Civilization 35th Anniversary Giveaway

Over the last three and a half decades, the Civilization franchise has captivated players around the world with one simple question: can you build an empire that stands the test of time? Since 1991, millions of you have done just that; you’ve founded cities, built world wonders, established trade networks and waged wars. You’ve stayed up all night and skipped school and work for “one more turn.” We are incredibly thankful for our incredible community and we are humbled to celebrate 35 years of Civ with you!

As part of our month-long celebration, we recently hosted a giveaway across our social and community channels, where we asked you: what is YOUR favorite Civ memory? Here were some of our favorites, which earned player a Civ game of their choosing. Happy building, Leaders!

“Signing a declaration of friendship with Gandhi in Civ4 feeling completely safe and all that, and then getting hit with an unprovoked full scale nuclear assault out of nowhere three turns later haha. Somehow that one's stuck with me” – @likesomesay on X

“For the first few years of our relationship me and my wife played a lot of Civ 4 multiplayer - there was just one rule and that was we couldn't declare war on each other. There were a lot of cultural victories!” – @chodhound on X

“My favorite memory was from the OG Civ. I was the Americans and captured the city of Rome (capital). The game then announced that the Roman Empire was swept by civil war and when the dust settled, the empire had been split into 2 different civilizations!” – @NYGinND on X

“Civ 4, Deity difficulty, the dreaded and iconic “Stack of Doom” showing up on your border in the first few turns of the game with a surprise war declaration to boot. So you reload the save file from the beginning and try and figure out a way to prevent it from happening. You’d go on Civfanatics forums and there would be scores of people trying to figure out the Seed and try and make adjustments to make the start somewhat survivable. Was like the community getting together to try and land a rocket on Mars. Those play throughs that you could read a long were fantastic and just incredibly iconic. Most defining Civilization memory I have by far, and I’ve been playing since the 90s (I knew what Civ 1 was, but I’d consider Civ 2 was the real first start for me)” – Karsh14 on Reddit

“This was a while ago, we had just gotten sent home from our dorms because of the pandemic. I remember starting that project the day the NBA basically cancelled the season, and it basically became confirmed reality that the pandemic was gonna be major. Since I was gonna have to head back to my home state and Civ VI got me into maps and history, I made this huge map of North Carolina with rivers and lakes and resources and everything. I’m surprised I’m even allowed to use Wikipedia anymore. Anyway zoom calls and online VI matches w buddies made the pandemic a lot more fun” – Rohan K. on Reddit

“My father played civilization 4 when I was a child. I believe he played 3 previously. I would just sit on his lap as a 6 year and watch him play for hours. I am now 25 and I have 1000h of my own on civ 6 now, and 500h on civ 5. I'm a grown and married woman but I still enjoy going into his office to watch him play video games when I go home.” – lililac0 on Reddit

“My favourite memory has to be when I played Civ Vi for the first time with my dad before he passed away. I played Cyrus and he was playing as Lincoln and I beat him before the modern era. He was somewhat upset that in my first game I beat him but also proud of me at the same time. We both played together up until he passed away in 2024.” – 3terna1rag3 on Discord

“I’m a long‑time member—and now a moderator—of Civfanatics. While I’ve owned and played Civilization III through VII, my favorite version- and my favorite game of all time- is Civilization IV. I consider Civ IV to be firmly in the pantheon of the greatest games ever made, regardless of genre or platform. One memory stands out among many. Civfanatics sponsors several official competitions for members, and one of the most beloved for Civilization IV is the Succession Game of the Month (SGOTM). Despite the name, each SGOTM spans several months, with teams competing in a friendly but fiercely competitive environment. Everyone plays the same specially designed game file, often with unique rules or objectives beyond simply winning a victory condition. I competed in quite a few SGOTMs over the years with an ever‑evolving group of teammates. My biggest memory—and proudest moment—was finally winning the competition in what turned out to be the final sponsored SGOTM. It was incredibly rewarding, especially given how competitive these events are and how many excellent, seasoned players participate.” – lymondcfc on Discord

“I’d have to say it was all the way back on Civilization Revolution during a multiplayer game with a friend of mine. I can't recall who we were playing as, but we ended up at war with each other (it was a surprise war initiated by my friend, who has since paid dearly for this), and my friend had managed to take all but 1 of my cities due to them being lightly defended. He quickly moved on my last remaining city with the vast majority of his remaining units, proudly, and with great confidence, boasting about how he had now won the game (the first game he would have won against me). Just for his great pleasure in my perceived defeat to quickly turn into great dumbfounded confusion after taking that last city, to see that he hasn't yet won, and that I was still in the game. I had managed to sneak a settler away from my city and to halfway across the map, and settled another city just before he could take what was my last city. His displeasure at figuring this out was very funny, I knew I was significantly on the back foot at this point but hearing that pain in his voice at the time was very mentally redeeming. However, his displeasure in finding out I had settled that city had shortly became a great panic as he then noticed a few of my units just a few tiles away from his now completely undefended capital, and main section of empire... After it fell, alongside a few surrounding cities, I received a few very choice words🤣. He eventually lost that game too.What made the whole situation 10x funnier, was that the city I settled to keep myself from being taken out of the game, was the city my friend is from.” – pingu4546 on Discord

We want to say a big thank you to everyone that participated, and we’re honored that Civ has played a role in your story, no matter how small or large! If you didn’t win this time, be sure to check out our socials and join our Discord; we’ll be hosting more events and giveaways in the future.

Happy Civtember!