I · Red
Human
Empires, armies and laws. What people have built, they also defend.
A Pokémon GO alternative, compared
MapRaiders vs Pokémon GO: the honest comparison
Pokémon GO made walking with your phone a worldwide habit. MapRaiders takes that walk further: your lap becomes territory on the real map, and in the arena your cards decide the duels. Looking for a Pokémon GO alternative? Here is what each game does.
Live in the browser. Something new arrives every week.
The whole game
One real world map, three ways to play
MapRaiders is a location-based game, an open-world action RPG and a trading card game (TCG) on one real world map: a Pokémon GO alternative you can also play from home. Walk, run or cycle outside with GPS, and your loops become territory on the real map. From home, your own 3D character plays the same map, the same streets and the same territory, live with the same players, with quests, raids at spawn points and vehicles. In that world you also collect trading cards for a card game of their own, with commander decks and live duels for land. All of it is one story, The Collision. Each season is a chapter, and what a season brings never returns but stays valid.
At a glance
The difference at a glance
Both games use the real map and reward you for going outside. The difference lies in what you take home. In Pokémon GO you catch creatures and visit fixed places that belong to nobody for long. In MapRaiders the ground you walk around becomes yours and stays yours, and in the arena you play card duels with the decks you build.
| Feature | MapRaiders | Pokémon GO |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | GPS strategy game and trading card game (TCG) in one world | Catch, collect and evolve Pokémon |
| What you own | Territory you enclose with a closed lap, from 150 square meters up | Your Pokémon; gyms are held for a while, places belong to nobody |
| How long it lasts | Does not expire; only another player's lap or a lost duel costs you a piece | Gyms change hands often, defenders return to their trainers |
| How fights work | Card duel: commander, fifty cards, one building. If the owner is in the game, a duel decides their land | Raids and gyms in real time, PvP in the GO Battle League |
| Playing from home | RPG character sets out from fixed spawn points or your own | Remote raids with a Remote Raid Pass |
| Teams | Six factions, each with its own color | Three teams |
| Pay for power? | No, playing strength is not for sale | PokéCoin shop for items such as Raid Passes |
| Where it runs | In the browser, on phone and computer | Smartphone app |
| Status | Live in the browser, something new every week | Live since 2016 with a huge player base |
| Owner | SCAFA INVESTMENTS LLC, independent | Scopely, since 2025 |
The table describes MapRaiders as it runs today.
On the real map
A lap becomes land
In Pokémon GO the map is full of fixed points: PokéStops to spin and gyms to hold for a while. The places stay the same for everyone. MapRaiders works with areas. You start recording, walk a route and come back to where you began.
When the lap closes, the area inside your line becomes your territory, from 150 square meters up. On foot, running, by bike or with your game character, every closed lap counts. Your route draws the border, and every other player sees whose ground it is.
For keeps
Your ground stays yours
Gyms in Pokémon GO change hands often, and sooner or later every defender returns to its trainer. In MapRaiders your territory stays yours, even when you are not out for weeks. It does not expire, and neither do your cards and decks. The card back on the map stands for a card find; in the game it glows as a beam of light. Enclose it with a lap and the card is yours. If it lies in someone else's territory, a duel comes first.
Already in the game
An attack costs a walk too
Other players attack your territory by drawing a lap of their own into it. The attacker gets only the piece their lap encloses, and the rest stays yours. If you are in the game right now, the attacker first challenges you to a card duel. The game tells you which piece you lost, and you take it back the same way. Nobody clears your map with a single tap.
The core difference
Collecting versus owning
Both games let you collect. What counts in the end is different.
Pokémon GO
Pokémon GO is at heart a collecting game: the Pokédex fills up, and your strongest creatures carry you through raids and gym fights. It does this very well, with a brand the whole world knows and ten years of events behind it.
MapRaiders
MapRaiders is at heart a strategy game about ground. What you own lies on the real map, where every other player can see it. Collecting happens too, but it serves the fight: cards go into decks, and every deck follows a commander.
The story behind it is called The Collision. The seam between the dimensions tears open, and legends, machines, angels and demons suddenly stand in real places.
Pokémon GO keeps its world fresh with events and new Pokémon. MapRaiders does it with seasons: every card release opens a new chapter of the story, weekly missions bring experience and rewards, and a commander waits at the end of the season path.
At the card table
Card duels instead of real-time battles
Raids and gyms in Pokémon GO run in real time: you tap to attack and swipe to dodge. In the GO Battle League, shields and timing count as well. MapRaiders settles duels at the card table. Each side brings a commander, a deck of fifty cards and one building with five face-down building cards beneath it.
50
5
You draw, play characters, paid with crates, your energy, and attack. Before the match, rock paper scissors decides who goes first. Every hit takes a building card, and whoever loses their building loses the match. It is a trading card game in its own right, and it works on the sofa, on the train or at the table.
Duels can already be about land: if the owner is in the game right now, the attacker challenges them to a card duel. The winner gets the piece. If the owner declines or does not answer within a minute, it goes to the attacker.
Factions
Six factions instead of three teams
In Pokémon GO you join one of three teams early on. MapRaiders has six factions, each with its own color and its own way of fighting, and every card carries the color of its faction, some carry two. Your commander decides which cards may go into your deck.
II · Blue
Technology
Gears, machines and cold precision. Progress does not ask for permission.
III · Green
Nature
Forest, root and pack. What grows takes back what belongs to it.
IV · Yellow
Heaven
Light, vigil and judgment. Heaven protects, and it forgets nothing.
V · Black
Hell
Fire, pact and price. Every power can be had, and each has its price.
VI · Purple
Cosmos
Stars, orbits and the silence in between.
From home
From the sofa: your RPG character
Pokémon GO lets you join raids from home with a Remote Raid Pass. MapRaiders has its own way for days indoors: your RPG character starts at a spawn point, a fixed place on the world map, and moves through the real streets from there. Spawn points change with every card release, and a loop of at least 5 hectares of new ground earns you two of your own.
From a spawn point your character explores cities you have never been to. Its laps become territory too, and it can cut into other players' land just like someone walking outside.
Real screenshots
A look inside the app
No renderings and no mock-ups: these are real screenshots from the MapRaiders app, taken on 21 September 2026 with a German interface. The browser game looks different by now, and new screenshots will follow.
The real mapReal streets in parchment style, here at Pariser Platz in Berlin. 
Exploring virtuallyYour RPG character on Unter den Linden in Berlin. The counter at the bottom counts the distance since you set out.
Behind the games
Who is behind the games?
In 2025 Niantic sold its games business, including Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, to Scopely. The technology side was spun off as a separate company, Niantic Spatial, and kept Ingress.
MapRaiders is independent. It is developed in Miami, Florida, by SCAFA INVESTMENTS LLC and does not sell location data. You can delete your account at any time in your profile. Your account and your game data are deleted. Records that also involve other players, such as duel results, are kept, with no link to you.
Honest advice
Which game suits you?
Choose Pokémon GO if you love the Pokémon, want to play with a huge community today and enjoy catching creatures and completing a collection, with AR on top.
Choose MapRaiders if you want the streets you walk to count, prefer planning to tapping and enjoy building decks for a trading card game. You can also play both: MapRaiders runs in the browser, so you can try it without installing anything.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
- Is MapRaiders an alternative to Pokémon GO?
- Yes, for anyone who likes to play outside. Both games use the real map. MapRaiders adds territory you own and a trading card game for the fights.
- Do I have to walk to play?
- No. With real GPS you walk outside, with your RPG character you set out from a spawn point. Both claim land, and card duels work anywhere.
- Where does MapRaiders run?
- In the browser, on your phone as well as on your computer. The game is live: create an account and play.
- Can I buy playing strength?
- Playing strength is not for sale. Cards come from card finds on the map, from quests and challenges, and from packs you open with game money earned by playing.
- Are there Pokémon in MapRaiders?
- No. MapRaiders has its own world with six factions and its own characters. It has no connection to Pokémon, Nintendo, Niantic or Scopely.
Pokémon and Pokémon GO are trademarks of their respective owners. MapRaiders has no connection to Pokémon, Nintendo, Niantic or Scopely.
Live in the browser. Something new arrives every week.
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