Game Guide

How to Play Turf Warz

Everything you need to claim territory, level up your dog, and dominate your neighborhood map.

Quick start — the core loop
Step 1
🐾
Walk your dog
Start a walk session. GPS tracks your route in real time.
Step 2
📍
Mark territory
When your dog does their thing, tap the button to claim that spot.
Step 3
🗺️
Build your turf
Claims grow your territory on the shared neighborhood map.
Step 4
⚔️
Defend and flip
Other dogs can take your turf. Fight back. Level up. Hold your ground.
Step 5
🏆
Climb the ranks
Earn points, build streaks, compete on leaderboards. Become the Top Dog.
Features

What's in the game

Turf Warz is a location-based mobile game for iOS and Android. Here's everything you can do.

Territory claiming

The heart of the game. During a walk, tap the Mark Territory button to claim a circular zone on the shared map. Your territory appears in your color and is visible to all players. Claim enough and it grows into a connected patch — your turf.

Each claim covers a 100-meter radius around your marked location. Territory can be contested — other players can flip it back.

Walk tracking

Every walk is tracked with full GPS — distance, duration, pace, and estimated calories. Your route draws on the map in real time. If you lose signal, walks are cached locally and sync when you reconnect. Every walk is saved to your history.

Dog profiles

Register up to 5 dogs with photos, breed info, and personality descriptions. Each dog has their own stats, XP, level, and attributes. Switch between dogs for different walks — your dogs are your fighters, and their stats determine how well they claim and defend territory.

Leveling & prestige

Dogs earn XP from claiming territory, winning flips, and completing walks. They level up to a max of Level 80. Once a dog hits max level they can prestige — resetting their level to earn permanent bonuses and a tier badge displayed in the Hall of Fame.

Bronze Silver Gold Platinum Diamond

Dog attributes

Every dog has three core attributes on a 0–100 scale. These grow through real-world walking behavior and directly power your dog in flip battles.

💪 Strength
Grows from walk streaks. The longer your consecutive daily streak, the more strength your dog builds.
⚡ Speed
Grows from walking pace. Faster walks (excluding rest breaks) build more speed.
🏃 Endurance
Grows from longer walks. More active walking time equals more endurance earned.

Packs

Form or join a Pack — a team of up to 20 dog walkers who hold territory together. Pack members share a territory color on the map and compete on pack leaderboards. Walking near packmates' territory earns bonus XP. Pack leaders can organize events and manage members.

Buddies & rivals

Buddies are players you add to see head-to-head stats on buddy-only leaderboards. Send and accept requests from players you encounter in-game.

Rivals are declared automatically. When you and another player keep flipping each other's territory, the game notices. Once both sides have flipped each other at least twice, it's official — you'll get rivalry notifications, head-to-head stats, and bragging rights. Rivalries expire after 7 days of inactivity.

Bark Feed

A social feed for sharing walk highlights, dog photos, and moments from the field. Post up to 8 photos per post, leave comments, and react to other players' posts. Control who sees your posts: public, buddies-only, pack-only, or private.

Leaderboards

Compete across 6 categories, each with 3 scopes — Global, Buddies, and Packs.

CategoryWhat it tracks
Turf HeldMost active territory currently claimed
Total PointsAll-time territory points earned
Total FlipsMost successful territory flips
DistanceTotal distance walked
StreakLongest consecutive daily walk streak
Most ActiveMost walks in the current week

Family sharing

Share your account with up to 8 family members so they can walk the dogs too. Each family member gets their own login but shares the household's dog profiles. Walks must start within 10 km of the primary user's last walk location.

Privacy & safety

You have full control over your visibility. Your real-time location is never shared with other players — walk routes and territory are only visible after a walk ends, and start/end points are automatically blurred by 200 meters.

  • Territory visibility — Public, buddies-only, or private (ghost mode)
  • Territory masking — Show your name, go anonymous, or full visibility
  • Walk obfuscation — Start and end points blurred by 200 meters
  • Blocking — Block players to hide each other's territory and profiles

Hall of Fame

A public showcase of dogs who have achieved prestige status — no account required to view. Dogs are ranked by prestige tier, from Bronze warriors to Diamond legends. Getting your dog into the Hall of Fame requires reaching Level 80 and choosing to prestige.

Achievements

Earn achievements by hitting milestones across 10 categories. Achievements are tiered — Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Special — and some unlock territory skins or XP/decay bonuses.

CategoryWhat it tracksRange
WalkingWalks completed1 – 5,000
StreaksConsecutive daily streak3 – 548 days
DistanceTotal distance walked1.6 km – 500 km
ClaimsTerritories claimed1 – 5,000
FlipsTerritories flipped1 – 2,500
SocialBuddies made1 – 100
PacksJoin or create a pack1
LandmarksLandmarks identified1 – 500
BugsConfirmed bug reports1 – 150
CommunityInvites accepted3 – 1,000
FounderEarly access participantSpecial tier

Achievements within a category are chained — complete the previous tier before progressing to the next. Your badges are visible on your profile.

Territory skins

Customize how your territory looks on the map with unlockable skins. Skins are earned through achievements and prestige — they cannot be purchased.

SkinRarityHow to unlock
DefaultCommonAvailable to all players
Founder's GlowLegendaryEarly access founder achievement
Bronze ShimmerRareReach Prestige 1
Silver ShimmerEpicReach Prestige 2
Gold ShimmerEpicReach Prestige 3
Platinum ShimmerLegendaryReach Prestige 4
Diamond ShimmerLegendaryReach Prestige 5
Skins apply visual effects to your territory circles — glows, borders, and shimmer patterns. Founder and prestige skins are exclusive and will never be available for purchase.

Crowdsourced landmarks

Players can submit real-world landmarks they discover during walks — dog parks, fire hydrants, trail heads, water fountains, and more.

How it works
  • During an active walk, tap Submit Landmark in the walk panel
  • Take a clear photo where the landmark is clearly visible (required)
  • Enter a name, description, and category
  • Your landmark starts as unverified and is visible to nearby players
  • Other players who walk near it can confirm or reject it
  • After 5 confirmations, the landmark is verified and becomes permanent
  • After 3 rejections (with no confirmations), the landmark is removed
Landmark zone bonuses
  • 5× territory points when claiming within a landmark zone
  • 3× XP multiplier for claims and flips
  • Faster decay (24-hour base) — keeping landmarks competitive
Landmark rules
  • You must be on an active walk to submit — no armchair submissions
  • Maximum 3 submissions per day
  • No two landmarks can exist within 90 meters of each other
  • You cannot vote on your own landmark
  • Unverified landmarks expire after 14 days with no votes
  • Verified landmarks are permanent — players can report or suggest corrections
  • The submitter gets permanent "discovered by" credit
Mechanics

How it all works

The systems under the hood — how claims are validated, how territory is scored, and how flip battles play out.

How claiming works

Every claim is validated server-side. Here's what happens when you tap Mark Territory:

  • Cooldown — 60 seconds must pass between claims
  • Movement — You must move at least 20 meters from your last claim
  • GPS accuracy — Signal must be accurate within 50 meters
  • Speed lock — If you exceed 12 km/h for 3 consecutive GPS readings, claiming is disabled until you slow down
  • Geofencing — Claims inside restricted zones (schools, hospitals, etc.) are automatically rejected
Claim limits
  • Per walk — Each dog can make up to 5 claims per walk session
  • Per day — Each dog can make up to 10 claims per day, plus 1 extra per prestige level

Territory scoring

Not all territory is equal. Higher-value zones earn more points per claim, and contested territory earns a flip bonus.

Zone typePoints per claim
Standard1 point
Premium2 points
Landmark5 points

Contested territories earn a flip bonus that scales with how many times the zone has changed hands:

flip bonus = log2(flip count + 1)

Territory decay

Territory doesn't last forever. If you stop walking it, it fades. Higher-value zones decay faster — Landmark territory needs the most maintenance.

Zone typeBase decay time
Standard72 hours
Premium48 hours
Landmark24 hours

Your dog's level extends decay time. At Level 80, a Standard zone can hold for up to 14 days. Prestige adds an additional 5% bonus per prestige level on top of that.

Claiming your own territory refreshes its decay timer — but earns no points or XP. Use it to hold ground, not to grind.

Flip battles

When you mark territory that belongs to another player, a flip battle occurs. It's not just about who's stronger — there's always an element of chance.

How a flip is resolved
  • Your dog's power is calculated: (Strength + Speed + Endurance) × (1 + 0.1 × (Level − 1))
  • The defender's power is calculated the same way
  • Flip chance = your power ÷ (your power + their power), clamped between 12.5% and 87.5%
  • A random roll determines the outcome
OutcomeResult
WinTerritory is now yours. You earn XP and points.
LoseTerritory stays with the defender. They earn defense XP.
Undefended territoryFlips at 100% — no battle needed.

You get 1 flip attempt per territory zone per dog per day, resetting at midnight UTC. Choose your battles wisely.

XP rewards

ActionXP earned
Claim territory10 XP
First claim of the day+20 XP bonus
Landmark claim3× multiplier
Near pack territory1.5× multiplier
Win a flip25 XP (15 base + 10 bonus)
Defend territory5 XP
Lose territory3 XP
Complete a walk25 XP (with streak multiplier)

Prestige adds a 5% XP boost per prestige level to all gains.

Leveling detail

Dogs level from 1 to 80. Each level requires more XP than the last:

XP required = 25 × level × (1 + level ÷ 80)

At Level 80, dogs can prestige — resetting their level in exchange for permanent bonuses:

  • 5% XP boost per prestige level on all gains
  • Extended territory decay protection per prestige level
  • Attribute floor raised by 5 per prestige (Prestige 1 = floor of 15, Prestige 2 = 20, etc.)
Rules

The rules of the game

Turf Warz is built around real physical movement. These rules exist to keep it fair and grounded in the real world.

Walk rules

  • Minimum walk — 15 minutes and 0.75 miles (1,207 meters) to count as a completed walk
  • One at a time — Only one active walk per person and per dog at a time
  • Resume window — If a walk ends, you have 30 minutes to resume and continue where you left off
  • GPS required — Walks need an active GPS signal accurate within 50 meters

Speed & movement

  • Speed lock — Exceeding 12 km/h (~7.5 mph) triggers speed violations. After 3 consecutive violations, claiming is disabled for that speed burst. Slow down to reset.
  • Teleportation detection — GPS jumps exceeding 50 km/h over 200+ meters flag the session. Claims are rejected from flagged sessions.
  • Movement requirement — You must move at least 20 meters between claims. No standing in one spot.

Territory rules

  • Decay is mandatory — All territory expires. Walk regularly to maintain your turf.
  • Refreshing — Claiming your own territory resets its decay timer. No points or XP awarded.
  • Flip limit — 1 attempt per territory zone per dog per day. Resets at midnight UTC.
  • Flip is random — Even the weakest dog has a 12.5% chance to win. Even the strongest caps at 87.5%. There are no guaranteed outcomes.

Rivalry rules

  • A rivalry activates when both dogs flip each other's territory at least twice
  • Rivalries expire after 7 days without a flip between the two
  • Rivalry tracking respects privacy settings — anonymous or private profiles won't be tracked (flips still count, just no rivalry record)

Fair play

  • Geofenced zones — Schools, hospitals, cemeteries, playgrounds, and military bases are excluded from gameplay
  • Server-authoritative — All claims are validated server-side. The client cannot override anti-cheat checks.
  • GPS accuracy — Claims with poor GPS accuracy (above 50 meters) are silently rejected
  • No spoofing — Teleportation detection flags impossible GPS patterns automatically

Social limits

LimitValue
Dogs per account5
Pack members20
Family members8
Posts per day10
Comments per day50
Photos per post8
Pending buddy requests20
Invite codes per user5

Privacy rules

  • Real-time location is never shared with other players
  • Walk routes and territory are only visible after a walk ends
  • Walk start and end points are blurred by 200 meters to protect your home location
  • You control who can see your territory: everyone, buddies only, or no one (ghost mode)
  • Blocked players cannot see your territory, profile, or posts — and you can't see theirs

Family rules

  • Family members must start walks within 10 km of the primary account holder's last walk location
  • If multiple family members walk simultaneously, they must be within 50 km of each other
  • Each family member gets their own login but shares the household's dog profiles