Dust Years

Hold a Dust Bowl farm family together through drought and debt — every season you balance money, morale, and well-timed relief.

How to play

You guide a farm family through the Dust Bowl years, one season at a time. Each season you choose an action from a deck, weighing its effect on money and morale against the next drought or debt that's coming. Time your use of relief well and keep the family solvent and together to survive the run.

• Money and morale are ledgers you must keep from bottoming out
• Each season plays a card with trade-offs to weigh
• Relief helps most when timed for the worst seasons

Controls

• Desktop: click to choose each season's action (number keys also work), New Run to restart
• Phone & tablet: tap the on-screen action buttons — fully touch-friendly

Game modes

• Difficulty: Easy, Normal or Hard
• Daily shared run or endless Practice

Tips & strategy

• Don't let either ledger hit zero — a balanced family outlasts a rich, miserable one
• Hold relief for the harshest seasons rather than spending it early
• Read the deck ahead and brace the family before debt and drought stack up

What you'll learn

Dust Years is a survival game about endurance and hard choices on a struggling farm in the New Deal era, teaching the Depression first-hand.

• Skills: the Great Depression, the New Deal, historical decision-making, cause and effect
• Best for: roughly grades 6–11 (ages 11–16)
• For parents & teachers: the Depression era through hard, human choices.

About Dust Years

Dust Years is an original history survival game about endurance, hard choices and the New Deal era on a struggling farm. It's free to play in your browser.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium — no download, no install. Browse all games →