Allocate a finite pool of hours every day across making, marketing, rest, and learning, and discover that grinding without rest quietly wrecks your output.
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How to play
Each day gives you a set number of hours. Divide them across four actions, then run the day. Cash, reputation, skill, and burnout all respond, and burnout above a threshold drags your output down.
Make earns cash scaled by your reputation; Market builds reputation; Rest fights burnout; Learn boosts your skill multiplier.
React to each day's event card before committing your hours.
Run the day to bank the results and move on; the run lasts a fixed week.
End with high cash and reputation and few burnout setbacks for the best score.
Controls
Desktop: click the +/- steppers per action, or use hotkeys 1-4 to add hours and Shift+1-4 to remove, then Enter or Run Day.
Phone & tablet: tap the +/- buttons and Run Day, touch-friendly throughout.
Tips & strategy
Bank some rest early; output drops sharply once burnout climbs, so prevention beats recovery.
Invest in Learn on calm days, a higher skill multiplier pays off across the whole rest of the week.
What you'll learn
Side Hustle is a resource-management game about sustainable effort and the real cost of burnout in running a small venture.
Skills: resource management, sustainable effort, time and energy budgeting, entrepreneurship
Best for: roughly grades 7–12 (ages 12+)
For parents & teachers: balancing effort, money and well-being.
About Side Hustle
Side Hustle is a resource-management game about sustainable effort and the real cost of burnout in running a small venture. It is an original, free browser game built in-house.
A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.
