Getting Started

The goal

Get from the first show of a tour to the finale without going bust. You lose if morale ("Vibes") hits zero, if your whole crew is gone, or if the van dies and you can't pay for a tow. You win by attending or taping the final show. Along the way you collect tapes, earn "Lot Cred," unlock badges, and post a score to the leaderboard.

It is a management game: every leg of the drive spends fuel, food, van health, and morale, and you top those back up between shows by shopping and hustling on "Shakedown Street" (the parking-lot scene outside each venue).

The shape of a run

A run moves through a short chain of screens and then loops:

Title → pick a Tour → (campaign length) → pick a Role → build character
      → pick Crew → (name the van) → THE LOT ⇄ drive between shows → Finale

The Lot is home base. Everything between shows happens there, and almost every screen returns to it. From the Lot you can:

Shakedown — buy food, gas, morale boosts, tickets, and trinkets from lot vendors.
Work the lot — run a hustle for cash (grill cheese, sell tapes, read tarot…).
Tape tonight's show — play the taping mini-game (or just attend).
Van — install upgrades and repaint/rename the van.
Stash — use consumable items you're carrying.
Rest — recover morale.
Drive — set your pace and rations and head to the next show.

Driving to the next show is a "leg." A leg spends gas, food, van wear, and morale; may throw 1–3 random road events at you; sometimes triggers your once-per- run Peak; and lands you back at the Lot of the next city. See Resources & the Road for the exact costs.

A first playthrough, in plain terms

Pick a tour. New players should take the default 1977 Spring Tour — a ten-show route that's the "holy year" for tape collectors. (See The Tour for all ten years and campaign mode.)
Pick a role. If you're learning, The Veteran Taper or The Deadicated Grandma are forgiving. Avoid the flat-broke roles (Runaway, Burnout) until you know the economy. (Full stats in Characters & Crew.)
Build your character. Choose up to 3 mods (passive perks), then optionally spend starting cash on supplies and gear.
Pick your crew. Take 1–4 van-mates. Each has a passive perk; a fuller van parties harder and hustles better but eats more food per leg. Rename them if you like.
At the Lot: buy enough gas and grub to cover the next leg, then either tape the show or just attend it for a morale boost.
Drive on: pick a pace and rations level, then go. Handle whatever road events come up.
Repeat city to city. Watch Vibes — it drains on long hauls and when you're short on food. Keep the van patched.
The finale: attend or tape the last show to win. Your run is scored and posted to the Hall of the Fallen.

Saving

The game auto-saves every time you return to the Lot. The title screen shows a Continue button when a run is in progress. Saves are per browser (they use the browser's local storage). Starting a new game or finishing a run clears the save.

Playing offline / locally

The game is fully playable as a plain static site. With no leaderboard database configured, each player's scores are just kept in their own browser instead of a shared online board — nothing else changes. See Architecture and the source's DEPLOY.md for hosting.