Flywheel

Flywheel is a real-time economic strategy game built around the thesis of The Black Advantage. You start with seed capital and 3 minutes to build a self-sustaining economic ecosystem - businesses, workers, trust connections, and community fund flows - while fending off extraction events that try to drain your wealth.

How to Play

• Build Businesses - Tap to choose a category (grocery, restaurant, tech, health, finance, education, trade, retail) and place your business on the map
• Train Workers - Hire workers to staff your businesses and increase output
• Build Trust - Drag between nodes to create trust connections that strengthen your network
• Counter Extraction - Tap red diamond events on the map before they drain your community
• Build Combos - Chain transactions to build combo multipliers and unlock power-ups

Features

• 8 business categories with strategic placement on a live network map
• Achievement system with 16 achievements across 4 tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum)
• Power-up milestones at combo chains 10, 20, 35, 50, 75, and 100
• 3 difficulty modes: Easy, Normal, Hard
• 6 original music tracks with dynamic crossfading based on gameplay intensity
• Extraction events with unique map visuals and counter mechanics
• Positive community events (rallies, grants, viral moments, block parties)
• Drag-to-connect trust mechanic
• Settings panel with music, SFX, and haptics controls
• Procedural SFX via Web Audio API
• Single HTML file, zero dependencies, 60fps canvas rendering

The Thesis

The game is a companion to The Black Advantage book series. Every mechanic maps to a real economic concept: the flywheel effect of circulating dollars, the damage of extraction (predatory lending, gentrification, big box displacement), and the power of community trust networks. Your Economic Power Index score reflects how well you've built a self-sustaining local economy.

Built as a single HTML file with Canvas 2D rendering, Web Audio API, and pure JavaScript.