Press & partners
Tidewick
A cosy mystery game that teaches you options trading, without the Greeks.
Gamified education for a new generation of traders
- Founder
- Koko
- Status
- In development
- Release date
- Unannounced
- Now
- The world and the opening, in build
- Next
- Chapter one, end to end
- Contact
- LinkedIn ↗
The shift
Trading has gone from the few to everyone.
127m
people investing on India's National Stock Exchange, up from 30 million in 2020.
3×
more option contracts traded in the US each year than in 2019: 4.9 billion → 15.2 billion.
NSE (Jan 2020; 31 Jan 2026) · OCC annual volume (2019; 2025)
Winners and losers
Most people who trade options lose money.
87.7%
of individual derivatives traders in India lost money in 2025–26, after costs. Over 90% of the losses came from options.
US
In the US, retail options traders lose money on average, paying spreads of 12.6% on the cheap, short-dated options they favour.
SEBI study, FY26 (via Business Today) · Bryzgalova, Pavlova & Sikorskaya, Journal of Finance 2023
The thesis
Great games make complex systems muscle memory. So we built one for options.
12m
World of Warcraft subscribers at its peak, trading in its auction-house economy.
$3bn
RuneScape lifetime revenue, with a player-run Grand Exchange.
10m
Dave the Diver copies sold, with a restaurant business to run.
Blizzard (Oct 2010) · PocketGamer.biz, confirmed by UKIE · MINTROCKET via Gematsu (Sep 2026)
How it teaches
Every lesson starts as someone's real problem.
In the game
A captain wants to be sure she reaches shore. She pays you a due for safe passage. And scared captains pay double.
In the market
That's selling a put.
You're paid now for taking on someone else's risk. And when fear rises, so does the price of protection.
Mentorship
Trading is a blood sport. Nobody should face it alone.
Smudge was your father's cat. Smudge learns how you play, who you are and what you talk about, explains your mistakes, and never tells you what to buy or sell.
“You sold that one because you were frightened, not because anything changed. Shall we look?”
“And not every tide needs you. Sit with me a while.”
Smudge is designed and in development. Smudge's lines are drafts.
What it isn't
This isn't Duolingo. You learn through story, not drills.
No flashcards, no rote repetition. You keep playing to find out what happens.
Play money with nothing at stake is easy to shrug off. Here, there's a town.
We never tell you what to trade. We teach the judgement to decide.
Who it's for
Trading education has left most people out. Options can bring in a new kind of trader.
1 in 4 of India's investors is a woman. In the US, just 34% of women feel comfortable making investment decisions, against nearly half of men.
28% of US millennial women investors have traded options or futures, against 10% of boomer women. 43% of US investors under 35 trade options.
Spot trading and perpetual futures reward one kind of trader. Options are another way to trade: protect what you own, earn income, fix your risk upfront. Many people who would suit it don't know it exists.
NSE Market Pulse FY26 · FINRA Foundation & GFLEC, 2020 · Charles Schwab Women Investors Survey 2025 · FINRA Foundation investor report, Dec 2025. “Why options” is our view, not a statistic.
Appetite, and where it is
Millions already learn through play. Tidewick is next.
58.7m
people learn on Duolingo every day.
41m
copies of Stardew Valley sold.
- Now
- The world and the opening, in build.
- Next
- Chapter one, end to end.
- Then
- Real players: do they come back, and do they learn?
Not launched. No players yet. No revenue.
Duolingo Q2 2026 filing · PocketGamer.biz
The founder
I'm Koko. Help me build it.
An options trader, building the game I wish I'd had before my first trade.
Looking for: funding to finish chapter one, and people who have shipped story games.
Press kit
Pictures from the current build
Full-size files open from each picture. All images are from the current Tidewick build.
Sources
NSE: 3 crore registered investors (Jan 2020); 12.7 crore unique investors (31 Jan 2026). OCC: 4.90bn options contracts (2019); 15.2bn (2025).
SEBI, Profitability of individual traders in equity derivatives, FY26 (reported by Business Today, 21 Aug 2026). Bryzgalova, Pavlova & Sikorskaya, “Retail Trading in Options and the Rise of the Big Three Wholesalers”, Journal of Finance 78(6), 2023.
World of Warcraft passed 12 million subscribers (Blizzard press release, 7 Oct 2010). RuneScape passed $3bn lifetime revenue (PocketGamer.biz, confirmed by UKIE). Dave the Diver passed 10m copies (MINTROCKET, via Gematsu, Sep 2026).
NSE Market Pulse FY26 (women 24.6% of investors). FINRA Foundation & GFLEC, “Investors in the United States: women” (2020): 34% of women vs nearly half of men comfortable making investment decisions. Charles Schwab 2025 Women Investors Survey (n=1,200): 28% of millennial women investors have owned or traded options or futures vs 10% of boomer women. FINRA Foundation, Investors in the United States (Dec 2025): 43% of investors under 35 trade options.
Duolingo Q2 2026 shareholder letter / Form 8-K (58.7m DAU). Stardew Valley 41m copies (PocketGamer.biz).
“Selling a put” describes the in-game safe-passage due; illustrative of the teaching approach. All images are from the current Tidewick build.