A round
A default round is 5 sheep against 2 hunters and lasts 8 minutes. Bots fill any empty seat, so you can play alone, with friends, or both.
- The first 40 seconds belong to the sheep. The hunters wait in their den in a corner of the map while you build.
- Then the den opens. Hunters are faster than you and can chew straight through walls. A hunter that touches a sheep tags it.
- The last minute is night. Hunters get faster and everyone sees less.
- Sheep win if a single sheep is still standing when the clock hits zero. Hunters win by tagging every sheep.
Custom games let you set the teams, the length (2 to 30 minutes), the season and the bot difficulty: Easy, Normal or Hard.
Playing a sheep
Gold and building
You start with 25 gold and earn 1.25 gold a second. Every farm blocks movement, so every farm is wall. You build right next to where you stand: click a spot further away and your sheep walks there and builds it, and you can queue several in a row. Long Reach costs 20 gold and lets you build from up to 10 tiles away.
The one-tile gap
This is the rule the whole game turns on. A sheep fits through a gap one tile wide. A hunter does not; it needs two. Build a fort with a one-tile door and you can slip in and out while the pack has to chew its way through. While you place a farm, the ground shows where a hunter can reach you: green is safe, red is not.
Abilities
- Leap Q: jump up to 3.4 tiles toward the cursor, clean over farms and fences. 10 second cooldown.
- Shear E: once your fleece reaches 40%, shear it into wool bales, one per 25%. You run 15% faster for 15 seconds while it grows back. Each bale builds a free Wool Wall C.
- Hide: step into a bush and hunters lose sight of you. The bush rustles every few seconds, and a hunter right beside it sees you anyway.
The flock, the dog and the pen
Sheep near each other run 8% faster. A sheepdog joins the flock 15 seconds after the den opens and barks hunters back. A tagged sheep loses every farm it built and becomes a spirit in the pen at the middle of the map. Touch a spirit and it's back in the game, safe from tags for 3 seconds.
Every farm
The number keys build the first nine, the same keys as the field guide on the home page.
| Farm | Key | Size | Cost | Health | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hay Bales | 1 | 2 by 2 | 3g | 170 | The backbone of every fort. |
| Hay Block | 2 | 1 by 1 | 2g | 80 | Plugs a gap or blocks a chaser in a tight lane. |
| Hedgerow | 3 | 2 by 2 | 4g | 420 | Planted at a quarter strength, full after a minute. |
| Stone Wall | 4 | 2 by 2 | 15g | 800 | The toughest thing you can build. |
| Big Barn | 5 | 3 by 3 | 10g | 520 | Walls off a big opening in one go. |
| Windmill | 6 | 2 by 2 | 24g | 120 | Grinds half a gold a second. Hide it inside your walls. |
| Beehive | 7 | 2 by 2 | 34g | 260 | Bees chase hunters within 7.5 tiles and slow them 45%. |
| Shadow Shed | 8 | 2 by 2 | 20g | 200 | Invisible to hunters unless they ward it or bump into it. |
| Scarecrow | 9 | 1 by 1 | 10g | 60 | Hunters see a sheep until they get close. |
| Plank Bridge | B | 1 by 1 | 3g | 150 | Water only. One plank lets sheep cross; two side by side let hunters cross too. |
| Wool Wall | C | 2 by 2 | 1 bale | 240 | Your own fleece, no gold. |
Upgrades
Farms upgrade in place with U and keep the damage they have taken. Hay Bales become Double Bales (6 gold, 320 health), then a Stone Wall (15 gold, 800). A Windmill becomes a Grain Mill (30 gold, 160 health, 1.1 gold a second). X demolishes your own farm.
Playing a hunter
Hunters start with 10 gold, earn 1 gold a second and get 15 gold for every tag (5 for helping). Right-click a farm to chew it, and run into sheep to tag them. There are two classes.
Wolf
Fast, with a bite of 34 damage.
- Sprint Q: 45% faster for 2 seconds. 20 second cooldown.
- Smash E: two and a half times damage to every farm within 3.2 tiles. 22 second cooldown.
- Howl R: reveals every sheep on the map to your pack for 3.5 seconds. 60 second cooldown.
- Watcher Ward F: 25 gold. Plant it up to 14 tiles away; it sees 10 tiles around it and shows Shadow Sheds, for 2 minutes.
Shepherd
Slower, sees further, and hits farms for 52. Torch Q sets every farm within 3 tiles of the target burning for 45 damage a second over 4 seconds. 16 second cooldown.
Items
Iron Claws Z: 75 gold, 12 more damage to farms, up to three. Swift Paws X: 90 gold, a little more speed, up to two. Spend early: you can shop in the den before it opens.
Night
For the last 60 seconds the sun goes down. Hunters move 10% faster, hunters see a quarter less far, and sheep see a fifth less far. Your farms light their lanterns. A fort that held all round can fall here, so this is when a rescue or a well-placed Scarecrow matters most.
Controls
Keyboard and mouse
- Move with W A S D or right-click the ground.
- Pick a farm with 1 to 9, then click to place it.
- Tab shows the scoreboard, Space recenters the camera.
- Every key can be changed in Settings.
Phone
- Drag the left side of the screen to walk, or tap to move or attack.
- Drag a farm from the bar onto the field to place it.
- Long-press your own farm to upgrade or demolish it.
- Pinch to zoom.
Tips
- Leave a door. A sealed fort is safe until it is not, and then you have no way out. A one-tile door lets you leave to rescue a friend and get back in.
- Plant hedges first. A Hedgerow is weak when planted and tougher than stone a minute later, so it pays to get them in before the den opens.
- Hide your Windmills. At 120 health they are the easiest thing to break. Inside your walls they pay for the rest of your fort.
- Upgrade, don't rebuild. An upgrade keeps the wall standing while it gets tougher.
- As a hunter, use Howl when a fort goes quiet. A sheep that slipped out a back door is often closer than you think.
Keep reading: where Sheep Tag came from, from a Warcraft III custom map to the browser.
The den opens in 40 seconds.
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