If you want to learn about Age of Empires betting, know first that you have ahead of you one of the longest-running video game franchises in esports history. Fittingly, Age of Empires has aged like an empire itself.
Today, many bookmakers provide Age of Empires markets to broader and broader audiences. On top of being a Hall of Famer in the RTS genre, the empire continues to expand its betting territories.
Make better AOE betting decisions by reading more about the game’s professional league, gameplay, and betting strategies.
Best Age of Empires Betting Sites and Bonuses
How to Bet on Age of Empires
Age of Empires betting—like StarCraft 2 betting—is simple and easy to do, no matter how complicated the game looks. Here are the most popular Age of Empires odds types you’ll find available on our recommended betting sites:
- Map Winner – Competitive Age of Empires events normally use a best-of-five format for matches outside the Finals. With the map winner market, you can bet on a player to win only on a specific map.
- Map Total – A best of five means a series could go on up to five maps before the winner is decided (assuming both players tie at 2-2). If you think a matchup will reach a certain number of maps, place your bet in the map total market.
- Map Handicap – Whenever a clear underdog faces a clear favorite, the moneyline gets too risky. As a solution, you can place your bets on the map handicap market if you think a player will win a certain number of maps instead of the whole series.
- Outright Winner – Before an Age of Empires playoffs begins, you can bet outright on the player who you think will win the entire tournament. This market gives huge payouts to compensate for the added risk.
- Wonder – Here you bet on whether you think the game will end with a Wonder being built and defended. In some situations, the Wonder can single-handedly be the most crucial structure in the game.
- Over/Under – In Age of Empires, this market concerns the duration of a game. If you have a good feeling a match will end before a certain time is reached (say, 30 minutes), look at the over/under odds.
If you can’t find these markets, we suggest checking out the best Warcraft 3 esports betting sites since some bookies may target RTS bettors in particular. To see your chosen bookie’s Age of Empires odds, visit them just ahead of the event and not a moment earlier.
Image Credit: Age of Empires
Age of Empires Betting Strategies and Tips
Age of Empires has been around for decades, which means the developers have, for the most part, fine-tuned the balance of the game. This is why you should turn your attention to the newest updates and pinpoint where the current meta is. A minor patch may tilt the favor towards a particular civilization, play style, or timing. That said, your bets for Age of Empires will significantly improve if you can tell who is favored and who is not.
Speaking of play styles, gauge the personal preferences and practices of the competitors and contrast them with each other. The last thing you want to do is risk your money on a player with a low win rate against aggressive players who specialize in aggressive civilizations (like the Mongols).
Lastly, activating an esports 100% welcome bonus would go a long way if you’re a new bettor. Talk about doubling your money even before making your first bet.
How to Play AOE: Gameplay Explained
Age of Empires is a real-time strategy game where you take on the role of a leader of one of several historical civilizations, such as the English, Chinese, or Mongols. The objective is to build a powerful empire that can withstand attacks from other players (or bots) and ultimately dominate the world map.
Image Credit: Age of Empires
To achieve this objective, you must gather resources such as food, wood, and gold to build structures, train units, research technologies, improve units and abilities, and expand territories. You also have to strategically manage these resources to ensure the sustainability of your empire.
You win the game by meeting one of the following victory conditions:
- Destroy all enemy buldings
- Capture and defend all the Sacred Sites
- Build and defend your civilization’s Wonder
Age of Empires Esports History
The first Age of Empires tournament took place in 1998 in Seattle. It had a prize pool of $2,000 and was organized by MSN Gaming Zone, one of the first gaming websites that paved the way for free-to-play online games.
Image Credit: Age of Empires
That was more than 2 decades ago—just ten years after the creation of the World Wide Web. Moving forward to 2023, Age of Empires has released tens of extension packs and produced hundreds of tournaments and events.
AOE Tournaments
While there are four Age of Empires titles (not counting the expansion packs, remasters, and spin-offs), the bulk of the franchise’s cash prizes is funneled into Age of Empires 2 and 4.
Here’s a quick list of the most recent and relevant Age of Empires tournaments:
- King of the Desert V (AOE 2, May 2023)
- Nili’s Apartment Cup IV (AOE 2, May 2023)
- Golden League 2 (AOE 4, Feb 2023)
- The Grand Melee (AOE 2, Dec 2022)
- Winter Team Championship (AOE 4, Nov 2022)
- Red Bull Wololo: Legacy 2022 (AOE 2 & 4, Oct 2022)
How to Watch AOE Esports
If you like seeing a person’s attention put to the ultimate test, you’re going to like watching Age of Empires esports. It’s the arena where the Age of Empires best players compete as to who can click the most buttons, or do the most actions in-game, in a minute. (The term for this is APM or actions per minute.)
Elite Gaming Channel is currently the largest Age of Empires 4 event organizer. Follow the EGCTV YouTube and EGCTV Twitch channels to enjoy the next AOE professional match.
If you want only high-stakes AOE games with north of $100,000 on the line, tune in to the Red Bull Gaming YouTube and Red Bull Twitch channels. The Red Bull Wololo is the most prestigious AOE event to date.
Age of Empires Betting Conclusion
Any game that launched in 1997 and is still relevant in 2023 deserves admiration. For most bettors, Age of Empires betting has become synonymous with celebrating the game’s long history, unrelenting community, and fierce competition.
Intensifying gameplay, mythologies, and cultures—the franchise has it all. Bet on Age of Empires today and marvel at what the game has to offer.
