The Hamster Wheel

About the Game

The rat race got a board game.

60 hours. 9 locations.

Every turn is one week. Allocate 40 weekday hours and 20 weekend hours across 9 locations — the Job Center, University, Bank, Shopping district, Flea Market, Community center, The Daily Grind café, your Work, and your Apartment. Every hour you spend is a trade-off.

Turn-based strategy.

No time pressure — play at your own pace. One turn takes 2–5 minutes, making it perfect for commutes, breaks, or late-night sessions. Undo mistakes. Save and resume anytime.

The chaos of 2026.

Tariff announcements tank your grocery budget. Crypto pumps and dumps. The Fed raises rates. Your landlord raises the rent. Satirical weekly news events create real economic pressure — the same strategy that worked last week might not work next week.

Free Every Day

Today's Wheel.

🎡

Today's Wheel is a free daily game — everyone who plays today gets the exact same board, the same economy, the same news cycle. Seven weeks long, start to finish. Share your score and see how your run stacks up.

No purchase, no account, no commitment. Play it in the browser demo or right inside the app.

Screenshots

See the wheel in motion.

Scroll to see more →

Meet Your Rivals

They all have a plan. Do you?

Six rivals with distinct personalities and strategies — nine with the expansion packs. Beating them requires understanding how they think.

Morgan

"Grinds 80-hour weeks and talks about passive income."

Wealth-first

Parker

"Networks obsessively and uses the right keywords."

Career-focused

Quinn

"Reads every book and corrects your pronunciation."

Education path

Chip

"Has been playing this game since before you were born."

Balanced veteran

Sage

"Meditates through every crisis you're currently having."

Wellbeing path

Reese

"Makes no plans and somehow keeps up anyway."

Wildcard

Blair

"Turned their phone into a business model."

Hustle culture

Finley

"Lives on nothing and calls it philosophy."

Minimalist

Devon

"Believes in you. And will still beat you."

The nice one

Five Paths to Victory

Define what success looks like.

💰

Wealth

Stack cash and investments until you're embarrassingly rich.

📈

Career

Climb the ladder to VP before your rivals do.

🎓

Education

Collect degrees like trophies. Yes, all of them.

🧘

Wellbeing

Achieve inner peace while everyone else has a breakdown.

✨

Self-Actualized

Balance all four. The hardest win. The most satisfying.

Press Kit

For journalists and creators.

Short (50 words)

THE HAMSTER WHEEL is a satirical, turn-based life-sim strategy game. Every week hands you 60 hours to allocate across nine locations. Outmaneuver AI rivals with real personalities, chase one of five victory paths, and survive a 2026 news cycle of tariffs, crypto crashes, and rent hikes.

Long (~150 words)

THE HAMSTER WHEEL is a satirical, turn-based life-simulation strategy game built in the spirit of the life-sim board games of the 1990s. Every turn is one week: allocate 40 weekday hours and 20 weekend hours across nine locations — the Job Center, University, Bank, Shopping district, Flea Market, Community center, The Daily Grind café, your Work, and your Apartment. Outmaneuver AI rivals with real personalities, from the 80-hour grinder chasing passive income to the veteran who has been playing this game since before you were born. Chase one of five victory paths: Wealth, Career, Education, Wellbeing, or the hardest of all, Self-Actualized. A running news cycle of tariffs, crypto pumps and dumps, and rent hikes means the strategy that worked last week might not work next week. Free for fourteen weeks, then a one-time unlock — no ads, no subscriptions. Expansion packs add more rivals and more chaos.

Developer: Kari Ann Kristiansen — solo indie developer, Norway
Platform: iPhone & iPad
Released: March 2026
Price: Free to try, one-time unlock for the full game
App Store: apps.apple.com/app/id6760509424
Browser demo: hamsterwheel.carebot.me
Contact: kariannolsenkristiansen+hamsterwheel@gmail.com

Solo developer Free to try One-time unlock No ads iOS Turn-based strategy Hot seat multiplayer

Assets

Click any image to open the full-size file. For additional assets, contact kariannolsenkristiansen+hamsterwheel@gmail.com.

Support

Need help?

How do I save my game?

Your progress saves automatically on your device. Just close the app and come back — everything will be where you left it.

How do I restore my purchase?

Go to the game's Settings screen and tap "Restore Purchases". Your purchase is tied to your Apple ID, so it will restore on any device signed in with the same account.

Is there multiplayer?

Yes — Hot Seat mode lets 2 players take turns on the same device. Pass the phone back and forth.

Do you collect any data?

Very little. Save data stays on your device, and there are no ads. The game sends anonymous usage statistics (which weeks players reach, never who they are) to our own server in the EU. Accounts exist only if you choose online play. The only third-party service is RevenueCat, which verifies your purchase using an anonymous ID and your App Store receipt. See the Privacy Policy for details.

What is the free trial?

The first 14 weeks of gameplay are completely free — full access to all game mechanics, all locations, and all rivals. No credit card required, no restrictions. After week 14, a one-time unlock continues the game forever.

The game is crashing / something isn't working.

Please send a quick description of what happened to the support email below. Include your device model and iOS version if you know it.

Still need help? Reach out directly:

kariannolsenkristiansen+hamsterwheel@gmail.com