How to play
You have thirty days, a shelf, and the landlord. Here is the loop, the controls, and the parts that punish guessing.
The day
Each morning you restock and buy licences. Unlock the counter and three to five customers arrive, one at a time; the queue is fixed the moment you open. When the last one leaves, close the day and make Rent. Rent rises every week; day 30 decides whether you take the Buyout or lose the unit.
The counter
A seller brings one item and names a price. A buyer names one or two of your items and makes an offer. You can inspect, haggle, accept, refuse, report them, or draw. Buy and Sell are contextual: Buy only works on a seller, Sell only on a buyer. Refusing a buyer is the “look away” choice.
Patience
Inspecting and haggling cost one point of patience. Three points and the customer walks, taking the deal with them. Spending all three on a single item is usually a mistake.
Reading people
Every customer shows two tells and hides one. Inspecting a customer reveals the hidden one. Tells are evidence about behaviour, not a verdict: the same tell can appear on two very different people.
Heat and inspections
Dirty stock raises heat. At 55, a Security inspection can take a cut of your credits at closing. At 85, a raid takes stock and money. Reporting real crimes lowers heat; false reports raise it. Heat also decays a little every day.
Reputation and the five factions
Reputation moves offers by a few percent and decides how many customers find you. It rises when you are right about people and falls when you are loud and wrong. Five factions watch you: the Tenants’ Union, the Ward Committee, Security, the Chute, and the Returners. Let the Union and the Ward both turn on you and the level blacklists your counter.
Five things that actually help
- Inspect before you buy from a stranger. Two inspections are cheaper than one fine.
- A buyer’s offer is capped by their valuation. Relabelling raises that cap, and also the chance they notice.
- Selling a cut or mislabelled item to an elite is the most expensive mistake in the game.
- If rent is short, pawn stock at the close instead of taking the eviction. Forty-five percent is bad, zero is worse.
- Reporting a Security officer who is testing you pays a stipend. Reporting an honest regular does not.
Accessibility and saving
The game saves after every action and resumes where you left off. Reduced-motion settings turn off the background animation and the stamp effects. Every action has a labelled button, the ledger is announced to screen readers, and focus is always visible.
Common questions
Why did a customer leave in the middle of a deal?
You used all three patience points. Inspecting and haggling both cost one, whether or not they succeed.
Why can I not buy from this customer?
They are a buyer. Buy is only enabled for sellers; use Sell to accept their offer on one of your items.
Why did drawing my weapon cost me credits?
You drew on a person. Only a Aug folds into static. Everyone else calls Security, and Security bills you.
How do I take the Buyout?
Finish day 30 with enough credits to cover the Buyout after Rent. If you are short, the unit is recalled and the run ends.