Blackstart
Grid nominal

Electricity is the one resource you cannot store.

You run a power utility: you buy the fuel, you build the plants, you sell the electricity — and you hold your grid at 50 Hz. One second of inattention costs you hours of black start.

Play the demo Free, in the browser — nothing to install Steam · early access Date to be announced — page opening soon The historical scenarios Days that really happened — Hokkaidō 2012, and six more to come
50.00Hz

Green band — nothing to report

This dial really runs. In the game, you are the one holding it.

Overproduction costs as much as a shortage.

When it goes dark

A blackout is not the end. It's the name of the game.

A January night in the Yukon. The neighbour's line trips, one diesel set against the town. The frequency slides from 49 to 47.5 Hz in thirteen seconds, automatic load shedding cuts what it can — and the grid collapses. Then you bring it back, zone by zone.

A real scene from the game, nothing forced: the “border line broken” event, then a cold snap.

What you run

An entire country on a single console

Thirteen regions, from the Ghawar oil basin to the French nuclear fleet. Each one sets its climate, its fuel, its demand and its borders.

Control desk: the frequency has fallen to 49.51 Hz, two reactors are waiting to start.
7:02 PM on a winter evening. The frequency is falling, two reactors ask for 120 seconds. You have ten seconds to choose.
The six French borders, each with its line and its trust.
Six neighbours count on you — and bill you when you count on them.
The region selection map.
Thirteen grids to take over, from the desert to the polar circle.
The Yukon valley at night, under snow, the town lit up.
Yukon Valley. Four hours of daylight in December, fuel oil at the wellhead, coal by barge.
The Niger bend at noon, solar and gas.
Niger Bend. Sun all year round, every drop of fuel imported, and expensive.
The Haute-Savoie valley and its reservoir, in the morning.
Haute-Savoie. A high-altitude reservoir: a finite reserve, an instant response.
Hokkaidō in the early morning, the event log open.
Hokkaidō. Heavy snow, no local resources, supply disruptions.
The Atacama in crisis: 48.90 Hz, two zones still to restore.
Atacama. Panels, a battery, and the contracts of a lithium mine.
The Ruhr basin in black start, zones waiting to reconnect.
Ruhr Basin. Coal comes out of the ground next to the steelworks — and the stock is yours to manage.

The mechanics

What keeps the dial alive

Inertia

Spinning turbines slow the drift and buy you time to react. Solar and wind bring none: the more your mix decarbonises, the more nervous your grid becomes.

Spinning reserve

A plant running at 30% burns fuel for almost nothing. But it can climb to 200 MW in a minute, where a cold plant needs half an hour to start. That margin is the spinning reserve: what you pay to be able to react.

Black start

A blackout is not game over. It's a night spent relighting the grid zone by zone, never exceeding what your machines can hold.

The demo

Two hours, free, in your browser

A black start drill, then five regions — Ghawar, the Yukon, the Ruhr, Jutland and Queensland — up to the first year's balance sheet. Your save exports and picks up exactly where it left off in the full version.

Coming in the full version: scenarios drawn from real days — the Iberian blackout of April 2025, Italy in September 2003, Texas in February 2021 — at several difficulty levels, from simple to very hard. You take the seat of the operators who held the grid those days. This game is our thanks to them.

Genre
Management · real-time simulation
Players
Single player
Languages
English, French
Pace
Real-time with pause
Platforms
Browser, Windows, macOS, Linux
Release
Early access on Steam, date to be announced — the demo is playable now
Play now No installation, it starts right away