THE RULEBOOK
Tile hunting, but it's a turf war.
The world is cut into squares. Your rides claim them, your rivals steal them, and every month the whole map burns down and starts over. Here's the full rulebook.
PRIMER
What is tile hunting?
Tile hunting cuts the world into a grid of squares about a mile on each side — the same zoom‑14 grid that Squadrats, VeloViewer and Statshunters use — and every GPS ride through a square collects it. Most tools stop there: you build the biggest cluster you can and compare totals on a global leaderboard.
Veloturf adds ownership. A square isn't just collected, it's held — by whichever rider in your race has ridden it on the most days this season. Your friends can take it back, ties turn it contested, and on the 1st of every month the whole map resets. Same squares, but now they're worth fighting over.
The map is made of squares
Every region is divided into a grid of equal squares, roughly a neighborhood block each. Ride through one — road, gravel, or cobbles — and it registers. GPS does the counting; you just ride.
Ride it most, own it
The first rider through a square draws first blood. After that it belongs to whoever rides it on the most days this season. One long ride doesn't buy permanence — showing up does.
Ties turn contested
Match a rival's ride days on a square and it flashes amber — contested, owned by no one. The next ride breaks the tie. Contested borders are where seasons are won.
Steals show up instantly
The moment a rival out-rides you on a square, your dashboard shows who took it and where — and one tap opens the race to take it back.
The map burns monthly
Seasons run by calendar month. On the 1st, every square on earth wipes at once — champions lose their cushion, newcomers start even. Squares you hold through the finish go on your record.
Rides sync themselves
Link Strava once and every saved ride hits the map within seconds. No Strava? Sign in with Google and upload GPX files — same squares, same war.
WAYS TO PLAY
Play as a club or 1-on-1
1v1 duels
Create a matchup, send one friend the link. Head-to-head on a private map, your color vs theirs, settled by the monthly reset.
Clubs
A club is a named roster with its own page and race. Everyone rides in their own color on one shared map; past eight riders it's you against the pack, with ranked standings.
Club vs club SOON
Next phase: every member's squares count as club turf, and clubs go to war over whole regions.
FIELD MANUAL
Common questions
Does speed matter?
No. A square counts whether you cross it at 12 km/h or 40. The map rewards showing up, not FTP.
Can I play without Strava?
Yes — sign in with Google and upload GPX files from any bike computer or app. Strava just makes it automatic.
What about indoor rides?
Trainer rides have no GPS track, so they claim nothing. The turf war happens outside.
Who sees my rides?
Only the squares you touch are shared — never your start point, route, or ride times. Leave home, appear on the map mid-ride.
Does this work with my Squadrats squares?
Yes — it's the same one-mile grid. Veloturf doesn't import from Squadrats; it reads the same rides from Strava or GPX, so the squares you already hold there are the squares you fight over here.
Is this a Strava challenge?
No. Veloturf is a separate, free web app. Strava challenges rank distance or time; Veloturf ranks territory — who holds which squares.
Can I play against just one friend?
Yes. Create a matchup, share the link with one person, and it's a 1-on-1 duel. Add more people to the same link whenever you like.
GLOSSARY
Tile hunting words, translated
- Explorer tile
- A square of the global map grid at zoom level 14 — about a mile (1.5 km) on each side. The unit every tile-hunting tool counts. A Veloturf square is exactly this.
- Squadrat
- Squadrats' name for the same zoom-14 tile.
- Squadratinho
- One sixty-fourth of a Squadrat (zoom level 17). Faster to collect, and not scored by Veloturf.
- Max square / Übersquadrat
- The largest fully filled N×N block of tiles you have collected. VeloViewer calls it max square; Squadrats calls it Übersquadrat. Veloturf shows neither — it scores per race, per month.
- Max cluster / Yard
- The biggest group of connected tiles in which every tile also has all four neighbours collected. Squadrats calls it a Yard.
- Ride-day
- A calendar day with at least one of your activities touching a square. In Veloturf the square belongs to whoever has the most ride-days in it this season — not the most distance.
- Contested square
- A square where two riders have the same number of ride-days. Nobody holds it; it blinks amber until the next ride breaks the tie.
- Steal
- Overtaking a rival's ride-day count in a square they hold. It changes colour on their map, and they get told.
- Season
- One calendar month. Ownership resets for everyone on the 1st; squares you held at the finish go on your record.