What are pixelgames? How did they start and what did they evolve into?
It all started with rplace an april fools event organised by reddit.
r/place first opened on April 1, 2017. It was just supposed to be a small April Fools joke by Reddit. Nobody really expected it to turn into what it did.
The concept was almost stupidly simple. There was one massive blank canvas. Every Reddit user could place one pixel anywhere they wanted. After placing a pixel, you had to wait a few minutes before placing another. That’s it. No special tools, no drawing features, just single pixels and patience.
At the start, people were just messing around. Random dots everywhere. Then groups started organizing. Subreddits teamed up to draw their logos. Countries started building flags. Meme communities carved out little territories. Because anyone could overwrite any pixel, it quickly became part art project, part war zone. You’d spend hours building something only for another group to start covering it up. Then you’d rally people to defend it.
It only lasted three days in 2017, but in that short time it exploded. Millions of users participated and tens of millions
What happened after? Well many clones of R/place opened but they didnt really get any audience until... pixelplanet opened.
PixelPlanet is basically a giant online pixel map of the world where players can place pixels and slowly build whatever they want on top of a real world map. Think of it like r/place, but permanent and way bigger.
Instead of a blank canvas, the map is shaped like Earth. You can zoom in from a full world view all the way down to individual pixels. Players usually work together to draw country flags, historical borders, memes, artwork, or just random chaos. Since it’s persistent, the map doesn’t reset every few days like r/place did. What gets built can stay there for a long time unless someone paints over it.
It started around 2020 and was created by an independent developer who wanted something similar to collaborative pixel canvases, but without the short time limit. The idea was to let communities slowly shape a world-sized canvas over months and years instead of just a weekend event.
Because it’s based on the real world map, a lot of the activity turns into “territory” battles. Countries defend their flag areas, groups form alliances, and sometimes entire regions get wiped and redrawn overnight. There’s a mix of art, politics, trolling, and teamwork going on all the time.
If you’re into pixel games, it feels like a long-term version of r/place where strategy and coordination matter more since everything is ongoing instead of temporary.
After that many clone sites followed like PixelRoyal Pixmap Pixelya and many other games that closed.
If you want a friendly welcoming community to play in i suggest you join either PixelRoyal Or PixMap those two communities are parteners and friendly towards each other.
So! Are you going to be a pixelgame fan or are you going to pass down the offer?