It’s been six months since we talked about Clash of Clans as one of our favorite games of 2014, so it’s time we revisit some of out thoughts on this popular strategy game! Of course, picking a favorite game, even for a specific year, can be a real challenge.
Can you name just one or would you rather choose your top 3? These days there are many options to choose from and devices to play them on.
You have iPhone and Android games, computer games, games for console systems like Xbox, Playstation, Wii, and more. Then, of course, it seems nearly every popular website these days (not just Facebook) has one or two (or a dozen, or a hundred) browser-games vying for your attention. I believe the one of the next big developments in gaming is to extend a gaming environment to any and all devices you use, at home, work, on the go, or lounging around the house.
You can see Google trying to achieve this by building their own computer operating systems, Android platform, developing software for practically any device you want to be on. That way, you are constantly connected and feeding information into Google.
Unfortunately, we are not fully there yet, and it requires a bit of tweaking to download games such as Clash of Clans for Mac, Macbook Pro or Air when they are originally developed for the mobile platform. I will walk you through various options you have to get CoC working on your Apple computer just like any other mobile device.
“Every age has its storytelling form, and video gaming is a huge part of our culture. You can ignore or embrace video games and imbue them with the best artistic quality. People are enthralled with video games in the same way as other people love the cinema or theatre.” – Andy Serkis
What is Clash Of Clans?
If you haven’t heard of this game yet, you’ve been under a gaming rock somewhere and missed one of the hottest games on the mobile platform for the last couple years. With its distinctive visual style (and its hilarious commercials) it’s a hard one to overlook. Clash of Clans was the first game released by Supercell, which has now released Hay Day and Boom Beach to add to their collection of wildly popular games.
Credit: Damian Buzugbe
CoC is similar to other previous strategy and defense games in that you build and protect a base, where you are occasionally attacked by other clans and need to defend yourself. You can also raid other bases to gain their resources and help build your own base. Growing your base allows you to train more troops and have more resources to withstand a raid and even carry out your own raids.
It’s a highly addicting game where you play against other real people from around the world and the game is “always on” meaning anyone can jump in and raid you at any time. To help give you a bit of a boost, Clash of Clans offers in app purchases to speed up getting resources if you’re in a crunch and need to quickly upgrade.
What’s New in Clash of Clans?
Of course, Supercell isn’t going to release such a popular and entertaining game and then leave it at that. They’re constantly updating it with new material. Within the latest updates, here are some of the new features:
- Air Sweepers: These new tower units are interesting in that they aren’t meant for direct damage, but rather push back invading units so that your other towers will have a little more time to put the hurt on. Of course, you still have to be strategic here: when you set an Air Sweeper, you have to choose its direction (out of eight choices). Maybe they’ll eventually come out with an oscillating feature, like a good floor fan!
- War prep will alert you if your army isn’t fully prepared before you initiate an attack. Nothing worse than getting over-eager, and then getting slaughtered because you forgot to do your upkeep between runs!
- A “Dark Spell Factory,” with three unique spells!
There’s always new features coming out, because Supercell knows there’s always new features its players want (such as the ability to upgrade our walls with pink instead of just gold—amirite?), so just keep on logging in in order to see how this game will be kept fresh on into 2016!
Why Play Clash of Clans On Your Mac?
I know what the counterarguments are: people have their iPhones or Androids with them pretty much anywhere and everywhere they go. So why would you want to play this popular game on your Mac? I’ll give you a few great reasons why you want to follow the steps below, no matter if you use a Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, iMac or Mac Pro.
- Your Mac has a bigger screen than your iPhone, Android, or iPad screen. Therefore, simply having more real estate to play with makes the whole Clash of Clans gaming experience better on a Mac. That is especially true if you have a huge 27″ iMac with Retina Display. After all, you don’t want to constantly have to zoom in, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, zoom out (lather, rinse repeat) just to see what’s going on in your kingdom, when you can have a pretty good idea at one glance.
- Play when you’re at work or at your desk, you don’t have to bring out your phone. You can play when you get bored while writing that school paper or finishing up a project. It’s good to take 15 minute breaks and playing CoC can be a great way to relax while at your computer. Bringing out your phone, turning it sideways, and poking at it for fifteen minutes will let everybody know what you’re doing. But depending on how your monitor is angled, nobody has to know you’re taking a little brain-break with your favorite game.
- Any Mac will have a better processor if it’s new compared to a mobile device, so your game will be smoother, faster, and overall better graphics compared to most mobile devices. Granted, there are certain exceptions comparing a brand new iPhone 6 Plus to an old Macbook.
- Lastly, it’s a great option, just because you can. Why not have more options and places to play the game you love and have more flexibility on when and where you login and play.
Now, let’s get into the meat of why you came to this page in the first place. I’ll outline your options below with a few tips and tricks to make it run more smoothly.
Clash of Clans For Mac Using Bootcamp
One of the easiest ways to run Clash of Clans is to simply run Windows on your Mac and then download Andyroid, a commonly used and stable environment. This option requires a working copy of Windows operating system to install on your computer so make sure you have one.
One great thing about Macs is that they have the app Bootcamp preinstalled on them. Basically, it walks you through very easily how to partition and install Windows onto your Mac with very little work. From there, you have a lot more options when running Windows. Also, you can run any other Windows software program you desire.
- Get yourself a copy of Windows 7 or 8 to install. It’s easiest if you get a copy that is preinstalled onto a thumb drive that you can just put in your Mac.
- Once you have the copy of Windows, install it on your Mac by opening up the Bootcamp Assistant and going through the instructions. They are very straight forward and should be easy to follow. However, this may take a bit of time so make sure you have an hour or more.
- Now that you have Windows on your Mac, open up Bootcamp and run Windows. From there, head over to Andyroid and click the download button.
- Once you have Andyroid installed onto your Windows platform, open it up and follow the setup instructions.
- You will need to sign in with a Google Play account, so make sure you have one before you set it up.
- After setting it up, search for Clash of Clans in Andyroid and click the download button.
- Double click CoC and you’ll be up and running in no time!
It’s as easy as that. Super quick and simple. However, it requires that you buy a copy of Windows to run the app. Below, I will outline a completely free option if you don’t want to purchase anything. Both methods are completely valid but have various advantages and disadvantages.
Play Clash of Clans Using Genymotion
Now, I will walk you through the my favorite way to get Clash of Clans on your Mac and what I use on my Macbook Pro. Make sure you follow these steps exactly as I write them, it’s easy to miss a step and it won’t wind up working. I’ve tested this method several times and it works flawlessly if followed correctly.
You will need Genymotion, along with Virtual Box. Both are completely free, but you may need to sign up to get the apps to work.
Tip: You may want to change the resolution of your computer to around 800 x 1280 and at 320 dpi so it looks better and fills up more of the screen. Play around with a few different resolutions to see what looks the best.
- Download Genymotion for your Mac and sign up for a Genymotion account. You need to sign up in order for the app to work but it’s free.
- Head over to Virtual Box and download the app from this line “VirtualBox 4.3.20 for OS X hosts x86/amd64” onto your computer.
- Open and install both Genymotion and Virtual Box onto your Mac by double clicking the dmg file and going through the install steps.
- Launch Genymotion and sign in into your account so you can get a list of potential smartphones to emulate. You can choose any one of the number of devices, but I recommend Custom Tablet.
- Choose Custom Tablet to emulate but don’t start the device yet.
- Now, you’ll want to head over to Virtual Box and select the Custom Tablet you chose initially in Genymotion.
- From there, right click and choose Settings.
- Change basic memory to 2048mb and video memory to 128mb. This is important!
- Head back to Genymotion and change the settings to base memory of 2048mb and screen resolution you want.
- Start the virtual device and make sure to sign into your Google Play account.
- From there, you may find that Google Apps is not appearing, if not do a search for Google Apps and download it.
- Download Clash of Clans and drag and drop it into Genymotion so that you can star to play.
That wraps up the guide on using Genymotion to play CoC. Let us know below if this method worked for you, if it didn’t, then tell us why. Hopefully we can continue to come up with good solutions.
Alternatives: Netbook or iPod
If you find that the methods above are too cumbersome and you would rather not have to deal with all these issues there is a very easy solution but costs more than the ones above. One option is to buy a cheap Netbook from Best Buy or head over to Amazon or Newegg for a new computer.
You’ll be amazed that you can find a fully functioning PC running Windows for $200. Granted, you will find that it doesn’t have a ton of memory, RAM, or processor speed but it will be plenty if you just want to use it to play CoC. This way you won’t have to create all these work arounds to get the app to work on your Mac.
The last alternative I would suggest is to get a new or used iPod Touch. A brand new one costs $199 and will be able to run Clash of Clans on its native platform. You won’t have to work with any trouble and it will play perfectly. You can also look for a used iPod Touch for cheaper if you prefer that option. Both of these are good if you don’t want to mess with all the steps above. Like most things, though, you have to pay for convenience.
Let us know what you think about the tutorial above. Has it helped you download Clash of Clans for Mac, and play this amazing game to your heart’s content on some hardware that can really take it to the next level? Did it not work for you, if not, let us know below so we can try to help you out. Also, share this article if you find it to be helpful! A great thing about games like Clash of Clans is that they aren’t just games—they’re entire communities, swapping tips and strategies!
