Else City

You face five rooms, each with a short script in a tiny language and a stated goal. Edit the code so the machine meets its goal, then run it. The console shows your variables and whether the goal is met. Solve all five to escape.

• The mini-language has assignment, if/else and while loops
• Run executes your edited script and reports the final variables
• A reference Hint nudges you; fewer hints and faster solves score higher

• Desktop: type in the editor, press Run or Ctrl/Cmd+Enter; Tab inserts two spaces
• Phone & tablet: editable on touch, but an external keyboard is recommended for coding

• Daily: the same five-room set for everyone today
• Practice: a freshly generated set with the New Set button

• Trace the variables by hand first, the console shows you exactly where the run diverges from the goal
• Watch loop conditions and off-by-one errors; many bugs are a wrong comparison or starting value

Else City is an escape-room-style debugging puzzle about reading code and fixing logic errors.

• Skills: debugging, reading code, logic errors, conditionals
• Best for: roughly grades 7–12 (ages 12+)
• For parents & teachers: debugging as an escape-room challenge.

Five rooms, each a short script in a tiny language with a stated goal, is the shape of a code-reading exercise rather than a code-writing one.

Editing somebody else's program to meet a goal is what most programming actually is, and it is the skill least often practised deliberately.

The reason it is hard has nothing to do with syntax. Changing control flow safely means first working out what the existing flow does in every case, and a small script with one branch you misread will defeat you as thoroughly as a large one.

Else City is an escape-room-style debugging puzzle about reading code and fixing logic errors. It is an original, free browser game built in-house for PlayPendium.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.