Hole.io Guide: The Black Hole That Eats the City
Some game concepts you understand before you've even touched the screen. Hole.io is one of them: you're a black hole in a city, and everything that passes over you falls in. Cones, cars, buildings, then… the other black holes. Two minutes on the clock, a city to devour, and one simple question: who ends up biggest?
How it works
You move your hole through a small 3D city seen from above. Every object you swallow makes you grow a little, and the bigger you get, the bigger things you can swallow. At the start, only traffic cones, bollards, and pedestrians fit down your throat; by the end, you're gulping down entire towers. The classic match lasts two minutes: your final score is the sum of everything you made disappear. There's also a battle royale mode where the last hole "alive" wins.
The eating order: the key to your score
Everything hinges on how efficient your first thirty seconds are. The trap: wandering aimlessly, swallowing whatever's in reach. The right instinct: follow a food chain of objects.
- Phase 1 — the crumbs: cones, benches, bushes, pedestrians. Look for busy streets, market squares, parking lots: objects there are lined up like conveyor belts of calories.
- Phase 2 — the vehicles: as soon as cars start falling in, head for the main roads. A line of parked cars is a feast in a straight line.
- Phase 3 — the buildings: small houses first, then towers. A whole city block can double your size.
Keep this in mind: never waste time working around an object too big for you yet. It'll still be there in thirty seconds, once you're ready.
Eating other holes
Yes, a black hole can swallow another one — if it's noticeably bigger. It's the fastest way to widen the gap: gulping down an opponent transfers a big chunk of their growth to you. But the move interrupts your farming, and a risky duel against a similarly sized hole sometimes ends… the other way around. Simple rule: only attack when the size difference is obvious, and only once your own area is already cleaned out.
Winning the endgame
The last twenty seconds often decide the podium. By then, everyone's huge and the city is half-empty. Keep a mental map of the untouched neighborhoods — that's where you need to end up. And if you're in the lead, watch out: the second-place hole has exactly one idea left, rolling right over you at the buzzer.
Want a world that fights back?
Hole.io is instant fun, perfect for a quick break — it's actually featured in our list of the best .io games for a 10-minute break. Its burrowing cousin Digdig.io takes the idea further by having you dig through the map itself.
But if you ever feel like a world that pushes back — where prey fire cannonballs, where bosses patrol through the fog, and where growing means surviving —, there's a sea for that. Dovion is a free browser-based .io naval battle game: you swallow your gold through cannon fire, and the leaderboard is earned fair and square. Play Dovion for free — the city won't just roll over this time.