Player wiki

CRANKWORKS

You start with one arm and one machine. You finish by turning a crank that the whole world is built to move. This wiki holds every number in the game, in six languages, read straight from the game's own tables.

CRANKWORKS is an idle factory game for Playdate. The crank is not a menu control here: it is the power supply. Turn it and energy appears. Stop and the factory carries on without you — that is the whole arc of the game, and it takes about four acts to get there.

19Machines

73Technologies

40Events

40Achievements

4Acts

6Languages

Getting startedThe first ten minutes, and how to read the screen.The crankZones, quality, overdrive, and the reverse vent.HeatOne gauge, shared by your hand and the factory.The factoryMachines, extractors, upgrades and the dial.Research73 technologies, 8 tiers, 6 forks.The market9 goods, your posted price, and the charts.Limit ordersEscrow, slots, and buying the dip while you sleep.ContractsA locked price, a deadline, a premium — and the option to break it.EventsAll 40, what they do, and the ones you answer.The four actsThe long game: network, swarm, and the great movement.AscensionCores, permanent tracks, and what happens while you are away.VariantsWhat makes one run different from the next.AchievementsAll 40, with their icons.NumbersEvery count, measured — plus what can be unlocked.FAQSaves, languages, gift codes, versions.What's newEvery version, and what it changed.

Never played? Start here

Three pages get you to a running factory, in this order:

Getting started — the first ten minutes, and what the screen is telling you.
The crank — where to hold the speed, and why fast is not best.
The factory — the first machines, and the dial that splits everything you make.

Getting the game

CRANKWORKS is a sideloaded Playdate game. You download a .pdx, put it on the console, and it appears in your library.

Over the web: upload the .zip at play.date, then Settings → Games on the console and download it.
By cable: put the Playdate in data disk mode (Settings → System → Reboot to Data Disk), drop the .pdx folder into Games/, eject.

The game never needs a network connection to be played. See Questions and answers if a version you installed one way cannot see the save from the other.