Haystack Works

Prospectus

Find the needle in a giant haystack. Dig through hay by hand, then build conveyors, bale presses and machines to turn straw into profit. Research upgrades, fill orders, and collect all six hidden needles.

How it plays

Click the game, then hold the left mouse button on the hay to gather it; carry it to the sale dock on the left and press E to sell. Walk with WASD. T opens the research tree, I the tools, B the build catalog; R rotates, PageUp/PageDown change build height, conveyors take two clicks, Q cancels, F loads hay into a machine. Tab opens the menu and pauses (press Tab again to return); Esc also works as a fallback. Automate production, fill orders and find all six hidden needles to win.

Opening an account with this game takes one press: Open the holding, above, and it loads on this page itself — nothing downloads and no form stands between you and the first decision. It is drawn for a landscape (wide) screen and takes its instructions from mouse, keyboard or touch, as the game prefers. The file is drawn wide, for a landscape screen — turn a phone sideways, or let a tablet or desktop give it room to breathe. If a fullscreen control is offered, take it — a growing enterprise deserves the whole desk.

Analyst's notes for simulation holdings

• Learn the loop before optimising it. Every simulation is a circle — earn, spend, expand, earn more — and the players who last are the ones who found the circle's slow point early.
• Watch one full cycle without touching anything. A simulation confesses its priorities when left alone: whatever runs out first is what the designer wants you managing.
• Small inefficiencies compound faster than big ones. A route that wastes ten seconds every cycle costs more than a disaster that happens once, so audit the routine before the dramatic.

Haystack Works — questions from the readership

What does it cost to open Haystack Works?

Nothing, at any point. The holding is free from the first click to the last upgrade — no account to open, no download to wait for, no paywall filed anywhere in its pages. The advertising around this page is what pays the bookkeeping.

What kind of game is Haystack Works, exactly?

We file it on the Simulation shelf of the ledger. It is a browser game through and through — the prospectus above is the publisher's own summary of what the game asks of you and what it gives back.

Can I play Haystack Works on a phone or tablet?

Yes — it runs in the browser on phones and tablets just as it does on a computer. The file is drawn wide, for a landscape screen — turn a phone sideways, or let a tablet or desktop give it room to breathe.

Is there anything to download or install first?

Nothing at all. Haystack Works is an HTML5 game: press the open button and it loads on this very page, and closing the tab leaves nothing behind on your device.

Closing entry

Finished the audit, or still mid-season? The full Simulation shelf is one click away — The ledger's main hall: 302 simulations of everything from bus routes to burger counters to entire small lives. If it can be run, staffed, watered or worried over, somebody has simulated it and filed it here.