College football, played as Risk

The Imperialism Map

3,142 counties11 empires209 battles2 raidsFinal · Jan 20

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 2024 season, played to its final whistle.

Final conquests

Bowls 1

Texas def. Clemson38–24 · Dec 21+272 counties
Illinois def. South Carolina21–17 · Dec 31upset+356 counties
LSU def. Baylor44–31 · Dec 31+519 counties
Penn State def. Boise State31–14 · Dec 31+279 counties
Ohio State def. Oregon41–21 · Jan 1+259 counties
Notre Dame def. Georgia23–10 · Jan 2+377 counties
North Dakota State def. Montana State35–32 · Jan 6raid+25 counties
Notre Dame def. Penn State27–24 · Jan 9+279 counties
Ohio State def. Texas28–14 · Jan 10+272 counties
Ohio State def. Notre Dame34–23 · Jan 20+778 counties

Standings

The Empires

11 landholders · final

1Ohio State1,841,743 mi² · 1,309 co
2LSU711,451 mi² · 519 co
3Michigan280,023 mi² · 404 co
4Marshall224,499 mi² · 268 co
5Illinois212,692 mi² · 356 co
6Florida98,932 mi² · 86 co
7North Dakota StateFCS88,671 mi² · 25 co
8Syracuse53,918 mi² · 86 co
9TCU46,888 mi² · 52 co
10Missouri31,718 mi² · 21 co
11Memphis14,926 mi² · 16 co

‹ 2023 season 2025 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 2024 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.