Gridlight: power grid puzzle on real maps

Gridlight on a map of Switzerland: towns from Lausanne to St. Gallen joined by power lines, power moving along them as the afternoon turns to night and the towns light up. — Switzerland on a Monday evening.

One line too few and the valley goes dark

Draw power lines from your plants to the villages around them. Watch the evening peak climb, keep an eye on the wind and the clouds, and upgrade the line that's about to trip before it takes half the valley down with it.

Power flows the way it does in a real grid: it splits between routes, lines overload and trip, and one failure can cascade.

Gridlight on a map of Texas on a freezing evening: lit towns from Midland to Houston, lines around Austin and Houston far over their limit, which then trip one after another until every town is dark. — Texas in a deep freeze. The overloaded lines trip one after another, and the whole state goes dark.

Real maps, real towns, things that really happened

Each chapter is built around something that really happened: Switzerland's winter gap, Germany's Energiewende, France's reactors in a heat wave, Texas in a deep freeze, California's sunsets, load shedding in South Africa, a village in Kenya that never had power.

Every chapter opens with a checked fact, and when you win it tells you what happened in reality.

Gridlight on a map of the North Sea: towns from Inverness to Berlin, a wind farm off the English coast, sea cables across the water and a DC cable to Norway, lighting up as night falls. — The North Sea: offshore wind, cables across the water, and a link to Norway.

28 chapters in five stories, and one that never ends

First light
7 chapters
From one village to a whole continent: how a grid works. The grid you built comes along as a glowing home town on the bigger map.
Switzerland
6 chapters
Mountain rivers, giant dams, nuclear plants, a gap every winter, and a whole year of lakes that must last until spring.
Europe
6 chapters
North Sea wind, the Energiewende, France's reactors and the 2022 gas crisis.
USA
5 chapters
Coal country, the windy plains, Texas in a deep freeze and California's sunsets.
Energy for all
4 chapters
Power where there was none: village mini-grids, volcanoes and the sun.
Endless
Free play
Start at Frankfurt and spread across Europe, through years with seasons, at up to twenty times the speed.

Thirteen ways to make and keep power

Coal, gas, diesel, nuclear, solar, alpine solar, wind, offshore wind, dams, river plants, geothermal, batteries and pumped storage. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

The sun sets just as the evening peak begins. The wind drops for days. A reactor can't follow demand. What you build, and where, is the puzzle.

Gridlight in an alpine valley: a dozen villages, a coal plant, gas plants and a link to the neighbouring grid, every village lit as night falls. — An alpine valley on day 8 of 12, every village lit.

What is in the game

Fuel prices, neighbours who buy and sell by the hour, and a power outlook for the next 24 hours.
Weather that matters: heat waves, still air, cloudy days, deep freezes and storms that knock out lines.
Offers with real stakes: a data center wants to connect, the stadium has a night match, the neighbouring grid needs help.
Green certificates for every clean megawatt-hour, to build up your company between chapters.
20 achievements to collect: build the real Grande Dixence, bring Texas through the freeze, win with a grid that survives the loss of any line.
An ending worth reaching: finish every story and watch the world light up at night, then share the picture of your own lights.
Your game saves itself. Close the app any time and pick up where you left off.

One line too few and the valley goes dark

Real maps, real towns, things that really happened

28 chapters in five stories, and one that never ends

First light

Switzerland

Europe

USA

Energy for all

Endless

Thirteen ways to make and keep power

What is in the game

Keep the lights on