How to Play Tikal

1. Creating your hero

Tikal is free and needs no download to try — play instantly in a browser, or install the Android/iOS app for the full-screen experience. One account holds every character you create, shared across every platform.

1. Register an account with an email, username and password.
2. Create your first character and pick its outfit. You start with no calling — a Wanderer — and land on the rookie shore with a starter kit: leather armor, a short sword, a wooden shield, a little gold and some food.
3. Learn the controls. Tap or click to walk, tap a creature to attack, and use the action bar for items and spells. Everything is touch-first, so it plays the same on phone or desktop.

2. The rookie shore

Every new hero starts on a small, safe rookie isle before crossing to the mainland. Its waters are calm and its creatures gentle — this is where you learn to fight, loot and follow quests without much risk.

Daykeeper Itzel waits by the temple and will guide you through your first steps. Talk to her to pick up your bearings, and look for the isle's early quests, such as clearing wolves from a captain's gate or recovering a lost amulet for a village elder — both hand out useful gear and experience.

Keep hunting, looting and turning in quests until you reach level 8. At that point, return to Daykeeper Itzel — she is the one who lets you swear your calling and cross over to the mainland capital to begin the real adventure.

3. Choosing your calling

At level 8, Daykeeper Itzel offers you a choice that shapes the rest of your journey. Once sworn, your calling cannot be undone on that character, so pick the playstyle that suits you.

The moment you swear your calling, you're carried across the sea to Yaxalún, the maize-city capital, ready to train weapon skills, learn spells and gear up for the mainland.

4. Finding & tracking quests

Quests in Tikal live entirely in conversation — there's no separate quest menu. Talk to the characters around each city and cave, and any quest-related choice appears highlighted in gold among their dialogue options, easy to spot even in a long chat.

Two quests wait as soon as you're strong enough to help: Captain Roderick wants wolves cleared from his gate, and Elder Tomas is missing an ancient amulet lost to the trolls of the eastern caves — both pay experience and useful gear. Every dungeon beneath the mainland hides its own local questlines too, so keep talking to the miners, prospectors and other locals you meet underground.

There's no persistent quest journal — your progress and completion show up as messages in your chat log as you go. If you ever forget a quest's next step, simply seek out its giver again and ask.

5. Learning spells

Every hero already knows a couple of free universal prayers from the rookie shore. Everything beyond that is taught by Sage Mira, the spell-teacher who keeps her table in the plaza of Yaxalún, the capital.

Talk to her and ask about spells to see what you can learn. Each spell has a gold cost and a minimum level (some also need a minimum magic level), and most are specific to one calling — a Sky Sorcerer and a Jade Druid are never offered the same spellbook. Save up between hunts, and check back as you level: new spells unlock steadily, from early healing and bolt spells to the powerful rites of a veteran adventurer.

6. Gearing up

Every city in the Kingdom hosts the same four vocation shops, so you can always resupply close to where you're hunting:

The capital, Yaxalún, also has Gundra the Merchant, who stocks potions, food and general tools, and buys back the trophies you loot from creatures. As you defeat tougher monsters and complete quests, you'll also find and loot rarer weapons, armor and accessories that outclass anything sold in a shop — the best gear in Tikal is earned, not bought.

7. Crafting & fishing

Beyond looting and buying, you can turn raw materials into useful items yourself. Talk to a crafting NPC and ask about crafting to see the recipes they know — everything costs only the listed materials and a minimum character level, never gold.

• Itzel the Smith teaches Smithing and Jewelry — turning ore, pelts, obsidian and jade into weapons, rings and charms.
• Gundra the Merchant teaches Cooking — turning raw fish, meat, maize and cacao into better, longer-lasting meals.

Fishing is open to every hero from level 1. Buy a fishing rod from Gundra the Merchant, stand next to any water tile, and cast — a dedicated Fishing skill improves your catch rate the more you do it. Cook what you catch into a proper meal with Cooking.

8. Buying & selling

Stand near a merchant NPC and open trade to see their offers — you can buy from their stock or sell them items straight from your backpack for gold. Merchants only carry so much gold at once, so busy shops may briefly run low on cash for buying your loot; it replenishes over time.

For items no NPC wants, or when you'd rather set your own price, every city's Vault Keeper also runs the player market. List an item from your bags for a small listing fee, and once it sells, the proceeds — minus a small sales tax — land straight in your vault, even while you're offline hunting or offline entirely.

9. How the economy works

Tikal's currency is simple, in three denominations that stack neatly as your fortune grows:

You'll earn gold from creature loot, quest rewards, treasure chests, and selling items to merchants or on the player market. The Vault Keeper in every city's bank will store your coin and belongings safely, exchange between denominations, and keep your money out of harm's way — items and gold left in the vault are never lost, even on death.

10. Traveling the Kingdom

The cities of Tikal are linked by the ancient sacbeob — raised stone causeways — and jungle tracks, so you can always simply walk between them, taking in the world and its dangers along the way, for free.

For a quicker crossing, look for Captain Roderick at the docks: he offers fast travel between the Kingdom's cities for a gold fee, free to Premium accounts, along with passage to other, far-off worlds as an exclusive Premium privilege.

Wherever you go, pray at a city's temple altar to bind it as your home — the place Kukulkan's wind will carry you back to whenever you fall in battle.

11. Guilds

Banding together with other adventurers has real, lasting benefits. Open the Guild window from your HUD to search for a guild to join, or found your own.

Founding a guild costs 1,000 gold and requires level 30; joining an existing one only needs level 15 and an accepted application. A guild can hold up to 30 members across Leader, Officer and Member ranks, and gets its own private guild chat channel plus a weekly rankings board tracking every member's contribution.

12. World events

The Kingdom doesn't stand still. Keep an eye on the event banner beneath your experience bar for what's happening now or coming soon, and tap it to open the full World Events panel.

Some events are rare spectacles, like the monthly Awakening of the Jade Serpent world boss or the seasonal Harvest of Maize festival; others recur often and reward you just for playing during them, like a daily golden hour of double experience, or random invasions and bonus-loot hours. Take part for world bosses, bonus experience and loot, and festival merchants you won't find any other day.

13. The five cities

Beyond the rookie shore lie four city-states plus the capital, each with its own character — though every one shares the same temple, vault and vocation shops, so you're never stranded far from what you need.

14. Tips for new adventurers

• Death has a real cost in Tikal — you can lose skill and experience progress when you fall, so retreat before a fight turns hopeless.
• Keep your gold and valuables in your vault rather than your backpack; the vault is always safe, even when you are not.
• Praying regularly at your home temple keeps your bind up to date, so you always come back where you meant to.
• Premium unlocks the Serpent's Ward, which softens the cost of dying, plus a larger vault, more character slots, exclusive spells and outfits, and free fast travel.
• Grouping with other players makes tougher creatures and quests far safer — the Kingdom rewards those who hunt together.