General
How do I report/mute a player in Colonist?
If you click on a person's name/avatar, you will have the option to mute or report them.
Dice rolls have a really strange distribution in some games. Are the dice broken?
No. Your experience is just one of thousands of games of Colonist played every day. In one game the dice rolls may vary substantially from an ideal distribution, but when you add up all the dice rolls from all the games played on the site, things average out to something resembling a bell-curve distribution.
This article contains a simulator you can use to create distribution graphs using our random dice algorithm.
Ranked System
How long does a season last?
Each season lasts 3 months. You can check its progress at the bottom right corner of the Leaderboards.
What are placement games?
Before a player appears on the leaderboards, they need to play 10 placement games. These games still count as ranked and their result will be reflected in the leaderboards.
Placement games are reset at the start of every season. This helps keep things fresh for players, encouraging them to keep playing and making sure the gaming experience stays exciting season after season.
What is Rating?
Matchmaking Rating is a value that determines the skill of each player. Winning increases a player's Rating score, while losing decreases it. Players are matched according to their Rating.
How does Rating work?
Rating gain/loss for each player is calculated before the game starts, and only 1st place will gain Rating. If you do not win, you lose the same Rating points whether you finish 2nd, 3rd, or 4th place.
Your Rating gain/loss is based on Rating gap. Winning against higher ranked players will increase your Rating more than winning against lower ranked players.
The Rating gained/lost during initial placements also considers your performance in previous seasons. That's why some players might get a higher rank with fewer won games than others. As long as your performance stays consistent, playing around 40 games will get you back to your previous rank.
This emphasis on recent performance helps maintain fairness and balance in player rankings by preventing drastic swings and rewarding consistency.
Is Rating reset after each season?
Your starting rank in a new season (after the new placement games) is influenced by your performance in the previous season.
A soft reset happens when a new season starts, so expect to decrease 1–2 divisions. If your performance stays consistent, playing around 40 games will get you back to your previous rank.
Once you've stabilized, the only way to climb is by consistently beating players better than you and maintaining a win rate above average. The average win rate for 4p is 25% and the average win rate for 1v1 is 50%.
What are the game settings for each Ranked game mode?
4 Players: 10 points to win, 7 discard limit, 60s turn timer
1v1: 15 points to win, 9 discard limit, Friendly Robber, 30s turn timer
Cities & Knights: 13 points to win, 7 discard limit, 60s turn timer
Colonist Rush: 10 points to win, 9 discard limit, 5s turn timer
Bank cards are hidden in all game modes.
Rewards
Are there rewards for finishing a season in the top positions?
Players that finish the season in the top 50 of each game mode earn a free Membership. 3 months of Membership will be gifted. The Membership can be activated through the Store (gifts expire after 2 years).
Ranked 1st, 2nd & 3rd: Elite Membership
Ranked 4th to 25th: Premium Membership
Ranked 26th to 50th: Plus Membership
Rewards for future seasons may be subject to change.
Store
How can I change my Membership?
Go to the Store
Click Manage
Click Update Plan
Click Monthly, then choose the plan you would like to change to. Click Continue
Review the details and click Confirm
How can I cancel my Membership?
Go to the Store
Click Manage
Click Cancel Plan
Your Membership will be automatically canceled at the end of your billing cycle
If you subscribed through Discord:
Log in to Discord in your browser or the Discord desktop app
Click User Settings in the bottom-left corner of your screen
Go to the Subscriptions tab to cancel your Membership
If you are still having issues with the cancellation, you can contact Discord support and submit a request
If I change my Membership, when will that change take effect?
The same day that you modified your subscription. Proration will apply from the new and old Membership.
If I cancel my Membership, when will that change take effect?
At the end of your billing cycle. Monthly Memberships will end in a month. Yearly Memberships will end in a year.
What expansions are currently available?
Base Game 5–6 Players
Base Game 7–8 Players
Cities & Knights
Cities & Knights 5–6 Players
Seafarers
Seafarers 5–6 Players
Seafarers + Cities & Knights
Seafarers + Cities & Knights 5–6 Players
What expansions will you be releasing next?
Vote for the next one on our suggestions site.
Can I try out an expansion before subscribing?
You can join an expansion game in the lobby or ask someone in the in-game chat to host an expansion game for you.
Do my friends need to have a Membership to play expansions and maps together?
No, only the host needs to be a Member.
How do I play the map/expansion that I subscribed for?
Make sure you are logged in
Create a room
From game mode, select the expansion you want to play
From map, select 5–6 player or any map of your choosing
What sort of skins will be added?
Some planned but not decided skins are: Profile Picture, Game Piece Skin (Road, Settlement, City), Game Skin (map, cards).
My purchase is gone, what should I do?
You probably logged in with a different email. Check that you have logged in with the correct email.
Can I purchase expansions, maps, and colors using Colonist Coins?
Expansions, maps, and colors are accessible only through Premium or Elite Memberships, except for Colonist accounts created before November 2022, which can spend their remaining coins on any Store item.
What happened to my Settler/Colonist/Founder pack?
The presale packs have all been converted into in-game currency that provides you with the same benefits as the pack:
Settlers: 1 Expansion (2800 Cc) + 2 Maps (1000 Cc) = 3800 Cc
Colonist: 5 Expansions (14000 Cc) + 5 Maps (2500 Cc) = 16500 Cc
Founder: All Expansions + All Maps = 0 Cc
Founder Packs won't receive Colonist Coins — instead they can purchase all Expansions and Maps for 0 Cc.
Are there other ways to get a Membership?
There are a few ways to get a free Membership:
Finish a Ranked season in the top 50 of the leaderboards (see Rewards above)
Join our Content Creator program
Win a tournament
Ask someone to gift you
Gifting
Can I send a gift to someone without a Colonist account?
Yes! You can send a gift link. The recipient will be able to create an account and redeem the gift anytime.
Can I gift to a user with an active Membership?
Yes! If the user is already a Member when you send a gift, they will be able to redeem the gift at any point.
Payment Methods
What are the payment options that I can use?
To purchase a Membership, you can use any of the following methods:
Credit or Debit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express)
Google Pay
Apple Pay
To buy Colonist Coins, you can pay via:
Credit or Debit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express)
PayPal
Google Pay
Apple Pay
Amazon Pay
BitPay
Other local methods available in your region
All payments are guaranteed safe and secure, powered by Stripe.
Technical Issues
The animations are slow and there is lag
For Chrome: enable hardware acceleration.
For Firefox: go to about:config and flip gfx.webrender.all to true, then restart the browser.
Extra links: Get WebGL, How to Enable WebGL
I can't enter Ranked matchmaking because the site incorrectly says that my adblock is enabled
Our site may detect that ads are being removed for a multitude of reasons such as browser extensions, anti-malware software, VPN or firewall protection, or even browsers having built-in ad blocking. If this problem is happening to you, please see more information here and disable any ad blocking software.
Chat blocks trades in mobile
Solutions:
For Chrome, go to Settings > Accessibility > turn off "Force enable zoom".
Go to your browser Settings > turn on "Desktop site".
Click on the typing area of the chat box, wait for your phone's keyboard to appear, and close it right after.
Clicking "Login with Google" tells me that there is an internal server error. What should I do?
Clear cache files via Chrome > Menu > More Tools > Clear browsing data.
My timer does not work in game. It works in a Bot game but not with friends or in normal online games. What to do?
Your Windows clock is out of sync. Resync your time to the Microsoft server for your timer to work.
Game Assets Not Loading / Socket Not Connecting / Blue Screen
Usually on old MacBooks and especially macOS Catalina 10.15.7 there are some bugs with browsers. The bugs are bigger on Safari than other browsers. This OS bug also affects WebGL/Socket/SSL Certificates. This issue has been fixed in newer versions of macOS — just update your macOS via Apple Logo > System Preferences > Software Update > Upgrade Now.
Contact
I would like to make a suggestion
Check out our suggestions site.
How do I report a bug?
You can report bugs here.
I would like to contribute as a developer, designer, or in a different way
You can check our Careers page to apply.
I have a business proposition. How can I reach out?
Please contact us through the help chat on our website.
Can't find the answer to a question?
Reach out to us through the help chat on colonist.io — we're happy to assist!
Where can I find more info about your Terms and Conditions?
You can visit our Terms and Conditions page.
I'm worried about Colonist.io from a copyright standpoint. What assurances do I have about this?
Game mechanics cannot be copyrighted. We own all of our assets and codebase. Colonist has no copyright issues.