Tidewick

A cosy mystery game that teaches you options trading, without the Greeks.

Gamified education for a new generation of traders

Your father's desk. Click anything on it, or scroll to read.

The story

You come home to a town that needs you.

  • Your father is gone. His estate is yours.
  • Old friends have been getting by without you.
  • Nobody will say why you left.

Harbour Office · Tidewick

Dear —,

We write about your late father's estate. His house above the harbour, everything in it, and his ledger now pass to you.

Several people in the town have asked when you will arrive.

The cat is already in residence.

Yours faithfully,
for the estate

The harbour at low tide in the morning: boats resting on the mud inside the harbour wall, cottages up the hill, the lighthouse on the headland.
Tidewick harbour, low water

What you do

Every lesson starts as someone's real problem.

  1. Walk the town. Neighbours stop you with favours to ask.
  2. Name your price, or say no. Each favour is a promise against something going wrong.
  3. Choose your moment. When the town is frightened, the same promise is worth more.

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.

Meet the town

Old friends have been getting by without you.

Smudge, a long-haired black cat with amber eyes

Smudge

Your father's cat

Explains your mistakes. Never tells you what to buy or sell.

“And not every tide needs you. Sit with me a while.”

Captain Ama Hollis, a Black British woman in a yellow oilskin coat and cap

Captain Ama Hollis

Skipper of the harbour trawler

Pays a due for safe passage, and more when the sky turns.

“I want to be sure I reach shore.”

Harjit Sandhu, a South Asian farmer in a flat cap and waxed jacket, holding a sheaf of barley

Harjit Sandhu

Farmer, on the hill above the town

Reads the weather better than the forecast does.

“Will you insure my crop?”

Agnes Heron, the lighthouse keeper, an older woman with grey hair holding a lit lantern

Agnes Heron

Keeper of the lighthouse

Has kept the lamp lit for longer than you've been alive.

“Will you take over the lighthouse?”

The same harbour at high tide at dusk: boats afloat, cottage windows lit, the lighthouse lamp on.
High water, the lamps lit

Letters from the build

Letter No. 1 · 13 October 2026

This is the first letter from Tidewick. The game isn't finished, and it isn't for sale yet.

What exists today is the desk at the top of this page, Smudge, and the storm outside the window. The story is being written as a novel first, and the opening chapters are drafted.

Next comes the town itself, and the first people who will knock on your door.

I'll write again when there's something new to see.

Koko

A postcard, unwritten

Keep me posted

A letter when there's news. Never more than that.