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Competitions

What are Competitions?

Competitions reward the farmers who make the most progress during the Competition period.

The top 3 players receive Trophies and Treasure Chests containing rewards. Cups and/or prizes are awarded to the top 50 players.

In Competitions there are three different categories: XP, Coins, and Orders.

  • XP Competition — The total amount of XP you earn during the Competition period.
  • Coins Competition — The total number of Coins you earn during the Competition period. You can spend your Coins — the Competition counts how many you earn, not how many you have.
  • Orders Competition — The total number of Orders you deliver during the Competition period.

To open Competitions, either:

  • Open the Neighbors Bar and click the Competitions tab.
  • Click the Competitions button in the lower-left corner of your game. You can enable this button in Settings → Page 5.

Your score in Competitions is updated locally (for you) in real time at the bottom of the Competitions window, and refreshed globally (updated for all players) every 30 minutes, when the tally is done. That is when you see where you rank among other farmers.

The countdown in the upper-left shows how many minutes remain until the next global update.

Competitions Schedule

Competitions follow a 3-week cycle:

  • 1 week of Competitions
  • 2 weeks of pause

Each Competition starts on Sunday at 5 PM UTC and lasts for 7 days.

You’ll see an in-game announcement 48 hours before the next Competition starts.

How do I participate in Competitions?

You don’t need to do anything special to participate. Simply play the game as you normally would, and your progress will automatically count toward the relevant Competition: XP, Coins, and Orders.

When you participate in Competitions, you are automatically placed in the level bracket that matches your level.

To participate, you must reach:

  • Level 21 for the Orders Competition
  • Level 5 for the XP and Coins Competitions

If you want to participate, go to My Account → Privacy and make sure “Don’t participate in Competitions” is not checked, as shown in the image below.

Please note that checking the option will reset your Competition stats (orders, XP, and coins) for the current edition of Competitions. You will also get a popup informing you of this.

I Still Can’t Participate in Competitions

There is one other situation where you may not be able to participate. If you have an old account (no plot limits on your Farm) and have purchased the Factories, but do not have Bellflower Meadow yet, you cannot participate in Competitions.

The reason is that the Main Farm has no limits, while the Factories Area also allows you to place additional Gear. This combination gives an advantage in Competitions.

Ballast

Ballast is a way of introducing dynamic difficulty in Competitions to make it more challenging for players in the top 30 and give other players a better chance to compete. Ballast is a term used in balooning to control altitude, or handicap (term used in golf).

If you finish in the top 30, you’ll receive Ballast in the next Edition. Your Ballast is shown when you hover over the balloon with the sandbag icon in the lower-right corner of the Competitions window.

Ballast is not permanent. It only applies to the next Edition.

  • If you skip an Edition, you’ll start the following Edition with no Ballast.
  • If you want to play and win every Edition, finishing with a smaller lead means you’ll receive less Ballast in the next Edition, so it’s wiser to not blow other competitors out of the water.

If you’re a top player, it will be harder to win the next Edition of Competitions — but certainly not impossible! For all other players, the chances of winning next edition will be improved.

My Competition score is 0!

If you have Ballast, you must clear it first before your Competition score starts increasing. When you clear your Ballast, you’ll also receive bonuses from the sandbag and cloud.

How is Ballast calculated?

Ballast is 70% of the difference between your score and the score of 30th place.

The chart below shows how Ballast is calculated.

Prizes

Prizes are awarded to the top 50 players after Competitions week ends.

If you finish in the top 10 and win a Treasure Chest or Participation Cup, click it to claim your reward.

Places 1–3: Trophy + Treasure Chest. Treasure Chests provide loot for 7 days after claiming. Neighbors can collect from them indefinitely.

Places 4–5: Big Participation Cup + Power, OPs, or Fuel, based on your Competition category and level bracket.

Places 6–10: Small Participation Cup + Power, OPs, or Fuel, based on your Competition category and level bracket.

Places 11–50: Power, OPs, or Fuel, based on your Competition category and level bracket.

Treasure Chest & Trophy loot

You can collect loot from your Treasure Chest for 7 days after claiming it. Place it on your farm and click it!

Loot intervals:

  • Gold Chest: every 5 minutes
  • Silver Chest: every 7 minutes
  • Bronze Chest: every 9 minutes

Neighbor collections:
Neighbors can collect from your Gold Chest indefinitely, as long as you keep it on your farm. They can also collect from your Trophy.

Daily limits:

  • Gold Trophy: 50 claims
  • Silver Trophy: 20 claims
  • Bronze Trophy: 10 claims
  • Gold Chest: 20 claims

FAQ

My trophy is gone!

Trophies for places #1–3 are passed to the winners of the next Edition.

For example, your Edition 14 Trophy moves to the Edition 15 winner when the new winners are announced.

Treasure Chests are permanent and can be stored in your Warehouse.

Why is a player above the level shown for their bracket?

Players stay in the bracket they started in, even if they level up during the Edition. For example, a player who starts at level 57 and finishes at level 63 remains in the 51–60 bracket.

Someone is advancing rapidly in Competitions!

Players have many different strategies for Competitions and often save resources for weeks before a particular Edition.

Top players often:

  • Send lots of trains to earn the Train Complete and Variation bonuses, saving Train Tickets and valuable products for this.
  • Deliver lots of Orders, saving Fuel for deliveries, especially on Tyrone’s Farm with the Orchard Grass deal.
  • Use the Swan Pin for double XP for 6 hours.
  • Wait to claim Ribbons until the Competition starts.

We also have systems in place to ensure Competitions are fair. All scores are earned according to the game rules, and the game is not tampered with. We also automatically check and reload the game if quantities on the player’s device do not match our server data.