How to plan a running loop
A good loop starts and ends at the same point, doesn’t cross itself and follows open streets. RunBattle counts a loop when you finish within 100 m of the start and the area inside is 0.01 to 5 km². A 100 × 100 m square already makes the smallest zone.
What makes a good loop
Start and finish at the same point
Pick something you will recognize mid-run: a door, a fountain, a street corner. That way you don’t overshoot the finish.
No figure eights
A loop that crosses itself turns into two shapes, and it is no longer obvious which ground is inside. A loop that doesn’t cross itself is easier to plan, because the zone comes out the shape you ran.
Open sky
GPS struggles in narrow streets and under bridges, and the app drops fixes less accurate than 50 m. The more sky above the route, the cleaner the track.
Few long stops
Auto-pause handles a red light, but a zone’s record counts the whole run by the clock, pauses included. And if you move more than 100 m while paused, the run won’t capture.
How far do you run for a zone?
A circle holds the most area for its length, and a long thin loop holds very little. An out-and-back of 2 km holds nothing; the same distance run as a square holds 0.25 km².
For a square loop, the lap length and the area work out like this:
- 100 × 100 m: lap of 0.4 km, 0.01 km², the smallest zone. Runs under 0.5 km earn no coins at all, so add a few hundred meters before or after the loop.
- 200 × 200 m: lap of 0.8 km, 0.04 km².
- 300 × 300 m: lap of 1.2 km, 0.09 km².
- 500 × 500 m: lap of 2 km, 0.25 km².
- About 2.24 × 2.24 km: lap of 8.94 km, 5 km², the largest zone.
Grid or park?
A street grid gives right angles and easy counting, but also a lot of traffic lights, and stops add up against a record.
Parks and promenades have fewer crossings, though paths curve and gates close. Zone area inside a special place earns ×2 coins from 07:00 to 21:00 local time, so a loop around a park pays more by day.
Ready-made loops
Many cities mark running circuits in their parks. A circuit that closes on itself is a ready RunBattle loop, as long as it encloses at least 0.01 km².
In the evening and at night
Many city parks close at nightfall, so a park loop that works at noon can be cut short by a locked gate. After dark, pick lit streets.
If your daily missions are first handed out at or after 19:00 local time, the set leaves out missions that send you to new streets, RunPoints or special places. Weekly missions are not filtered. It is a default, not a safety guarantee.
What if other players’ zones are in the way?
Zones never overlap, so your new zone is cut around the zones that already exist. To get ground that belongs to someone else, take over their zone by running its contour faster.
Planning ahead?
RunBattle has no route planner yet. Draw the loop in any map app you like and run it.
How RunBattle counts the loop
The app shows the loop as ready once you are within 100 m of the start. The server then checks that it closed within 100 m, has at least 8 points, encloses 0.01 to 5 km² and stayed under the speed limits. New zone pays 50 coins per km².
How zones workGet RunBattle
Free; coins come from running
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play