Tribal Wars is a browser based game that starts you with a single village, and allows you to expand and take over other villages. This game has a heavy focus in human interaction. Players may start, join and leave tribes which provide protection for weaker players, coordinate attacks against other tribes, and aide in expansion. Each world is a square, with players starting from the middle and moving out as more players join. There are slight changes between worlds but they are generally the same. Most time is spent managing your village(s). At the town center you level up buildings, and at various other structures you build troops which can defend you village or attack other players. The game gets more complex with troop mixes, organized attacks and other game unique strategies.
A free account may pay to upgrade to a Premium account for a certain amount of time. The advantages of a premium account are all about convenience and saving you time. This comes in the form of a larger map, better interface, a better toolbar, longer queue, etc. This is unnecessary for new players but becomes almost a must once you own a lot of villages. A premium account is not necessary to do well because other than saving time, they do not offer gameplay advantages over free users.
Tribal Wars can be difficult to learn because strategy is very game-specific. Adding to that, it may be hard to find a good tribe or you may get taken over quickly by better players before you learn how to best play the game. Managing your first village may feel a bit slow, but after you have many in your possession it may take all day to maintain them. Once you get into the game, the sense of community is uniquely strong. – Halfshadows January 2010