Paper.io 2 — Draw the Loop, Take the Ground

Paper.io 2: every loop is a bet on how far you can stray from home

Paper.io 2 is the second of Voodoo's paper-cutting games and the one that got rid of the grid. In the first game you moved square by square; here your cube glides freely across a big circular arena, so a loop can be any shape you like, and the ground it encloses fills with your colour the instant you touch your own border again. The tension is the same as it ever was. Every metre you travel outside your area is a metre of trail that anybody can cross, and if they do, you are gone and the whole run starts over at a tiny fresh patch. Tight, frequent loops keep you alive; long, greedy ones are how the top of the leaderboard is won and lost.

The version on paperio2.co is the browser build that Voodoo published for the web, and it is served from this site rather than embedded from somewhere else. It plays against bots with names and a live leaderboard, so there is no server to wait for and a round begins in a couple of seconds. Skins unlock as you earn coins, the best score sticks between visits, and the whole thing works with a mouse, the keyboard or a thumb on a phone screen.

Controls & mechanics

How to hold more of the map in Paper.io 2

1. Build along your own edge: The safest loop hugs your border: step out, run parallel to your area for a stretch, then turn back in. It adds a strip every time and your trail is never more than a few seconds from home.
2. Cut when the trail is long, not when it is close: A rival deep in a loop is a rival with a long tail behind them. Aim for the far end of the trail, where they cannot turn round in time; a cut near their head usually ends with you in their path instead.
3. Take unclaimed ground first: Filling empty arena costs nothing and nobody is standing on it. Painting over another player's colour is possible, but they tend to be close by, and a loop through their territory is exactly where they will be looking.

Key features

• Free-form loops: No grid: the trail bends wherever you steer it, and anything you enclose fills with your colour.
• Bots with a leaderboard: The arena fills with named opponents, ranked live by the share of the map they hold.
• Skins and best score: Coins earned in play unlock new cube skins, and your best percentage is saved in the browser.

Game info

• Title: Paper.io 2
• Developer: Voodoo
• Category: Territory .io Games
• Platform: Web browser (HTML5)
• Arena: Single player against bots, live leaderboard

Pro tip: The moment a rival is killed, every bit of territory they held is released. If you are already sitting near their patch, that is the cheapest ground you will ever claim: loop through the empty space at once, before the game drops a fresh cube on it.

Frequently asked questions