How to play World 1: The Paper World
The Great Paper Expansion is a free idle game: you fold one sheet of paper, and every fold doubles the stack. This guide covers World 1, The Paper World, where you climb from your desk to the edge of the universe, and keep pushing higher. Here's everything you need to know.
1. Make paper
Every fold costs paper. At the start, tap the sky to make paper by hand. Then buy your first mill, the Scrap Collector, from the Mills tab. Mills make paper for you automatically, every second, even while the game is closed. Each one you buy makes paper faster, and new kinds of mill appear as you climb.
The ⭐ Best buy badge marks the mill that adds the most paper for its price. ×10 and Max buy several at once.
2. Fold
When you have enough paper, the fold button lights up. Folding doubles your stack: a 0.1 mm sheet becomes 0.2 mm, then 0.4 mm, and after just 27 folds it's taller than Mount Everest.
Once you can afford a fold, pressure starts to build, and the game shows how big a boost the next fold will give. When to fold is up to you. Later on, an upgrade can fold for you automatically.
3. Pass real landmarks
As your stack grows it passes 38 real landmarks, each with a surprising fact: a house cat, a giraffe, the Eiffel Tower, Mount Everest, a cruising jet, the edge of space, the Moon, the planets, the nearest star, the center of the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. Every landmark you pass pays gold, and the first time ever pays triple.
4. Upgrades and gold
The Upgrades tab boosts your paper for the current climb, and new upgrades unlock as you get higher. The Gold tab sells permanent perks and paper colors that you keep forever, even after unfolding.
5. Unfold for creases
Unfolding starts a fresh climb. Your paper, mills, upgrades and folds start over, but you keep your creases, gold, cranes and gold perks. Every crease makes all your paper faster, forever. The Unfold tab shows how many creases you'd get right now.
6. Catch paper planes
Paper planes fly across the sky from time to time. Tap them to catch them for a bonus, and watch out for the rare golden ones.
7. Climb the leaderboard
The Ranks tab has live leaderboards: the highest fold, today's highest climb, the fastest run to the edge of the universe, cranes (every fold you've ever made) and paper planes caught. You get a unique name and player number, and you can rename yourself and pick an emoji.
8. Keep your progress
Your progress saves automatically, in your browser and in the cloud. To play on another phone, tablet or computer, open Settings, choose Save across devices and add your email, then use Sign in on the other device.
9. After the edge: the Grove
When your stack reaches the edge of the observable universe (fold 102), World 2, the Grove opens. Open the world map and tap Go to the Grove to visit a forest where you hire a crew, plant and fell trees and fill paper mill orders. As your Grove grows, it makes your World 1 orbiters stronger. Each world has its own save, so you can switch back and forth at any time. Read all about the Grove.
Good to know
- Your mills keep making paper while you're away, and a welcome-back card shows what they made.
- Every landmark comes with a real fact. Collect them all in the Stats tab's field guide.
- On an older phone, or to save battery, set Graphics in Settings to Medium or Low (Battery saver) for a smoother game. Auto, the default, lowers the effects by itself when the game runs slowly.
- There are achievements to earn along the way, each paying gold.
Want the details? Read the Game guide: every part of World 1 explained, from mills and pressure to creases, cranes and paper planes.
More questions? See the FAQ, or read how many times you can really fold a piece of paper.