The Hamster Wheel

Satirical Life Sim Strategy

Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.

Monday morning. Shared room. $100 in your pocket. Get a job, get a degree, get some sleep — your rivals won't. First 7 weeks free. Monday morning. Shared room. $100 in your pocket. The alarm goes off. The wheel begins. THE HAMSTER WHEEL is a satirical life-simulation strategy game about the one resource nobody sells: your time. 60 hours a week. Spend them well or at least spend them funny. ALLOCATE YOUR WEEK Every turn is one week. 40 hours for weekdays, 20 for weekends. Visit 8 locations: the Job Center, University, Bank, Shopping district, Flea Market, Community center, your Work, and your Apartment. Every hour you spend is a trade-off. Work longer or study harder? Save up or splurge? Hit the gym or pull an extra shift? There's no right answer, just better and worse ones. FIVE PATHS TO VICTORY Wealth: Stack cash and investments until you're embarrassingly rich. Career: Climb the ladder to VP before your rivals do. Education: Collect degrees like trophies. Yes, all of them. Wellbeing: Achieve inner peace while everyone else has a breakdown. Self-Actualized: Balance all four. The hardest win. The most satisfying. Set your own victory conditions. Define what success looks like. RIVALS WHO WANT YOU TO FAIL (six included; three more in expansion packs) Morgan grinds 80-hour weeks and talks about passive income. Parker networks obsessively and uses the right keywords. Quinn reads every book and corrects your pronunciation. Chip has been playing this game since before you were born. Sage meditates through every crisis you're currently having. Reese makes no plans and somehow keeps up anyway. Blair turned their phone into a business model. Finley lives on nothing and calls it philosophy. Devon believes in you. And will still beat you. Each rival has a distinct strategy and personality. Beating them requires understanding how they think. THE ECONOMY IS NOT YOUR FRIEND Prices fluctuate. Tariff announcements tank your grocery budget. Crypto pumps and dumps. The Fed raises rates. Your landlord raises the rent. Weekly news events create real economic pressure; the same decisions that worked last turn might not work next turn. MASLOW'S HIERARCHY (AS A GAME MECHANIC) Your Wellbeing score is built from the bottom up: Safety → Security → Belonging → Esteem → Self-Actualization. Neglect your basic needs and your whole pyramid collapses. Eat, sleep, and maintain your housing — or watch your higher ambitions crumble. WEEKENDS HAVE OTHER PLANS Weekend events disrupt your savings, your schedule, and your dignity. Your landlord shows up. A "passive income" opportunity appears. Your situationship texts. Not everything can be optimized. REAL STRATEGY, APPROACHABLE FEEL - Turn-based: no time pressure, play at your own pace - One turn = 2-5 minutes, perfect for commutes and short sessions - Solo vs AI or Hot Seat multiplayer for 2 players - Character traits for customized playstyles - Save and resume anytime A MODERN CLASSIC Some of the best games are built on a simple truth — time is your most valuable resource. The Hamster Wheel takes that idea and drops it into the chaos of 2026, where gig economy side hustles, crypto crashes, and tariff wars make every decision feel personal. FREE TO TRY Play your first 7 weeks free — full gameplay, no restrictions. One one-time unlock for the complete game. No ads, no subscriptions, no energy bars. The rat race is still running. Ready to play?

A Closer Look

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The wheel got a tune-up: • Your free trial is now genuinely 7 weeks (a counting bug was eating half of it: sorry!) • New guided first week for new players — with YOUR chosen rival and character • Rent now actually comes due in solo mode. You're welcome. (You'll manage.) • Job Center shows jobs you can get first; the fantasy ones fold away • The Market is now the Flea Market, and the pawnbroker warns you before you sell the clothes off your back • Fairer pacing on all five victory paths, gentler hard times, smarter weeks

Version 1.1.0

The developer, KARI ANN KRISTIANSEN, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

  • Data Not Collected

    The developer does not collect any data from this app.

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    Information

    Seller
    • KARI ANN KRISTIANSEN
    Size
    • 28.7 MB
    Category
    • Games
    Compatibility
    Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
    • iPhone
      Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
    • iPad
      Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
    • iPod touch
      Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
    • Mac
      Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
    • Apple Vision
      Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
    Languages
    • English
    Age Rating
    9+
    In-App Purchases
    Yes
    • New Rivals Pack $1.99
    • Hustle Economy Pack $1.99
    • City Life Scenarios $1.99
    • Full Game Unlock $4.99
    • Learn More
    Copyright
    • © 2026 Kari-Ann Kristiansen
  • Developer Website
  • Privacy Policy

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