi² · 135 co
2Utah State715,589 mi² · 357 co
3Georgia569,847 mi² · 826 co
4Baylor465,597 mi² · 449 co
5Ohio State287,030 mi² · 232 co
6Miami (OH)259,617 mi² · 345 co
7Minnesota175,088 mi² · 327 co
8Michigan State118,876 mi² · 89 co
9Middle Tennessee88,935 mi² · 182 co
10Louisiana61,819 mi² · 93 co
11UCF55,886 mi² · 68 co
12Clemson22,669 mi² · 39 co

‹ 2020 season 2022 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 2021 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.