Ant Colony Simulator
Ant Colony is a free ant colony simulator that runs in your browser. Start with a queen and a handful of workers and watch them dig a nest, forage for food, raise their brood and survive the seasons, or take command and decide where every tunnel and chamber goes. No download, no sign-up.
Two ways to play
Watch
The colony plans and digs its own nest. Sit back like you would at an ant farm, follow a single ant through her life, read the colony's journal and see what grows out of a few simple rules.
Command
Mark where tunnels, granaries, nurseries and barracks go, set how many soldiers the colony raises and which jobs come first, and guide it through floods, predators and rival colonies. Unlock achievements along the way.
A real colony, not a script
Every ant is simulated on her own. Foragers lay scent trails to food and others follow them, so busy roads form by themselves. Workers switch jobs when the colony needs it: digging, foraging, nursing the brood or carrying waste out. Eggs grow into larvae and pupae, and the queen keeps the colony going. Soldiers and majors defend the nest. Nobody draws the nest in advance: what you see is what the ants built.
What can happen to your colony
- Seasons and weather: rain that floods low chambers, storms, droughts, snow in winter, and a day and night with moon phases and fireflies.
- Wildlife: spiders and beetles hunting on the surface, pill bugs, earthworms, ladybugs that go after the colony's aphids, and a mole that tunnels straight through the nest.
- Rivals: other colonies share the meadow, and borders turn into wars.
- New queens: on a warm, calm day the colony sends out a nuptial flight.
- Collapses: tunnels can cave in, and the colony has to dig its way back.
Features
- Five ant species: black garden ants, red wood ants, carpenter ants, fire ants and harvester ants.
- Five landscapes: meadow, desert, forest floor, a beach with tides, and a garden.
- Small to colossal worlds, from a cosy nest to a whole underground city.
- Save and load, export to a file, and cloud saves with a free account.
- Photo mode, GIF clips, replays and time-lapses, and a community gallery to share your colonies.
- Plays on a computer, tablet or phone, in English and German.
Questions
Is Ant Colony free?
Yes. The whole game is free to play in your browser, with no ads. It is supported by players who chip in on Ko-fi.
Do I need to download anything?
No. Ant Colony runs in any modern browser on a computer, tablet or phone. Open the page and the colony starts.
How realistic is the ant simulation?
Every ant is simulated on her own and follows simple rules taken from real ants: scent trails to food, jobs that shift with the colony's needs, brood that grows from egg to larva to pupa, and a queen who lays the eggs. The nest the colony digs is never planned in advance.
Can I save my colony?
Yes. Games are saved in your browser, can be exported as a file, and with a free account up to five games can be kept in the cloud and continued on any device.