SpiritWars was developed by Kellogg Creek Software and in the past a free version of the game was offered exclusively at the World Opponent Network.  That relationship has ended, but the free version of the game is still available and now hosted by Kellogg Creek Software. Existing player accounts for the free version are still intact and no visible change (except for the WON.net logos) should be apparent to players.

While Kellogg Creek Software does offer a member "pay to play" version of SpiritWars, we want everyone to know that we will continue to provide a free version of the game.  The free version is  not a demo or a crippled version.  It is a fully playable game designed to deliver unlimited hours of challenging on-line play.  The free game offered is identical in all "in game" features to the pay version, except that it includes a subset of the total library of spirits (or playing pieces) that are offered in the membership version.  (The long-term play value of the free version of SpiritWars is unprecedented for a dual-version business model.  Some players have already logged over 3,000 games played in the free version of SpiritWars.)

The free version features a kingdom of 200 spirits, including over 125 unique playing pieces.  Most experienced players limit the size of their dungeon to about 35 spirits.  You do the math.  The odds of two players entering any given game with identical dungeons are slim.  Add the luck of the draw as spirits enter the courtyard and are available for play and you have a simple-to-learn game of strategy with an infinitely diverse range of playing possibilities.

While the free version provides only a small sampling of the total population of spirits contained in the pay version, the dynamic tournament system provides the free players with plenty of opportunities to experiment with playing pieces not normally included in the free population.

The primary difference in the two versions of the game lies in the ownership of spirits (or playing pieces), the total number of playing pieces available, and in the maintenance of player histories (won-loss records, match histories and player ratings). 

The only real difference between the two versions in terms of actual game play is the fact that in the free version all players share a common spirit kingdom from which they can recruit spirits when building a playing dungeon.  In the member version, each player owns a unique "kingdom" of randomly selected spirits.

In the free version, all players share the common kingdom of 200 spirits.  In the member version, you begin with a random kingdom of 200 spirits and must slowly build your spirit population by winning games and awaiting migrations of new spirits into your kingdom.  (In the member version, each defeat also results in fatalities which reduce the size of your spirit population.)

We are confident that you will find the free version of SpiritWars to be an engaging playing experience, and that it is one of the most dynamic and versatile free games available on the Internet.