Become mayor: how to take, defend and win back a town
Updated October 27, 2026
In Towndom, owning the most shares of a town makes you its mayor: a sash, your nickname on the town page and doubled rent. This guide explains how the title works, how it can be lost, and how to plan which towns to go after. Everything is played with fictional currency.
Towndom is a game: the currency is 100% fictional and nothing can be won or withdrawn for real. This guide is not investment advice.
What does a mayor do in Towndom?
In France, every commune has a mayor and a mairie, the town hall. Towndom borrows the idea and turns it into a title you have to earn. The mayor of a town is the player who holds the most shares in it. Nobody is elected: the title simply goes to the biggest shareholder.
It is more than a badge. As mayor you get a sash and your nickname on display on the town page, and the daily rent that town pays you is doubled. You also pile up titles. Three mayorships earn the “Local elect” title, ten earn “Baron”, and the mayor of Paris is called the mayor of the capital.
How do you take a town’s mayorship?
Open the town page. It shows the current mayor, the other main holders, and how many shares you are missing to take over. The game can also tell you what that costs at the current price, as long as your per-town cap allows it.
If you and the mayor hold the same number of shares, the one who has held the title longest keeps it. So matching the mayor is not enough: you need to go one step further.
The cap matters. Your stake in a playable town is limited to €2,000 (€1,000 in a limited-stake town), so the biggest towns can be out of reach if rivals already hold a lot.
What happens when someone overtakes you?
It happens, and the game makes it visible. You get a banner telling you who took your place, and the town page shows who is closest behind you. A challenger who is within a small gap of your stake puts your title under threat, and the page lets you reinforce your position in one tap.
Being dethroned is not a defeat. You can buy more shares and take the sash back. A town you lose has the advantage of being a town you already know, and a rival who just took your title is now the one who has to defend it.
Which towns are worth going after?
You do not have to go straight for the biggest names. A good approach is to look at what each town page shows you and pick your battles:
- Smaller towns: fewer large holders means fewer shares to beat. Search by department to find them.
- Towns “within reach”: the Arena tab lists the towns where you are missing the fewest shares.
- Towns you know: the news around a town you follow is easier to read, and easier to care about.
- A mix: a mayorship is a title, but it also depends on a price that moves. Spreading across several towns keeps one bad week from erasing everything.
Is there a way to hold mayorships without the pressure?
Yes: chill mode. It is your own France, never reset and without any ranking. Each town has long-standing holders, called notables, whose stakes are frozen. To become mayor you simply have to beat the biggest notable, and a mayorship won in chill mode is never taken away as long as you do not sell.
It is a good way to learn the mechanics before facing other players, or to collect mayorships at a relaxed pace. Mayorships are tracked per mode: those you hold in the season do not carry into chill mode, and the other way around.
How does being mayor connect to the rest of the game?
Mayorships feed several other parts of Towndom. The doubled rent adds up across your board, and a leaderboard ranks players by how many towns they hold. Your sashes show on the league standings next to your nickname.
Keep in mind that a mayorship alone does not decide your ranking. League results come from percentage gain, which treats a small treasury and a large one fairly. See the board guide for how towers and floors work, and the leagues guide for the weekly ranking.
What does taking a town look like in practice?
Imagine a small town where the current mayor holds 4 shares and you hold 1.5. Its page tells you that you need just over 2.5 more shares to take the sash, and shows what that costs at the current price. You buy, the sash changes hands, and the former mayor sees a banner saying you took their place.
Your rent changes too. If the purchase also lifts your stake in that town past €600 invested, your tower reaches floor 3, which pays €3 a day, or €6 a day with the mayor’s doubling.
The information is public, so there are no surprises in either direction. The town page lists the leading holders, which means you can see who might come after you before it happens, and who you would have to beat to move up.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I become a town’s mayor in Towndom?
- Hold the most shares of that town. The town page shows how many shares you still need. If two players tie, whoever has held the title longest stays mayor.
- What does being mayor give me?
- A sash and your nickname on the town page, doubled rent on that town, and progress toward titles such as Local elect for three mayorships. Nothing about it involves real money.
- Can I lose a mayorship?
- Yes. If another player ends up with more shares, they take the sash and you are notified. You can buy more shares to take it back.
- Can I be mayor without competing against other players?
- Yes, in chill mode. You compete only against frozen long-standing holders called notables, and a mayorship won there is kept as long as you do not sell.