Little town, big machines: Cosyford opens its doors
A crane with a magnet, a pizza oven, a glassblower's furnace and a ridge full of wind turbines. Welcome to Cosy Little Empire, the free, relaxed business game you play right here in your browser.
Cosyford, from the hill. There's a business behind every one of those roofs.
You step off the bus in Cosyford with nothing but a suitcase, and find a job in this very paper at one of the town's little businesses. Work hard, and one day the owner, who's been meaning to retire for years, hands it over to you. From there, you grow it into an empire, one cosy business at a time. Every business is its own hands-on little game: swing a crane over the car crusher, toss pizza dough, mend a toaster over a cup of tea, blow a glass vase, fell a tree right onto the flag, make paper, print this very newspaper, or bolt together a wind turbine on a gusty ridge.
The money you make follows you round town. Save up, open the Businesses list, and buy the next business: a sawmill, a boatyard, a farm, a steelworks, a demolition firm. They all help each other out, too. Planks from the sawmill go to the woodshop; cubes from the crush yard go to the steelworks.
There's no rush and nothing to fail. Each business has a friendly local who shows you the ropes the first time, a few small goals to aim for, a shop full of upgrades, and treasures to find. Finish its goals and it runs itself, earning a little every minute, even while the game is closed.
It plays on phones, tablets and computers, saves as you go, and installs as an app that works offline. Read all about each business below, or just start playing.
Long grass, brambles and a lost wheelbarrow. Greenaway Gardens takes on the town's most overgrown back gardens, and the before-and-after is worth the trip.
Bring in something broken, have a cup of tea, and take it home working. Winnie Sparks has fixed everything in Cosyford at least twice, cracked phones included.
A square blank goes on the lathe and comes off a spinning top, a skittle, a yo-yo or a rocket, painted in the colours on the order. These days it is the lathe room, through the door at the back of the Cosyford Woodshop.
Pick a slab, then saw, plane, rout, sand and oil it. Nell Dovetail has been at the bench for fifty years and can tell a good table from across the road.
Barbara Puddock has washed, brushed and bowed every pet in Cosyford, some of them twice a week. Now there’s a new pair of hands at the tub, and nobody stays dry.
A tower crane, a big magnet and a crusher that turns tired old cars into neat little cubes. After forty years, Old Stan is ready to hand over the keys.
Velvet chairs, a jazz band on the little stage and a long bar to slide the drinks down. Lou Lavelle has run the Lounge for years, and she has opinions about garnishes.
Polish the lens at dusk, switch on, and when the fog rolls in, lead the lost boats home with the beam. Gwen Trevose has kept this light for forty years.
Purple glasses, a zebra top and a mint-green sewing machine. Trixie makes and mends for the whole of Cosyford, and she would like a partner, not a buyer.
Sourdough, baguettes, plaited loaves, bagels and cinnamon buns, all into a deck oven with a puff of steam. Eddie would like a partner, and someone else to do the early mornings.
Sukie Treacle has made the town’s rock, fudge and chocolates since she was tall enough to see over the marble. Now she has a partner, and the wrapping line has never gone so fast.
A big red mobile crane, a banksman with the best thumbs up in town, and a different lift every job. Pat “Lofty” Hooper is five foot nothing, and she will tell you that is not the point.
It starts as a handmade workshop by the river, all stampers, moulds and a big screw press. Do well, and Mo Reams opens a machine hall next door to make paper by the reel.
Can jam glow in the dark? Where do odd socks go? Professor Minnie Boffin finds out, and invents something marvellous for your businesses along the way.
Weld them, wire them, paint them pink and call them Crumpet. Ada Cogsworth’s robot factory builds helpers for the whole town, and every one of them waves goodbye.
Planks, girders, paper reels and straw bales, trundling between the town’s businesses behind a big blue battery loco called Bluebell. Sid Points has kept the timetable for forty years, and he’d like a hand.
A tall white hangar, a crawler the size of a tennis court and a launch pad by the lighthouse. Commander Astrid Moon has been to space twice, and now she wants to go from home.
A giant boring machine, a tunnel under the estuary and the odd fossil in the way. Dr Ivy Delve has dug under three rivers and one very surprised golf course, and she says this is her favourite yet.
A giant yellow crane, a cherry picker, a cutting torch and a bottle of ginger beer. Marge Keel has built forty ships, and broken up a few she didn’t like.
Pour the wall, drop in the turbine, fill the lake and throw open the gates at dusk. Walter Weir has looked after dams for forty years, and he talks to the water. He says it listens, mostly.
A pile rig, a crane on a barge and a very big pair of golden scissors. Izzy Rivett has never met a river she didn’t want to cross, and the estuary has four crossings waiting.
Ricky Wavelength has done the breakfast show since 1979. Answer the request line, play the jingle back on the cart machine and read the ads, which are all for your businesses, funnily enough.
A black and gold telephone, a big red button and a view of the whole town. Sir Rupert Fortescue explains the job of a partner, and it takes him about a minute.
Hilda Tuppence sat at the counter next to Mavis Ledger for forty years. Now she’s showing a new cashier the ropes, and the queue for a savings book goes out of the door.
