On the river
Keep a river town's lights on
Run the power for a small river town. Save the dam's water for the dry season, start the engines before the afternoon heat, and bring the fuel tankers up the river.
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Tablet or computer
Delta
Build a river town and sell it electricity
Build a river town and sell it electricity. Power brings in rent, diesel costs money, and how much fuel to buy is your call.
Harbor and coast
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Plays on your phone
Lighthouse
Turn the mirrors to light every ship
Tap the mirrors to turn them, so the lighthouse beam reaches every ship waiting in the fog. There are thirty nights to solve, from one mirror to a stormy harbor full of ships.
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Plays on your phone
Lights On
Keep a harbor town's lights on
Buy diesel for a harbor town one ship at a time, and keep the tank above the line so new families move in.
About 4 min a season
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Tablet or computer
Safe Water
Clear the mines, then bring the port back to life
Clear a lane through an old minefield so the ships can reach the port, then bring the port back to life.
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Tablet or computer
Morning Catch
Fish from a small boat, sell at the dusk market
Run a small fishing boat: pick a spot at dawn, fish in clear water and sell at the dusk market, where prices move every day.
Out at sea
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Tablet or computer
Trade Winds
Carry freight across the Atlantic by sail
Sail a cargo ship around the Atlantic on the real wind belts, carrying freight between ports. Race the ghost of today's best route, or sail a whole season as three more ports open.
Under the water
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Plays on your phone
The Reef
Look after a coral reef, one dive a month
Look after a coral reef for a year of dives: survey it, photograph what lives there and spend its money before the summer heat.
Why these games
For fifteen years I traded fuel oil and marine gasoil across the Caribbean and the Americas. Bahía Tucán grew out of my first port, where the cargoes went to a power plant. I would like these games to share a little of that world: the ships, the ports and the fuel that keeps a town's lights on, and the two things that interest me most, the sea and nature.
I build these games with my daughters in mind. They are homeschooled, they play the games and tell me what to add, and I hope other families will enjoy them as much as they do.
David
How it really works
Press through a real machine one step at a time. Every number on it has a source you can check.
6 steps
How does a gallon of diesel become light?Goes with Delta
6 steps
How does a lake become light?Goes with Bahía Tucán
6 steps
How does one tank of air last a dive?Goes with The Reef
6 steps
Why does Queensland ban catching coral trout around two new moons a year?Goes with The Reef
6 steps
Which fish have to go back in the water, and why?Goes with Morning Catch
7 steps
How does a heat pump heat a house in winter?Goes with Lights On
5 steps
Why is a minehunter made of wood?Goes with Safe Water
7 steps
Why does the quickest course to the Caribbean change with the time of year?Goes with Trade Winds
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.” Psalm 107:23-24