Reddit Pixel War (r/place): How It Works, Every Edition and Will It Return?

Jul 20, 2023

Updated • Nov 8, 2026

Internet

The Reddit pixel war is the nickname for r/place, Reddit's collaborative canvas event where every logged-in user can place one colored pixel at a time, then wait out a cooldown before placing the next. Communities, countries and streamers coordinate to build flags, logos and memes, and fight over space with rival groups. r/place ran in 2017, 2022 and 2023, and no new edition has run since July 2023.

This page explains how the pixel war works, what happened in each edition, why the 2023 canvas turned into a protest, and where you can still see the art or join a similar canvas today.

Reddit pixel war artwork on the r/place canvas — Pixel art created by Reddit communities on the r/place canvas. Image: Reddit

What is the Reddit pixel war?

The Reddit pixel war is r/place, a shared online canvas on the r/place subreddit that anyone with a Reddit account can edit, one pixel at a time. Reddit calls it r/place; users call it the pixel war (or pixel battle) because the canvas is too small for everyone, so groups defend their artwork and overwrite each other's.

The rules are simple:

You need to be signed in to a Reddit account to place a pixel.
You pick one color from a fixed palette and place a single pixel.
A cooldown timer starts, and you cannot place another pixel until it runs out.
The canvas has no owner: any pixel can be overwritten by anyone at any time.

Because a single user can do so little, results depend on coordination. Communities plan designs on Discord, share pixel templates, and rally viewers on Twitch. Reddit expanded the canvas and the color palette during the event to give everyone more room, which usually set off a new land grab along the fresh edges.

Every r/place edition at a glance

Reddit has held r/place three times, each one larger than the last. The table lists the key facts for each edition.

Edition	Dates and canvas	What stood out
2017	April 1 to 3, 2017; 1000 x 1000 pixels, 16 colors	The original April Fools' experiment, with more than 1 million users and about 16 million pixels placed
2022	From April 1, 2022, for about four days; grew to 2000 x 2000 pixels, 32 colors	More than 10 million users; streamers such as xQc drove huge raids; ended with a white-only phase
2023	July 20 to 25, 2023; grew to 3000 x 2000 pixels, 32 colors	Started with 8 colors; protest art against Reddit's CEO; ended with a greyscale and white phase

The 2022 and 2023 editions ended in a similar way: Reddit limited the palette to white in the final hours, so the community gradually painted the canvas over. The final image before the whiteout is the one people remember and archive.

Why the 2023 pixel war became a protest

The 2023 r/place edition was shaped by user anger at Reddit itself. It launched only weeks after thousands of subreddits went dark over Reddit's API pricing changes, which shut down many third-party apps, and shortly after the removal of older chat messages.

Many users turned the canvas into a message board aimed at Reddit CEO Steve Huffman (u/spez). Slogans against "spez" appeared across the canvas, and in the closing greyscale phase the community spelled out a giant profane anti-spez message in white letters. Reddit admins removed some artwork, including violent imagery aimed at the CEO, which added to the conflict between the company and its users.

Away from the protest, the usual pixel war continued: national communities fought for space with flags and landmarks, and German, Chilean and Vietnamese communities ended up holding some of the largest areas of the final canvas.

Is the Reddit pixel war coming back?

Reddit has not run r/place since July 2023 and has not announced a new edition. The first two editions launched on April 1 as April Fools' events, so fans watch for news around that date, and users have started petitions asking Reddit to bring it back.

If Reddit does announce a new pixel war, the official sources are the r/place subreddit and Reddit's own accounts. You will need a Reddit account to take part, so set one up before launch day. Browsing Reddit works without one, as our guide to using Reddit on mobile without signing in shows, but placing pixels does not.

Until then, here is where you can still explore past canvases:

The r/place subreddit, which keeps posts, timelapses and final images from past editions.
Community atlases such as the Place Atlas project on GitHub, which labels the artwork and the communities behind it.
Reddit's own write-up on how it built r/place in 2017, for the technical side.

Pixel war sites you can play now

If you want a pixel war today, you need a site other than Reddit. The best-known one is Wplace, launched in July 2025 by a Brazilian developer and inspired by r/place. Instead of a blank square, Wplace puts the canvas on a world map, so players paint over real cities and countries.

Wplace works differently from Reddit's version. You still need an account, but instead of a single pixel per cooldown you get a pool of pixel charges that refills over time, and you can earn in-game currency to unlock more colors and larger pools. It drew more than a million users within days of launch.

Keep in mind that Wplace and other fan-run canvases are independent projects with no connection to Reddit. Check their rules and privacy terms before you sign up, especially if a site asks you to log in with an existing social account.

FAQ

Who won the Reddit pixel war?

r/place has no official winner, since Reddit does not score the canvas. Fans judge by how much space a community held in the final image; in 2023, German, Chilean and Vietnamese artwork covered some of the largest areas.

Why is it called a pixel war?

Space on the canvas is limited and any pixel can be overwritten, so communities fight to protect their art and expand into other groups' territory. The battles between national communities gave the event its nickname.

Can you use bots in r/place?

Reddit designed r/place as a manual, one pixel per cooldown event, and automated placement was a common complaint from the first edition onward. Using scripts to place pixels breaks the spirit of the event and can break Reddit's rules.