Blimp Arena

Blimp Arena is a free battle royale with building that you play in your browser. An airship crosses an island of fifteen named places, you jump when its doors open and glide down, and from then on it's you against everyone else. Loot what you can, build to take the high ground, and stay ahead of the storm. The last one standing wins.

A match lasts ten minutes at most, and the next one is a click away. Eliminations and wins earn coins, and coins buy new outfits in the Locker.

There's nothing to download and no account to make. Play it with a mouse and keyboard, or with touch controls on a phone or tablet, building and editing included.

1. Board the airship. It takes a different route across the island every match, shown on your map. When the doors open, jump.
2. Glide in. Dive to land first, or open your glider early and pick your spot. You land with nothing but your pickaxe.
3. Loot. Search the houses, towers and farms for guns, ammo, heals and shields. Glowing chests hold better gear, every building has at least one gun, and three supply drops float down during the match with the best loot of all.
4. Build and fight. Harvest wood, brick and metal with your pickaxe, then throw up walls, floors, stairs and roofs when you're shot at, or to get above the player you're fighting.
5. Beat the storm. The storm closes in eight times, and it hurts more the later it gets. Stay inside the safe zone and be the last one standing.

Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone are the battle royales most people know. Both are free to play, but both need an account, and on a computer each is a big download. Blimp Arena is the same kind of game, with the drop, the loot, the building and the storm, in a browser tab.

The island is the same every match, so you can learn it: where to land, which roofs you can reach, where to hide. What changes is the airship's route, the loot and where the storm closes.

• Highbrick HeightsDowntown: brick towers five to seven storeys high with roofs you can get onto, a plaza with a fountain and alleys between.
• Mirror LakeA lake in the middle of the island, with a house on its own little island and docks round the shore.
• Maple MeadowsA suburb of gabled houses with fenced yards, and a park with a sports field.
• Bargain BoulevardA shopping street of coloured awnings, a car park full of cars, a billboard and a water tower.
• Cinder YardA depot of metal warehouses, stacked shipping containers and trucks.
• Fizzwater FlatsA small town round a crossroads, with a petrol station, houses and shops.
• Sprocket FactoryTwo brick factory halls with catwalks inside, chimneys, silos and pipes.
• Posh PointThree white mansions with pools, up on the cliffs.
• Hollow Pines LodgeA log lodge and cabins in the pines, under a wooden lookout tower with a chest at the top.
• Harvest HollowA farm with a big red barn, silos and fields of hay bales.
• Murkwater BogA swamp of wooden stilt houses, docks and dead trees.
• Copper QuarryA pit with scaffolding and minecarts, and offices on its rim.
• Scrap HeapA junkyard of crushed cars stacked in rows, tyres and barrels.
• Gloomstone RuinsRoofless stone ruins, a graveyard, broken columns and dead trees.
• Starlight Drive-InA giant screen over rows of parked cars, with a chest under it and a snack bar.

Between them are lone houses, camps, petrol stations and lookout towers on the hills, with forests, beaches and more chests out in the wild.

Building is what makes a fight in Blimp Arena. Every piece costs ten of a material, and you can build in three:

• Wood goes up fastest but breaks easiest.
• Brick is twice as strong and takes longer to set.
• Metal is the strongest of all, and the slowest.

Swing your pickaxe at trees for wood, at rocks for brick, and at cars, containers and silos for metal. Hit the glowing weak spot and you get twice as much. Walls, floors, stairs and roofs snap to a grid, so you can box yourself in, ramp up to the high ground or build a tower in seconds. Each piece needs something to stand on: knock out what holds a build up and the rest comes down with it.

Edit your own pieces to cut doors, windows and arches into walls, open holes in floors, slope roofs and reshape stairs. There are traps too: a Damage Trap for walls, floors and ceilings, a Launch Pad that throws you into the air and opens your glider, and a Cozy Campfire that heals everyone around it.

There are 15 guns, in five rarities from Common to Legendary. The rarer a gun, the harder it hits, and loot on the ground shines in its rarity's colour.

• Rifles: the Assault Rifle, the Burst Rifle and the Scoped Rifle.
• Shotguns: the Pump Shotgun, the Tactical Shotgun and the Heavy Shotgun.
• Close range: the Submachine Gun, the Silenced SMG, the Pistol, the Hand Cannon and the Minigun.
• Long range: the Bolt Sniper and the Hunting Rifle, whose bullets drop over distance.
• Explosives: the Rocket Launcher, the Grenade Launcher and grenades, which tear through builds.

You carry five items besides your pickaxe. Bandages and a Med Kit bring your health back, a Mini Shield and a Big Shield give you up to 100 shield on top, Fizz Juice gives both over time, and a Mega Flask fills both all the way. The storm and long falls go straight past your shield, so don't count on it there.

Press Play and you're in an online match within seconds. A hundred board the airship in every match, and open seats are filled so nobody waits for a full lobby. Matches are solo: there are no teams, and everyone you meet is out to win.

Every elimination earns 50 coins and every win 500. Spend them in the Locker on outfits: eight are free from the start, and the Snuggle Drake, the Ember Sentinel and the Volt Runner are there to save up for. New colours gives any outfit a fresh look, from the skin tone and hair to the glider. When you're out, you can watch the player who got you, and whoever gets them.

With a mouse and keyboard, move with W A S D, aim with the mouse and shoot with the left button; the right button aims down sights. Space jumps, jumps from the airship and opens your glider, E picks up and opens chests, R reloads, C crouches, and 1 to 6 pick your pickaxe and items.

To build, press Q, or go straight to a piece: Z for a wall, X for a floor, V for stairs and B for a roof. G edits the piece you're looking at, T sets a trap, M opens the map and H dances. Every key can be changed.

On a phone or tablet, played sideways, your left thumb moves and your right thumb looks and aims. Hold the bullet button to shoot and tap the hammer to build. Aim assist is on to start with, and you can move and size every button.

Is Blimp Arena free?

Yes. It's free to play, and the coins for outfits are earned by playing. There's nothing to buy.

Do I need to download anything?

No. Blimp Arena runs in your browser tab and loads in seconds. The island, the textures and the sounds are all made as it loads, so there's very little to fetch.

Do I need an account?

No. You get a guest name, and your coins, outfits and settings are saved in your browser, so they're there next time you play.

Can I play on a phone or tablet?

Yes. On a touch screen Blimp Arena has controls made for it, building and editing included. It plays full screen with the device turned sideways, and on an iPhone you can add it to your home screen to play with no browser bars.

How many are in a match?

A hundred, every match. You land on the island with 99 others, and the last one standing wins.

Can I play with friends?

Not as a team: every match is solo. If you and your friends press Play at about the same time, you'll usually land in the same match, and then it's every one of you for yourself.

What do I need to run it?

A browser with WebGL 2, such as Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer, or Safari or Chrome on a phone or tablet. On a slower machine, the Low graphics setting keeps it smooth.