When it comes to INTVL, there are a few different ways you can play. I'm going to go over the strategies I recommend and the ones I think make the game the most fun.

If you stumbled across this article and don't fully know what INTVL is yet, check out my article explaining why I think it's the best running app to ever exist.

INTVL has two game modes: Solo and Club. In Solo, you're competing against every other player in the game. In Club, you join a team and compete against other clubs.

I'm obviously biased, but I'd love for you to join Team USA (affiliate link) and help us climb the club leaderboard. At the time of writing this, I’m the current leader on the team and Team USA is ranked #54 in the world, and we could use all the help we can get!

INTVL example - global worldwide club leaderboard

Most people play Solo mode, but the same strategies apply to both modes. In my opinion, the game really comes down to three things:

Capturing new land
Stealing land
Protecting your land

Each one has its own purpose, and depending on your goals, you might focus on one more than the others.

Tips for playing

NTVL rewards you for running loop routes, not out-and-backs. If you want to capture as much land as possible with as little effort as possible, there are only a few ways to do this. Technically, a perfect circle captures the most land for a given distance. But good luck finding roads or trails that make perfect circles.

A much more practical strategy is to run routes that are as close to a square as possible. The closer your route is to a square, the more land you'll capture. The longer and skinnier your route gets, the less land you'll earn for the same distance.

For example, here are three different routes that all total 12 miles:

Square (3 × 3): 9 sq miles
Rectangle (2 × 4): 8 sq miles
Rectangle (1 × 5): 5 sq miles

Same distance. Very different results.

This is also why longer loop runs are rewarded. If you run a 20-mile out-and-back, you'll capture almost no land. But if you run a 5 × 5 square route, you'll capture 25 square miles. Same effort. Same distance. One earns almost nothing, while the other earns 25 square miles.

I'm not saying you should only do one long run each week. I'm just pointing out how the game rewards different types of routes. If you're not interested in longer runs, your best strategy is to focus on stealing land and protecting your land which I explain below.

Methods of play

Capturing new land

If your goal is to climb the leaderboard, this is your best strategy. INTVL is still relatively new, so there's a lot more unclaimed land than claimed land. The best part is that a lot of this land is in places where fewer people live or run. That means when you claim it, there's a good chance it'll stay yours for a while.

INTVL example - the blue on the left is a 21 mile run outside of a small city to capture 15 sq miles. It’s been almost a month and I still own this area.

This is my personal favorite way to play. Whenever I travel, I make it a point to run somewhere that doesn't have many players. Even when I'm home, I'll drive out of town for my runs. My goal is to climb as high on the leaderboard as possible, and the easiest way to do that is by claiming land that isn't likely to get stolen. This strategy works well in both Solo and Club mode.

Stealing land

There are two reasons to steal land: to increase your ranking and to lower someone else's. Every time you steal land, their total square miles controlled goes down while yours goes up.

Sometimes you're stealing land simply because it's where you wanted to run. Other times, you're intentionally going after someone. Maybe you're trying to pass them on the leaderboard, or maybe you're just letting them know it's your turf. Either way, stealing land often leads to a turf war where both players keep taking it back.

INTVL example - If you’re only able to run in an area that is already completely captured, your only option is to steal.

Solo and Club mode work a little differently. In Solo mode, everyone is your opponent. In Club mode, only players on other teams are opponents. That means you can focus your runs on land owned by players from rival clubs, helping both your personal ranking and your team's ranking. If you steal land from someone on your own club, it helps your Solo ranking, but it doesn't help your club. The image above shows several different runners in solo mode. The image below shows the same map, but on club mode. Many of the solo runners in that area belong to Team USA.

INTVL example - Club map showing multiple runners on the same team who combine their captured territory.

Protecting your land

Protecting your land is basically the opposite of stealing land. Instead of taking someone else's territory, you're taking back land that someone stole from you.

INTVL example - The response from another runner in my local area that I stole land from. His strategy is to hold and protect a specific part of the city.

Personally, I don't recommend making this your main strategy unless you're more interested in owning a specific area, like your neighborhood or hometown, than climbing the leaderboard.

This is where Club mode becomes really fun. If you can't defend an area very often, you can work together with teammates who live nearby. They might not help your Solo ranking, but they can help your club hold onto territory and defend it from other teams.

TLDR

If your goal is to become one of the top players in the world, focus on claiming free land and running the biggest loop routes you can. In the real world, a square is usually the easiest route to make and will capture far more land than an out-and-back run of the same distance. The longer the loop, the more land you'll earn per mile. Also, join Team USA and help us climb the leaderboard!

How to play INTVL