Anincremental game (also known as anidle game,clicker game, ortap game) is a subgenre ofvideo games characterized by minimalplayer interaction, where repetitive, simple actions—such as clicking a button—generatein-game currency. This currency is spent on upgrades that automate or accelerate progress (a process known as idling), leading toexponential growth in resource accumulation over time.
Incremental games frequently feature rapidly escalating costs and rewards, with numerical values often expressed inscientific notation, shorthand formats (e.g., "1T" for trillion), or evenspecial naming schemes for extremely large numbers. Common mechanics include prestige systems, where players voluntarily reset progress in exchange for permanent bonuses, and monetization strategies involvingmicrotransactions (such as instant currency boosts) or advertisements granting minor in-game rewards. Popular titles likeCookie Clicker andAdVenture Capitalist helped define and popularize the genre, combining open-ended gameplay with occasional closed endings, as exemplified byCandy Box!.
Originating in the early 2000s withsatirical titles likeProgress Quest andCow Clicker, the genre evolved to incorporate idle mechanics such as offline progression and layered prestige systems. Critics note its appeal as a low-pressure, distraction-friendly experience, often likened to "glorified spreadsheets" with thematic depth. Despite debates over their status as "non-games," incremental games have influenced mainstream genres by introducing auto-play modes and progression loops.Auto clicker software is commonly used to automate manual tasks, reflecting the genre's emphasis on efficiency.[1]
In incremental games, players typically start off by performing simple actions – usually clicking a button or object – to earn a form of in-game currency. This currency can be spent on upgrades, items or abilities that enhance income generation, often automating the process and reducing the need for direct interaction.[2][3] A common theme involves acquiring income-generating entities, which are frequently represented as buildings like factories or farms. These assets increase the rate of currency production, but higher tier entities usually have an exponentially higher cost. As a result, progressing between tiers tends to require a similar or increasing amount of time.
This mechanism offers a low-pressure experience, characterized by the absence of failure states, steady progression, and frequent feedback. Those features make incremental games particularly well-suited for social or mobile play patterns, and often result in a very high playerretention.[4]
Incremental games typically feature rapidly escalating costs and rewards, fostering a steady sense of progression intended to sustain player engagement. They often enable the accumulation of avast amount of in-game currency, with values commonly represented usingscientific notation (e.g., 1×1034), shorthand suffixes (1M for million, 1T for trillion, etc.), orspecial naming schemes for extremely large numbers (e.g., "duoquadragintillion"). In some cases, the magnitude of these values necessitates specializeddata types or numerical libraries for accurate storage and display.[4]
The resultinggameplay loop often consists of periodically returning to the game to allocate accumulated currency toward upgrades, automation features, or progression milestones. This loop shares similarities with the "energy currency" mechanic insocial games, in which a player regains energy over time while inactive. However, in incremental games, this behavior emerges organically from the design of progression systems, whereas in social games it serves as an artificial limitation on playtime.[4]
This structure may be more appealing tocore gamers who view social games critically. It reflects familiar real-world patterns (e.g., "I'm out of cash; I need to come back when I have more.") and provides players with greater autonomy in deciding when and how to engage with the game.[4]
To sustain engagement, many incremental games implement systems of achievements, offering small, frequent rewards throughout gameplay. These systems provide structure and direction, encouraging players to optimize their strategies and reinforcing a sense of accomplishment through tangible milestones.[4]
Some incremental games incorporate a mechanic that allows players to reset their progress in exchange for advantages in subsequent playthroughs. This concept is similar to the "New Game Plus" feature found in other video game genres, but in incremental games the reset—often referred to as "prestige"—typically grants permanent rewards or bonuses that persist across all future runs. These rewards create an additional gameplay loop: when progression slows, players can strategically reset to accelerate future advancement. Deciding the optimal timing and method for a reset becomes part of the game's strategic depth. After a prestige reset, previously time-consuming stages can be cleared much faster, giving players a renewed sense of progress and empowerment.Clicker Heroes byPlaysaurus is considered an early pioneer of prestige mechanics inmobile gaming.[1]
Some games feature multiple layers of prestige systems, unlocking entirely new content, meta-currencies, or gameplay modes. For example,Realm Grinder by Divine Games incorporates layered progression systems such as "abdicating", "reincarnating", and "ascending".[5]
Incremental games vary as to whether they have avictory condition: games likeCookie Clicker allow the players to play indefinitely,[6] while games likeCandy Box! orUniversal Paperclips feature endings that can be reached after a certain amount of progress is made.[7][8]
Pioneered byAdVenture Capitalist, developers may sell premium boost such as instant currency infusion (usually a percentage of current rate of income) or sometimes wrapped as a "time-warp" (instantly gain x-hours of future income), permanent boost multiplier that persist after each prestiging, instant prestige (claiming prestige without starting over), protection against negative events,gacha system (random draws of a character or a permanent bonus), and event currencies.[4]
On the other side, they may also deliver advertisements for players to receive minor rewards, such as short burst of cash, doubling offline earnings, small amount of premium currency, brief powerful boost/medium-length small boost, extra prestige points upon prestiging, relief of a negative status, etc.[4]
According to Anthony Pecorella in hisGDC summit talks,[4] the creation of the idle game genre was attributed toProgress Quest (2002) by Eric Fredriksen, a parody of character-stat progression and automated combat systems inMMORPGs. He argued that the gaming websiteKongregate was an early hub for the genre, as some people preferred to use the integratedchat rather than actively play. The first idle game on Kongregate was aptly titledKongregate Chat,[9] where the game ran by itself while players conversed in the chat window. One of the first visual idle games ("rudimentary RPGs", according to Pecorella) wasAyumilove's HackerStory v1,[citation needed] a parody of botgrinding inMapleStory, a popular Korean MMORPG at the time.
The early pioneers of idle games also saw some games parodying the genre, such asAnti-Idle which has elements of both active and idle games. The game was extremely complicated, content-rich, and constantly updated.[4] An idle game in Facebook platform, calledCow Clicker, which according to the author is, "a satire and playable theory ofsocial games circa that era, ... Facebook games distilled to their essence.", was the first to receive mainstream media attention.[10] Another parody of idle games (and ofcapitalism), calledAdVenture Capitalist, also saw success as a browser game and was subsequently made available on other platforms. It was one of the first games to implement monetization, as well as an offline earning system which tracks a player's progress while the game is not running, unlike previous browser-based idle games which only advanced when open in a browser window.[4]
Some idle games did not follow theinfinite ending and instead opted for apuzzle-like and exploration-based structure. Examples includeA Dark Room[11] andCandy Box!.[7]
Incremental games gained popularity in 2013 after the success ofCookie Clicker,[2] although earlier games such asCow Clicker andCandy Box! were based on the same principles.Make It Rain was the first major mobile idle game success, although the idle elements in the game were heavily limited, requiringcheck-ins to progress.[4] In 2015, the gaming press observed such games proliferating on theSteam distribution platform with titles such asClicker Heroes.[12]
Other idle games that have become classics includeSandcastle Builder[13] which was based on thexkcd comic 1190: "Time",Shark Game,[14]Crank,[15] Mr.Mine,[16] andKittens Game.[17]
During the evolution of the genre,monetization (through ads or other venues), premium contents, and other game mechanics are slowly being added in.
Nathan Grayson ofKotaku attributed the popularity of idle games to their ability to provide low-effort, unchallenging distractions that integrate easily into a person's daily routine, while adopting themes and aesthetics of more complexvideo games to appeal to a "core gamer" audience. He also observed that the genre supports a wide variety of mechanics and settings, includingfantasy,sci-fi, and evenerotica, offering enough perceived depth to maintain player engagement.[18]
IGN's Justin Davis describes the genre as designed for a perpetual sense of escalation: costly upgrades and items become available rapidly, only to be rendered trivial and replaced by more expensive options. This pacing creates a paradoxical experience where players feel both powerful and weak simultaneously, as they chase exponential growth.[19]
Julien "Orteil" Thiennot, creator of games such asCookie Clicker, has described his own works as "non-games".[20] In early 2014, Orteil released an early version ofIdle Game Maker, a browser-based tool that enables the creation of customized idle games without programming knowledge.[21]
On the parodic nature of idle games, Pecorella commented that "this is sorta a genre that almost doesn't want to exist; it's a joke, but despite itself, keeps being really successful",[4] and on popular idle-games in general, "a lot of these are just glorified spreadsheet with some really neat mechanics in it."[4]
The idle games genre has in many ways influenced other genres. Pecorella (2015) identified several genres that includes idle elements in their mechanics:[4]
Shooting games, RPGs, and other genres also starts to introduce short prestige loop or mini idle games within, while some introduces offline progress to entice players to return, allowing for genre blends, from idle rhythm games to RPGs, to puzzle and dating sims.[22]
Anauto clicker is automation software or a macro that is generally used to automate the clicking (or tapping) process in idle games. A number of idle games employ clicking as a method to gain currency while active (to complement the idle element), and players may sometimes employ an auto clicker to automate this part, thus getting resources/currency much faster. Pecorella, in his 2016 GDC summit talk, argued that auto clickers are considered necessary by any "serious" idle game players, and that it's not cheating, but rather an exploration of anerror in design.[23]
You can also "ascend" to essentially start over, but you'll unlock more special powers in the process.
Sandcastle Builder is one of the most compelling, rewarding, and unique video games I've ever experienced. It is very close to earning a spot on my favorite games of all time short list.
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