A wood-engraved New Hampshire valley in cream and oxblood: a tall spoked cart wheel with a mountain ridge at its hub stands beside a dirt road that winds past stone walls, pines, a covered bridge and a few farmhouses.

Thirty days. One cart. The road charges interest.

A trading game set in New Hampshire, 1847: buy cheap in one town, sell high in the next, and come out ahead of a debt that grows every day you travel.

On Google Play. Free, offline, no ads, no account.

The route is the puzzle

Every morning you walk into a market and read what it is paying. Portsmouth has whale oil cheap when a ship is in. Hanover pays high for everything, which is fine if you arrive with goods to sell. Each town carries five to seven of the ten goods, and every price redraws overnight, so the question is never what to buy. It is where to be tomorrow.

Standing still is free

Buying takes no time. Neither does selling. Sit in Manchester all afternoon and the ledger will not move. The moment you take the road, the day turns and the Concord bank adds four percent to the debt. Every journey has to earn more than it costs, which makes the whole game one question, asked at every town: which road?

A wood engraving of a timber mill on a river burning: flames along the roof and walls, black smoke rolling off it, the water wheel lit from behind and the fire reflected in the water.

One card, one choice

You arrive and a card turns over. Two men step out of the birches and want your purse or your cargo; you pick which. The nail works has burned and every carpenter in the valley is bidding. A stranger shares his fire and tells you what Nashua is paying tomorrow. One card, one decision, and then the market is open.

A bad season still pays

Thirty days is about ten minutes, and the next season starts the moment this one ends. Win or lose, you earn Reputation: deeper pockets, a wider cart, a good name at the bank so the debt grows slower, an ear to the ground so you read the next town before spending a day on it. Five circuits, Apprentice to Master. No energy, no timers, no ads, no account, offline.

A wood engraving of two masked riders on horseback blocking a wooded road, one levelling a long gun at a driver seated on a loaded cart of crates and a strapped chest.

A run in your own words

Day one, Concord. Tin ware is cheap and the bank has your name in its ledger, so you load up and leave yourself light on cash, on purpose. Manchester, day two: the mill city takes every kettle, and iron nails are going for next to nothing, so you buy all you can afford. The debt has grown once already. You go back through Concord for the road to Hanover, and two men step out of the birches with a gun. Purse or cargo. You hand over the purse, because Hanover pays high for everything and the nails are worth more than the coin. They sell. Now you can spend two days going back to Concord to pay the debt down, or keep the coin working and let it ride.

A phone screen headed Manchester, Day 2 of 30, over an engraving of brick mill buildings on a river. Cash $623.00, debt $520.00, an empty cart, then a price list — seed grain, salt cod, maple sugar, tin ware, wool cloth, and iron nails at $148.43 carrying a downward triangle for below usual. — Manchester, day two. Nails are cheap. The question is where they aren't.

A phone screen headed "Where next?", from Concord on day 1 of 30. A boxed line reads "Each day on the road adds $20.00 to your debt." Below it, five destinations with their travel times: Hopkinton, Manchester and Laconia one day each, Hanover and Portsmouth two days. — One day on the road. Four percent more debt.

A phone screen headed Concord, "the only bank on the circuit", showing cash $250.00, debt $500.00 and no deposits, a line explaining that the debt grows by $20.00 for each day on the road, and tabs for borrow, repay, deposit and withdraw. — The only bank in the valley, and it knows your name.

The Peddler's Pack — one optional purchase

The free game is complete without it. One purchase opens the White Mountains: seven towns, passes that take a day in fair weather and three in foul, with tomorrow's forecast in hand. Six new goods, among them pond ice that melts as you carry it. Endless mode, six more perks, four cart upgrades, and a run history.

A wood-engraved lake town: sailboats and rowboats drawn up on a sandy shore, a stone mill with a water wheel behind them, market stalls and townspeople in the foreground, wooded hills across the water.

Kearsarge Peddler