
Waterworks!
Once launched, the game is available in both English and Polish
Po uruchomieniu gra dostępna w angielskiej i polskiej wersji językowej
Welcome to medieval Grudziądz*!
Waterworks! is a card-based strategy game. You've been placed in charge of the water supply in the medieval town of Grudziądz. You'll have to use your management skills to make sure every house has enough water and at the same time gather supplies for development of new technologies!
Are you up for it?
- Play various cards to supply buildings with water!
- Position your units to maximize their efficiency!
- Manage your deck, decide what to keep and what to discard!
- Collect resources and workers to develop new technologies!
- Build a network of pipes and wells on town's map!
- Put out fires and fulfill the ruler's requests!
- Don't let your Influence drop or you'll fall from grace!
While you're at it
- Witness the city's changes throughout the ages as the game progresses!
- Learn how medieval water supply used to operate!
- Relax while listening to the beautiful soundtrack by talented Chris Carlone !
Not enough?
- Try to master the game on all 4 difficulty levels!
- Come up with new strategies to beat the game in as few turns as possible!
- Collect all 10 achievements!
* How do I even pronounce that name?!
Interested in the research behind the game?
📄Read all about it here!
(If you're extra curious: there is also a link to the research publication paper at the bottom of that page!)

The city of Grudziądz was founded by the Teutonic Order in 1291 in the northern part of today's Poland on the Vistula River surrounded by wetlands. The high location on the Vistula embankment meant that the city was struggling with access to clean drinking water from the very beginning of its existence. With the growing number of inhabitants, the problem of water scarcity became an argument for the use of numerous, innovative (on a European scale) technical solutions in Grudziądz...

| Status | Released |
| Platforms | HTML5 |
| Rating | Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (1,187 total ratings) |
| Author | scriptwelder |
| Genre | Card Game, Educational, Simulation, Strategy |
| Made with | Phaser |
| Tags | Board Game, Economy, Historical, Medieval, No AI, Pixel Art |
| Average session | A few hours |
| Languages | English, Polish |
| Inputs | Mouse |
| Accessibility | Subtitles, Interactive tutorial |
Development log
- 1.1.6 changelogApr 02, 2023
- 1.1.5 changelogJul 24, 2020
- 1.1.3 changelogJul 21, 2020
- Waterworks! - Privacy PolicyJul 21, 2020
- 1.0.0 changelogJul 16, 2020
- 0.5.0 changelogJul 04, 2020
- 0.4.0 changelogJun 25, 2020
- 0.3.0 changelogJun 12, 2020






Comments
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please make a fullscreen option button visible in the corner of the screen instead of just inside the menu
The 'research-behind-the-game' link for me is broken, sadly!
Check this: https://wkulczykowski.pl/en/grudziadz-alo/
I actually enjoyed it, man, raising a town is damn satisfying.
very fun :>
Really cool game, I already sent to a bunch of friends!
minor suggestion, highlight that there is a project is active in construction. I forgot that I started a project and kept waiting for another one to appear for ages :-p
This is totaly a thing more governments should be doing to spread knowledge about important cultural sites and events of their territory and heritage. I bloody love this game, it's genius!! I never thought I would say this, but thank you Poland x).
119 normal. 135 Hard. Really cool game. I love deckbuilder games and while this one was a but more linear than most, it still managed to maintain engaging gameplay the whole time. I love the buildings for more cards thing. A little afraid I won't be able to play hard though since I usually turn my computer off at the end of the day :/
Edit: The game does appear to save completions when shutting down a computer so yay.
Great game, beat easy in 117 moves
Beating at turn 138 at normal turn. OMG, reaching the end point is very stressful. I am glad at hoarding the gifts at the end. Great game so far.
Beat the game on turn 133 on normal :> I feel like I did pretty okay! I took a little longer in comparison to others, but still okay I think! This game was very enjoyable and is really addicting. I sat here for a few hours playing through it. Though I was also a little worried that the game would not save if I took a break and closed the tab, I did not know if it would save or not hence, I tried to play the game in one sitting ^^" and in turn I did not read all the text.
I do really wish to take my time and read it though, the history of this place and the development of tech advancement and managing the supply and demand of water is fascinating. So perhaps in another playthrough I will.
besides that, I really enjoy the pixel style of the game and how it the town changes with each advancement made. It's a 10/10 for me
Though as some other reviewers have mentioned, I really do wish we had more pipes and slums to flesh the town out, but in a way I feel like it works because it keeps the need of water carts and such, and I enjoy that something I got early in the game doesn't become obsolete later on. (Though perhaps I could have used a better strategy for the pipes lol, maybe bad planning was why I still needed them, though tbh I kinda carelessly placed them because I assumed I would get more later on.)
But regardless, I really enjoyed the game. ^^
I still love a downloadable version.
Finished in 129 rounds , a nice and informative game , chill and just enjoyable ,lel
I really liked this game.
very fun and informative, i enjoyed it a lot!
I loved this! Thanks for teaching me about Grudziądz and the history of water supply systems. I do wish the final project had a note that said "final project! the game will end after this!" on it, since I did have another project I would have liked to complete that went unfinished.
i dont get where the town sigil is, but i love the game
This was a real joy to play! Was defo hooked for a few hours.
awesome game!! realy simple. really easy to play
lovely and wholesome.
This is one of the most delightful games I've ever played! Thank you so much for making it. This really has made video games a work of art.
109 on normal, rng withheld me from winning earlier. Fun game and somewhat educational, well done!
I finished the game in 115 rounds. It was really fun. Thanks for the game!
So fun, wish there was more!!!
I think I got 115 on the normal? Prob normal
Is 124 turns good?
love this game!!! obsessed with it and surprisingly informative!
Why do I get a request for a well even though I never researched how to build one? Do they expect me to know how to make wells just because I can drill a huge sewer system?
so fun!
This is the first time i write a comment about a game. I really enjoyed it.
I actually enjoyed it so much i wrote a little something in python which calculates the optimal distribution of carts/wagons to get max influence. Further if this isnt possible it reorganizes wells, sumps and pipes.
https://onlinegdb.com/9OVnn0ZfH
Normal, 125 turns.
I feel like we get way more pipes than necessary.
We do, but you're better off using them anyway because any cards that get discarded will get shuffled back in, which means it takes more time to get the actually useful things.
I really liked this game and could see it doing really well on Steam. Like another had said, I do wish I could download this so I can play it throughout the day and not have to worry about the tab refreshing. The artwork is simple and detailed in ways I have yet to see in another deck-building management game. My only issue was not being able to read all of the dialog; it became not only a lot of reading, but I simply couldn't read the longer ones because of the pixel lettering. I am sure a portion of this is something that is a me thing, but is something to keep in mind.
I also had an issue with the font.
Very impressed gameplay, and a tiny bit of critique ;)
very charming game! i have played 129 turns on normal mode. but i think the game may be too easy after getting water wagon and wells. but i have not tried hard mode.
this is an awesome game. I want more.
i have never known poverty more than my single playthrough on normal mode. genuine kudos this game was so easy to get the swing of (esp since i skipped lit all the dialogue at the start) and even easier to get invested in (you got me to open itch out of school mission impossible) i was lowkey heartbroken when i saw i beat it on easy cuz i was having so much fun LOL.. absolutely not trying on hard mode. keep it up !!
135 turns, that was great!
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Very charming and fun. Great work!
good game!
Is It Possible For me To Download It