Hack the Past
You fell through a history chart with your phone at 23%. No signal. Twenty-five places, from the first cities to 1871, and each one has a problem you have to solve with whatever's lying around.
Tell me when it's outFree. Plays offline. No account. Ages 14 and up.
I · First cities
The phone tells you what you need. Not how.
In Giza the stone won't budge. Your phone says you need water and the sledge. Where the water goes is up to you.
- Uruk
- Giza
- Mohenjo-daro
- Anyang
- Nineveh
II · The classical world
Two ways out of every place
In Corinth you can filter harbor water through sand and charcoal, then boil it. Or swap a soldier your olive oil for his posca. Both work. The end card shows you the one you missed.
- Tyre
- Athens
- Syracuse
- Corinth
- Luoyang
III · Domes and scholars
Real inventions, used for real
Light rock at the top of the Pantheon's dome. Paper made from rags in Baghdad. Iron nails for a Viking boat in Newfoundland. You learn it because you need it to get out.
- Rome
- Pataliputra
- Constantinople
- Baghdad
- L'Anse aux Meadows
IV · Ink and lenses
No signal. No account.
The game works like the phone in it. Nothing connects to anything, so it plays on a plane, in the car, or in Gutenberg's print shop in 1455.
- Kaifeng
- Samarkand
- Mainz
- At sea, 1492
- Padua
V · Sparks
A clock, a crowd, and 23% to spend
Every place runs out at sundown. Every app on your phone costs battery. Let too many people see the phone and somebody comes after you. Then the chart has to get printed, or you're not going home.
- Philadelphia
- Glasgow
- Como
- London
- Cincinnati
Questions
What ancient inventions are in it?
Roman concrete with light pumice at the top of the Pantheon's dome. Archimedes' water screw in Syracuse. A water clock timing speeches in Athens. Paper in Luoyang and Baghdad, Gutenberg's press in Mainz and Faraday's spinning copper disc in London. Every place has two, and each one is a way out.
Is the history real?
The places, the dates and the inventions are, and we had every one checked. Most of the people are made up, apart from a few you'll know, like Galileo and Faraday. The phone is the one thing that doesn't belong.
Does it work offline?
Yes. It needs no Wi-Fi and no signal, so it's a good one for a plane or a long drive. The only thing that goes online is a store link, and only if you tap one.
Who is it for?
Ages 14 and up. It suits anyone who likes working a problem out from what's lying around, and anyone who liked the inventions part of history class.
How long is a place?
Most take a few minutes. Every place has two ways out, so there's a reason to go back.
Is it on iPhone and iPad?
Not yet. Android is first, and iPhone and iPad are next.
Who made it?
Pettigrew Lab, a small family studio.
Your phone finds a signal.
Twenty-five places, five chases, fifty ways through. Play as him or her. Most places take a few minutes, and none of them need the internet.
- Free with breaks between places
- $1.99 turns them off
- Android first, iPhone and iPad next