'World of Tanks Blitz' just transformed the moon into a tank battleground

If you love space and also tanks, you're in luck. "World of Tanks Blitz" wants to fly you to the moon this week.

The free-to-play tank battle game has transformed the Sea of Tranquility — yes, the famed landing site of NASA's Apollo 11 mission — into a lunar battleground in a new Gravity Force mode. The limited-time game mode features crazy physics that send you flying across the lunar surface on cannon recoil and shows what tank fighting just might look like in the one-sixth gravity of the moon.

"We are excited to bring players an outer-space experience, with real outer-space prizes!" World of Tanks product director Andrey Ryabovol said in a statement. "Get prepared for moon mechanics that will have commanders and tanks fighting physics across many different maps, and we look forward to rewarding the best out-of-this-world warriors among you!"

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Fight with tanks on the moon in World of Tanks Blitz's Gravity Force mode through April 16, 2020. (Image credit: World of Tanks Blitz)

Those prizes include certificates for moon land from the Lunar Embassy for the best Gravity Force players, according to World of Tanks developers. The Gravity Force mode can also be played on other game maps beyond the new Sea of Tranquility mode.

"World of Tanks Blitz" launched the Gravity Force mode on Saturday (April 10) — just in time for the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 13 mission, but it won't last forever. The event runs through Thursday (April 16).

"World of Tanks Blitz" is a free massively multiplayer online (MMO) game available on on iOS, macOS, Android, Windows 10 and Steam. You can get a taste of what World of Tanks Blitz on the moon looks like in the stream below.

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Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.