// GUIDE · GETTING STARTED
What is an idle game: meaning, how it works and where to play in the browser
- "Idle" means doing nothing: an idle game keeps progressing while you are not playing. It also goes by incremental or AFK.
- The loop is almost always the same: produce, spend to produce faster and, every so often, start over stronger.
- Some calculate what happened while you were away; others only progress with the page open — and then the tab cannot fall asleep.
- Brazil has a big scene of browser idle MMOs (Poke Idle, Tibia Idle, Ragnarok Idle), many of them fan-made.
What "idle" means
Idle means inactive, doing nothing. An idle game is a game that keeps playing when you stop: your character hunts, the factory produces, the mine pays out — and you come back every so often to decide what to upgrade. It is also called an incremental game (because the numbers only go up) and AFK (away from keyboard).
The genre became famous with Cookie Clicker, from 2013, where you start by clicking a cookie and end up with factories producing trillions of them. Since then it has branched into everything: RPGs, management games, MMOs in the browser.
How it works: the idle loop
- Produce. Something generates resources on its own: gold, experience, items.
- Reinvest. You spend to produce faster — upgrades, equipment, new helpers.
- Start over stronger. In many games, prestige (or "rebirth") resets your progress in exchange for a permanent bonus, and the next run is much faster.
What changes from one game to another is how much you need to show up: some idle games ask for one click a day, and there are idle MMOs where the choice of hunting area, equipment and what to sell makes all the difference.
The types of idle games
- Clicker and incremental. The numbers are the game: click, buy upgrades, watch them grow. Examples: Cookie Clicker and AdVenture Capitalist.
- Idle RPG and AFK. Characters that fight on their own, with gear and progression — very common on phones. Examples: Melvor Idle and AFK Arena.
- Browser idle MMO. An online world with other players, PvP, clans and a market, where your character hunts on its own in a browser tab. It's the type of game on TopIdle, the Brazilian ranking.
- Idle with real money. Games with item trading for money (RMT) or currencies you can withdraw in crypto. They come with their own risks: see RMT in games and crypto idle games.
Does it play with the tab closed?
It depends on how the game was built. There are two models:
- Offline progress. The server (or the game itself, when you come back) calculates what would have happened while you were away. You can close everything.
- Real time. The game only progresses while the page is open and running. Close it and it stops — and a regular browser slows down or discards the tab you are not looking at.
Our profile of each Brazilian idle game says which of the two it is, according to the game's official website. For the real-time ones, the guide why an idle game stops in the background shows how to keep the tab awake.
Brazil's browser idle game scene
Brazil has a huge scene of browser idle MMOs, many of them fan-made and inspired by classic games: Poke Idle (pokémon games), Tibia Idle, Ragnarok Idle, MMORPG idle and others. The TopIdle ranking brings these games together through community votes, and our idle game list has a profile of each one, with the rules on accounts and real money.
// 27 games
Poke Idle
Automatic hunting, shinies, clans and PvP: fan-made pokémon idle games, with the rules of each one.
// 10 games
Tibia Idle
Tibia-style vocations, hunts and creatures, with your character hunting on its own in the browser.
// 8 games
Ragnarok Idle
Ragnarok Online-style classes, MVPs, parties and market, with the farming running on its own.
// 14 games
MMORPG Idle
Online worlds with automatic farming, guilds and a player economy, from dark fantasy to cyberpunk.
// 3 games
Dragon Ball Idle
Dragon Ball-style training, transformations and battles, with your warrior powering up on its own.
// 25 games
Other idle games
Anime, Digimon, ninjas, zombies, space and farming: the idle games that don't fit the other categories.
How to get started without getting frustrated
- Choose by the time you have: an idle game that needs one click a day or an MMO that asks for attention.
- Read the rules on accounts and automation before creating a second account.
- Be wary of promised earnings: an honest game does not say how much you will make.
- If the game needs the tab open, sort out the browser before leaving it running overnight.
Where IdleDeck comes in
IdleDeck is a free Windows browser made for people who play idle games in the browser: each account in its own space, all in the same window, awake with the window minimized or in the tray, and an alert when one goes down. It does not play for you — no bot, no macro, no VPN.
Common questions
What is an idle game?
It is a game that keeps progressing when you are not playing: your character hunts, production keeps running and you come back to decide what to upgrade. It is also called incremental or AFK.
What is the difference between idle and AFK?
In practice, almost none: AFK (away from keyboard) is usually used for idle RPGs, especially on phones. Idle and incremental are the more general names for the genre.
Do idle games keep playing with the PC off?
Only the ones that calculate offline progress. Real-time games need the page open and the PC on; each profile on our list says which case applies to each Brazilian game.
What are the most common browser idle games in Brazil?
Pokémon games (Poke Idle) and Tibia-inspired ones are the categories with the most games in the TopIdle ranking. IdleDeck's idle game list shows the most voted games of the month in each category.
Can you make money with idle games?
Most of them, no. Some have real money trading (RMT) or currencies you can withdraw in crypto, but there are no guaranteed earnings and there are risks. The guides on RMT and on crypto idle games explain.