Back to Kipperfire Harbour
When the fleet stays tied up

Eight free games for the smokehouse bench
while the gale keeps the drifters in harbour

Some nights a northerly gale shuts the harbour mouth, the drifters stay roped three deep in the basin and the fires need only one eye kept on them. Then Tarquil wipes the soot off his wing tips and opens a laptop on the bench by the hatch. His eight free picks run from an ocean of custom warships and a cheerful farm to a zoo, a Stone Age camp, a kingdom of villages, a dusty frontier, a comic fantasy quest and a loud squad battle. Enlisted alone wants a free download; the other seven open straight in a browser tab.

8free games on the bench
7open in a browser tab
4with an official phone app too
Battle Pirates key art
Tarquil's harbour-wall pick

Battle Pirates

Custom warship naval war · Strategy & war

The pick for anyone who stands on a harbour wall and judges every hull that comes in. You fit your own warships with weapons, armour and parts, sail fleets across a wide ocean map to strike rival bases, and guard your floating home with turrets and repair docks. Tarquil loves it because the shipyard tinkering never really ends.

Good for
Players who enjoy fiddling with a ship loadout until it is just right.
Typical session
Short visits, longer on raid nights
Where it runs
Desktop browser
Cost
Free to play; optional in-game purchases.
Your first session
  1. Put the first hours into the base defences and repair docks.
  2. Fit one sturdy warship properly before building a fleet.
  3. Scout a rival base before sending anything near it.
Play Battle Pirates freeOpens kixeye.com/game/battlepirates/home in a new tab

Seven more for the long nights by the kipper rods

Farmerama key artFarm, town & zoo

Farmerama

Cheerful farming sim

A bright, light-hearted farm: sow and gather crops, fuss over a yard of cheerful animals and dress every fence and field up to your own taste. Seasonal events keep dropping something new into the fields, so a short visit nearly always finds a job waiting.

  • A short visit or two a day
  • Desktop browser
Good for & first steps

Good for: Anyone after a relaxed sim with no rush to it.

Your first session
  1. Plant the quickest crops first so the fields stay busy.
  2. Take in a few animals once the first harvest is in.
  3. Check what the current seasonal event offers.
Play Farmerama freeOpens farmerama.com
Zoo 2: Animal Park key artFarm, town & zoo

Zoo 2: Animal Park

Animal park tycoon

A zoo sim about breeding and housing animals, feeding the crowds who come to see them and widening the grounds one enclosure after another. Feeding rounds, prettying up the paths and fresh species arriving now and then give it a long, gentle rhythm.

  • Fifteen calm minutes
  • Desktop browser; mobile app also available
Good for & first steps

Good for: Anyone who likes popping back to the same pens every day.

Your first session
  1. Give the first animals a well-fitted enclosure.
  2. Keep food stalls close to the busiest paths.
  3. Expand only once the existing pens are cared for.
Try Zoo 2: Animal Park for freeOpens zoo2animalpark.upjers.com/en
Stonies key artFarm, town & zoo

Stonies

Stone Age settlement builder

A Stone Age settlement builder: your tribe goes out gathering, crafting and researching, and the camp spreads as each lesson is learned. Survival chores and one early invention after another keep it moving at a patient pace.

  • Several brief look-ins each day
  • Desktop browser; mobile app also available
Good for & first steps

Good for: Builders who enjoy a sim with a bit of survival grit.

Your first session
  1. Hand out jobs to the whole tribe on day one.
  2. Research gathering tools before anything fancier.
  3. Widen the camp only once food is steady.
Play Stonies freeOpens stonies-game.upjers.com/en
Travian Kingdoms key artStrategy & war

Travian Kingdoms

Kingdom village strategy

A village-building strategy game that splits its players into kings and governors, each with their own duties. You settle fresh villages, run trade routes and fight over territory in a round that lasts for months.

  • A visit every day, for months
  • Desktop browser; mobile app also available
Good for & first steps

Good for: Planners happy to hold one clear post inside an alliance.

Your first session
  1. Choose between king and governor before your first village grows.
  2. Keep the first village growing before settling a second.
  3. Join an alliance before the borders fill up.
Play Travian Kingdoms freeOpens kingdoms.com
The West key artRole-play & adventure

The West

Frontier role-playing game

A Wild West role-playing game of jobs, duels and slow character growth. Choose a class, earn skill points working odd jobs across the territory, kit out your cowboy and sign up with a fort that battles other forts for ground.

  • A few jobs at a sitting
  • Desktop browser
Good for & first steps

Good for: Role-players happy to build a character over weeks.

Your first session
  1. Pick a class that suits how you want to play.
  2. Spend skill points on the jobs you do most.
  3. Look for an active fort once you know the ropes.
Play The West freeOpens the-west.net
Shakes & Fidget key artRole-play & adventure

Shakes & Fidget

Comic fantasy RPG

Comic fantasy role-play in which every quest your hero takes runs on a countdown. A dozen classes fight in their own ways: the Berserker piles several hits into one turn, and the shape-shifting Druid fights in bear, tiger or eagle form.

  • Quick looks between other jobs
  • Desktop browser; mobile app also available
Good for & first steps

Good for: Anyone who likes a laugh alongside their hit points.

Your first session
  1. Read through the classes before creating a hero.
  2. Pick quests timed to finish when you next look in.
  3. Join a guild for raids and arena advice.
Play Shakes & Fidget freeOpens sfgame.net
Enlisted key artAction & arcade

Enlisted

Second World War squad shooter

The loudest card on the bench, and the one game here that needs a download. You command a small squad of soldiers through historical campaigns and big team battles, hopping from one soldier to another as the front shifts. The free client runs on a Windows PC, and PlayStation and Xbox owners can play too.

  • One or two fights per session
  • Free PC download (Windows); also on PlayStation 4/5 and Xbox One/Series X/S
Good for & first steps

Good for: anyone after military action fought shoulder to shoulder.

Your first session
  1. Get the free Windows client from the Enlisted website.
  2. Keep your squad together in the first matches.
  3. Try several squad types and stick with the one that suits you.
Play Enlisted freeOpens enlisted.net

All eight laid out like barrels along the quay

Game in the tackle boxKind of catchSpeed through the waterWho else is aboardA sitting, more or lessMachines it will run on
Battle PiratesCustom warship naval warSteady building between sea raidsRival bases on one shared seaShort visits, longer on raid nightsDesktop browser
FarmeramaCheerful farming simRelaxed, field by fieldA farm of your own plus seasonal eventsA short visit or two a dayDesktop browser
Zoo 2: Animal ParkAnimal park tycoonSlow going, a single enclosure at onceA park of your own to growFifteen calm minutesDesktop browser; mobile app also available
StoniesStone Age settlement builderSlow climb through early inventionsMostly your own tribeSeveral brief look-ins each dayDesktop browser; mobile app also available
Travian KingdomsKingdom village strategyA months-long roundKings, governors and alliancesA visit every day, for monthsDesktop browser; mobile app also available
The WestFrontier role-playing gameSlow, steady character growthForts banding together to take groundA few jobs at a sittingDesktop browser
Shakes & FidgetComic fantasy RPGLaid-back quests on a timerGuilds and arena duelsQuick looks between other jobsDesktop browser; mobile app also available
EnlistedSecond World War squad shooterFast team battlesTeams of live playersOne or two fights per sessionFree PC download (Windows); also on PlayStation 4/5 and Xbox One/Series X/S

What the eight cost: free to start and free to keep playing, each with optional in-game purchases on the side.

01

Not a penny to join the bench

Joining any game on the bench costs nothing, and a non-spender can keep going for months; the warships, farms, parks, camps, villages, forts, heroes and squads all come with the free version.

Each studio earns its keep from optional extras, whether premium currency or a quicker way through a countdown. Not one has ever tempted Tarquil, and parents can usually lock spending from inside each studio's account menu.

02

Your first gale night

Each card carries a button to the official home of its game, which opens in a fresh tab. Seven need a quick registration and then play in the tab; Enlisted asks you to download its free client first.

Most of them walk a newcomer through a short tutorial. Tarquil follows it webbed foot by webbed foot; it shows the menus quicker than any amount of pecking about.

03

Games that tick over while you work

Farmerama, Zoo 2: Animal Park, Stonies, Travian Kingdoms and Battle Pirates carry on ticking while you are busy elsewhere, so a look at breakfast and another at dusk keeps them on course. Shakes & Fidget quests finish on a timer too.

The West rewards a few jobs at a time, and an Enlisted session is a battle or two, so keep those for evenings when the fires look after themselves.

04

Keep each login as tight as a smokehouse hatch

Each login is tied to one studio, and it belongs only on that studio's true web address. Never recycle a password between games, and take up every two-step sign-in a studio puts on offer.

No genuine support desk will ask for your password. Whoever offers free extras for your sign-in is after the whole account; Tarquil feeds those messages straight to the smokehouse fire.

How the smokehouse eight were chosen

  • Seven of them run in a plain desktop browser, Enlisted needs a free client, and each card spells out which kind you are looking at.
  • Nothing is charged at the door, and every main game can be played in earnest by someone who leaves its shop alone.
  • Some suit ten minutes while a fire settles, others a whole gale-bound evening, so the bench has a pick for either mood.
  • Every studio still keeps its game going, so the oceans, kingdoms and battle lobbies stay busy with real people.

Just Enlisted, whose free client goes on a Windows PC; consoles run it too, on PlayStation and Xbox. The remaining seven start in a desktop browser; Travian Kingdoms, Zoo 2: Animal Park, Stonies and Shakes & Fidget each have an official phone app beside the browser version, while Farmerama, Battle Pirates and The West are desktop browser games.

Only if you decide to. Every registration is free, nothing in the main game demands a purchase, and Tarquil never opens a shop door himself.

No. He only keeps the list on his bench. Separate studios built and still run every game, and each button simply takes you to the official site.

No. A different studio runs each game, so you register eight times, once on each official site.

Farmerama or Zoo 2: Animal Park, the two gentlest on the bench. Stonies is calm as well, with a little survival edge.

Battle Pirates and Travian Kingdoms, where whole fleets and alliances wrangle over one shared map for weeks on end. For sheer speed, Enlisted wins once the client is on your PC.

Yes, in most of them. Travian Kingdoms runs on alliances, The West on forts, Shakes & Fidget on guilds and Enlisted on team battles. Farmerama, Zoo 2 and Stonies are mostly played on your own.