Games Like Grandpa's Garden

Grandpa Heinz is dead. He left you €500 and a note: "To get you started. Kalle knows."

Your job is gone, your apartment is gone, and your last money went on a bus ticket. So you head back to the town you grew up in, move into a motel and wonder what Kalle actually knows.

The answer grows in pots. You grow weed, roll joints and sell them to your first customers. Bit by bit, that motel room turns into a real business. But the town is watching. The police are on patrol, and Inspector Krause figures out pretty quickly that something about you isn't right.

Nine chapters of story about Grandpa's legacy, his old friends and a secret he hid well. When the story is over, you just keep playing.

You plant, water and harvest. Plants only grow in the light: by an open window during the day, otherwise under a grow lamp. Better lamps and sprinklers mean bigger harvests.

Plant a second seed on a fresh one to cross strains and find out what grows. Every new strain has its own color, its own price and its own effect on whoever smokes it.

When a plant is ready, you snip off every bud yourself. Later the electric shears do it a lot faster.

You can't smoke fresh buds, so you dry them first. Blow-dry them with a hair dryer, but not for too long or they burn. Later, drying nets and a drying tent do the job while you take care of other things.

Then you roll. Pull a paper from the pack, crumble the weed, put it on the paper and roll it up with the mouse wheel. Got more than one strain? Just pick the one you want.

Your customers send their orders to an app on your phone. You deliver on foot, by bike or by car, and happy customers tell their friends. Random people on the street might buy one too. Or call the cops.

At some point you can't do it all yourself. Dealers take over your rounds and gardeners look after the plants.

Lots of cash gets noticed. So you buy places like the post office or the car wash and launder your money through them.

From the motel you move into Grandpa's old house, later into warehouses and one day all the way up to a mansion. You furnish every place with furniture from the hardware store and stack your cash on the table. Cash is a real item too: it fills your backpack, you can hide it in a crate, and a big enough pile on the street even stops a car.

If the police catch you, your stash is gone, unless the cop is corrupt and takes a bribe. Better not stand out. And if they do spot you, run for it on foot, floor it or hide in a trash can.

Things can get rough. You fight with fists, brass knuckles or a pistol, and the more trouble you cause, the more police come after you.

The town lives its own life. Day turns to night, it rains, the wind moves through trees and grass, cars drive by, shops open and close, and in the morning people head to work. Your health only comes back when you eat or sleep, so grab a kebab, something from the bakery or a pizza to share with your friends. Coffee clears your head, the pharmacy sobers you up, and the barber, the clothing store and the jeweler give you a fresh look. The CD shop sells music for your own CD player. At night the casino opens, with slot machines, roulette and blackjack.

Up to five friends can join you in your town. Then you build the business together.

Grandpa started small too. Now it's your turn.

What's in the full game