How to play Clockhold

Start a browser strategy run

Clockhold is a free single-player strategy and tower defense game. It runs in a modern browser with JavaScript and an internet connection; there is no game to download. A desktop or laptop with a mouse is recommended.

1. Select Play now on the homepage and sign in with your email.
2. Choose a nickname the first time you play. Your nickname appears beside your best survival time on the leaderboard.
3. Start the game from the introduction. You begin with the Timekeeper, a small village, five workers, and two Ballistas protected by walls.
4. Protect the Timekeeper for as long as you can. Its destruction ends the run.

Simple controls, meaningful placement

Build

Choose a building in the bottom dock, then left-click a valid location on the hex battlefield. The dock shows its resource cost.

Inspect

Left-click an existing building to see its health and available actions. Select a sawmill or quarry to see the resources remaining in its gathering area.

Move around the map

Drag open battlefield space while no build tool is selected. Click the minimap to center the view on another area.

Zoom

Use the mouse wheel over the battlefield to look closer or see more of the map.

Stop or resume time

Press the round Timekeeper dial in the upper-right. Its remaining reserve stays visible as you move around the map.

Hover over a building option for a short purpose hint. Keyboard focus and touch selection also reveal those hints. On smaller screens, landscape gives you more room to see the battlefield and dock.

Stop the siege while your kingdom works

Every run starts with 60 minutes of stored time. Stopping time freezes enemy spawning, movement, attacks and defensive firing. Workers keep gathering resources, building and repairing. Use the breathing room to complete a defense or recover from damage.

The reserve drains only while time is stopped. Press the dial again to resume; an empty reserve resumes the siege automatically. The first attack on a starting defense, or first contact with the Timekeeper, introduces this ability through a short automatic freeze and lesson.

The reserve is not a 60-minute match timer. Survival time counts the active siege, while stored time pays for freezes. Time spent frozen does not improve your leaderboard score.

Know what each building does

Timber and stone deposits are finite. Nearby gathering stations share the same reserves, so another station does not create more resources. Select a station to check what is left before investing further.

Construction takes worker time, and workers also gather and repair. Starting many projects can spread the workforce thin. Farms have one level; they do not produce food in the current game.

A practical strategy for your first siege

1. Expand your economy with a purpose

   Look for reachable timber and stone near your defenses. Early production helps you afford later buildings, but spending everything on the economy leaves little for the next attack.

2. Protect the defenses you already have

   Your starting Ballistas give you an initial defense. Walls and repairs help keep that firepower alive. Level-one towers are fragile, so an exposed weapon can disappear quickly.

3. Use the terrain to buy time

   Mountains and water are impassable. Walls change the available routes, but enemies can decide that breaking a building is faster than walking around it. Combine a useful detour with tower coverage instead of relying on an unbreakable maze.

4. Freeze before a problem becomes a collapse

   Use stopped time to let a needed wall finish or a damaged defense recover. Your workers continue working during the freeze, but you have a limited reserve for the whole run.

5. Keep your workers alive

   Enemies can kill workers permanently during a run. Protect gathering routes and expansion sites. A completed farm adds five workers; if you lose every worker, an unfinished farm can build itself slowly until the first farm restores a crew.

There is no single layout that makes every decision for you. Watch where attackers approach, which defenses take damage and which deposits are running low, then adjust your next purchase.

Survive longer and improve your record

The siege is endless. Your objective is to keep the Timekeeper standing for as long as possible. The public survival leaderboard ranks each account’s personal best, measured in active siege time.

Timekeeper freezes, pauses, background time and resume gaps do not count. A shorter later run never lowers your best. Playing is single-player; leaderboard competition does not mean other players enter your battlefield.

Your account keeps your nickname and personal best. Reopening the game currently starts a fresh run; it does not restore your previous battlefield. For other access and device questions, see the Clockhold FAQ.