Press Kit
A strategy game where everyone plays the same 25 years of history — and every number carries a receipt.
The game in one line
Carry a fortune through the 21st century — one move a year from 2000 to 2025, across 57 real jurisdictions, where the crises are non-negotiable and every number shows its source.
It's the year 2000. You already know how the century goes: the crash, the boom, the wars, the walls. History XXI is a turn-based game about being in the right place for each of them. One move a year to 2025 — dot-com, Lehman, Crimea, COVID, the war — the same history everyone plays. The only question is whether you saw it coming.
History XXI is a turn-based strategy game about carrying your capital through the 21st century intact. You begin on January 1, 2000, somewhere among 57 real jurisdictions, and make one move per year to 2025. Each year asks four questions in the order that actually decides a fortune — business, savings, tax residency, citizenship — then resolves against real history. Every gain and loss is grounded in the historical record: real index returns, real exchange rates, real rules, and every figure links to its source. Start solo in seconds with no account, or host a world friends join by code and play asynchronously. Reach 2025 and your run is written up as a short chronicle drawn from your own ledger.
Why it's worth a story
Most economic games ask you to trust a black box. History XXI does the opposite: if a number looks wrong, you can tap it, read the real data behind it, and flag it for review. Three angles that land:
- Strategy: "Can you protect a fortune when you already know 2008 is coming?"
- History: "Everyone plays the same century — the difference is only where you stood."
- Finance: "A historical game that shows its sources — every return, currency move, and loss carries a receipt."
Fast facts
| Name | History XXI — the century on one desk |
|---|---|
| Genre | Turn-based historical strategy / economic simulation |
| Span | 26 turns — one decision per year, 2000 → 2025 |
| Each turn | Four decisions: business · savings · tax residency · citizenship |
| World | 57 real jurisdictions |
| Grounding | Real index returns, FX rates, and rules; every number links to its source, and disputed figures can be flagged for review |
| Multiplayer | Asynchronous — host or join a world by code, no clocks; join late and still start in 2000 |
| Ranking | Hall of Fame ranks by capital multiple, not size |
| Endgame | A short written chronicle generated from your own ledger |
| Platforms | iPhone & iPad (App Store) — Android (Google Play) coming soon |
| Languages | English, Estonian, Russian |
| Account | None required to start solo |
| Privacy | No ads, no third-party tracking or ad identifiers |
| Price | Free to start; a one-time, per-game in-app purchase ($3.99) unlocks the back half of the century (2013–2025) |
| Studio | Onym |
Founder note
For a long time I chased forecasts — models, predictions, someone's confident opinion about what happens next. Then it clicked: the real truth doesn't live in forecasts. It lives in history — in what actually happened, on which date, at which price. That's the one record that can't argue back.
So I built a game that answers to it. In History XXI every gain and loss is derived from the real historical record across 57 jurisdictions, and every number is tappable down to its source. If the game says you lost 40% in 2008, you can see exactly why — and if you think it's wrong, you can flag it and we'll check. No black box, no invisible math.
The other thing I wanted was for history to be shared. Everyone who plays lives through the same century — the same dot-com crash, the same 2020. What differs is only where you chose to stand. That's what makes it something you argue about with friends afterward: not "I got lucky," but "I saw it coming and you didn't."
Screenshots & app preview
Click any image for the full-resolution file.
Icon & logo
Links & contact
- Site: playhistory.co
- App Store: apps.apple.com/app/id6791451449
- Press & creator contact: lead@onym.app — happy to send a TestFlight build and answer anything.