How to Play Planet Clicker: Complete Beginner’s Guide (2026)
Planet Clicker looks simple, and it is. You click a planet, you earn energy, you spend that energy on machines. But the order you buy things in makes a big difference to how fast you move. This guide shows you how to play Planet Clicker on your first run, from the very first click to unlocking Mars, with the real prices for every upgrade.
The Goal of the Game
Before you learn how to play Planet Clicker, know the goal. You make energy and use it to buy all three planets.
Energy is the only thing you collect. You start with nothing, and you make your first energy by clicking Earth. Then you spend it in the shop on machines that make energy for you, without any clicking.
Once you have saved enough, you buy the next planet. That planet has its own shop with much stronger machines. There are three planets in total, so the game ends when you have bought the last upgrade on the third one.
There is no way to lose, no timer and nothing you have to pay for.
Controls and What Every Button Does
This is one of the easiest games to control that you will ever pick up. Knowing how to play Planet Clicker really comes down to one action.
On a Computer
Left click the planet in the middle of the screen. That is the whole game. You use the same left click for every button and every upgrade in the shop. No keyboard needed.
On a Phone or Tablet
Learning how to play Planet Clicker on a phone works the same way. Tap the planet instead of clicking it. The game runs in your mobile browser, so there is no app to install.
Every Button on the Screen
| Button | Where It Is | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| The planet | Middle of the screen | Click or tap it to make energy |
| Energy total | Top centre | Shows what you can spend right now |
| Per second | Just under the energy total | Shows how much you earn without clicking |
| SHOP | Bottom right | Opens the upgrade list for this planet |
| Left and right arrows | Beside the planet name | Move you between planets |
| Speaker | Left side | Turns the sound on and off |
| Three lines | Left side, under the speaker | Opens your Player Stats |
| Gear | Top right | Settings, leaderboard and reset |
Most new players never notice the per second number sitting under the big one. It is the more useful of the two. The big number tells you what you can afford today. The small one tells you how quickly tomorrow arrives.
How to Play Planet Clicker in Five Steps
Every idle clicker game runs on a loop. Here is how to play Planet Clicker, in full:
- Click the planet and your energy goes up.
- Open the shop using the button in the bottom right.
- Buy an upgrade. Some make each click worth more. Others make energy on their own, every second.
- Let the machines run. The more you own, the less clicking you need to do.
- Buy the next planet when you can afford it, then start the loop again with better machines.
That is how to play Planet Clicker from start to finish. Nothing else unlocks later and nothing is hidden.
Step by Step: Your First Run on Earth
Here is the exact order to follow when you learn how to play Planet Clicker. Every price below is what you actually pay for your first one of each item.
Step 1: Click Earth to 20 Energy
Each click gives you 1 energy when you start. Click the planet about twenty times. This is the only part of the game where fast clicking really matters, so do not be shy with it.
Step 2: Buy the Earth Clicker for 20
Open the shop and take the Earth Clicker. It doubles what every click is worth, so your clicks now give 2 energy instead of 1.
Buy this first every single time. It pays for itself in about twenty clicks, and everything you click after that is worth double.
Step 3: Buy Campfires at 100 Each
A Campfire gives you 1 energy every second, whether you are clicking or not. This is your first income that does not need your hands.
Buy two or three. You will feel the moment your energy starts climbing on its own.
Step 4: Save to 800 and Buy a Farm
A Farm gives you 10 energy per second. One Farm does the work of ten Campfires, which is a real jump rather than a small step.
At this point you can put your mouse down. The game has started playing itself.
Step 5: Keep Moving Up the List
From here the rule is simple. Buy the best machine you can afford, let it run, and buy again when you can.
The list above Farm goes Animal Farm at 10,000, then Windmill at 75,000, then Factory at 250,000. Each one costs a lot more and pays a lot more.
Step 6: Buy Mars at 1 Million
Once a Factory is running you are making 5,000 energy per second. At that rate, 1 million energy takes a little over three minutes of doing nothing at all.
The Earth Shop Explained
Part of learning how to play Planet Clicker is knowing the shop. There are six things to buy on Earth. These are the starting prices, which is what your first one of each costs.
| Upgrade | Starting Price | What It Gives You |
|---|---|---|
| Earth Clicker | 20 | Doubles your click power |
| Campfire | 100 | +1 energy per second |
| Farm | 800 | +10 energy per second |
| Animal Farm | 10,000 | +120 energy per second |
| Windmill | 75,000 | +1,000 energy per second |
| Factory | 250,000 | +5,000 energy per second |
Two of these work differently from the rest. The Earth Clicker only helps while you are clicking. Everything else pays you every second whether you touch the screen or not.
That is why the Earth Clicker is worth buying early and then mostly forgetting about. Your hands have a limit. Your machines do not.
Why Prices Go Up After Every Purchase
This is the one rule that catches out almost every new player learning how to play Planet Clicker.
Every time you buy something, the next one of that item costs more. Your first Campfire is 100. The second one is dearer. The third is dearer again.
So the prices in the table above are only true once each.
Why this matters: do not pick one machine and buy it over and over forever. The more you own of something, the worse a deal it becomes, while the next item up the list is still sitting at its cheap starting price.
Check both numbers before you buy. When the bigger machine gives you more energy per second for your money, switch to it.
How to Unlock Mars and Venus
There are three planets in Planet Clicker. You use the arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to move between them.
| Planet | Price | What Its Shop Holds |
|---|---|---|
| Earth | Free from the start | Earth Clicker, campfire, farm, animal farm, windmill, factory |
| Mars | 1,000,000 energy | Solar, oil, coal, nuclear and alien technology |
| Venus | 1,000,000,000,000 energy | Iron, lava and Future Technology |
Mars is the natural halfway point. Everything in its shop pays far more than the Earth version, so moving there early is almost always right.
Venus is a different story. It costs a million times what Mars costs. Earth machines will never pay for it, no matter how many you buy. You need Mars income working for you first, and at the very bottom of the Venus shop sits Future Technology, the strongest upgrade in the game.
Reading Your Player Stats
Click the three-line button under the speaker and the game shows your Player Stats. There are four numbers in there, and one of them matters more than the others.
- Time played is how long this run has been going.
- Total energy is everything you have ever made. Spending never lowers it.
- Energy spent is how much has gone into upgrades.
- Clicks is how many times you have tapped the planet.
Total energy is the number the leaderboard uses. Your spendable balance goes up and down as you buy things, but total energy only ever climbs.
That means buying upgrades never costs you your rank. Spend as freely as you like.
Five Mistakes Beginners Make
Saving up for something expensive.
The most common one by far. While you wait, your energy sits doing nothing. Buy something cheaper now and let it earn towards the expensive thing for you.
Clicking for too long.
Clicking is your income for the first two minutes and almost nothing after that. Once Farms are running, your hands barely move the needle.
Buying one machine forever.
Prices rise each time. Ten Campfires cost far more than ten times 100, and by then a Farm is a much better deal.
Ignoring the per second number.
It is the only readout that tells you whether a purchase actually helped. Check it before and after you buy.
Staying on Earth too long.
Once you can afford Mars, every extra Earth machine is energy you could have spent somewhere much better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts
The whole trick when you learn how to play Planet Clicker is knowing when to stop using your hands. Click to 20, buy the Earth Clicker, add a few Campfires, then get a Farm running at 800. After that, your job changes from clicking to choosing, and the game gets much more interesting.
Keep an eye on the per second number, buy the machine that gives you the most of it per energy spent, and remember that every price rises as you stack it. That is how to play Planet Clicker well, and Mars will arrive sooner than you expect.