How your city works

Getting started

The city you start with

A new city opens at 18:00 on day 1 with 4,000 coins and a free downtown of 10×10 tiles. Downtown already has a little street with three Residential Towers, a Sushi Bar and a Fountain Park: 30 residents and your first shop. Everything around it is land for sale.

Time runs at one city minute per real second, so a full day and night takes 24 real minutes. The clock changes the look of the city and who is out in the streets and inside the buildings, but earnings do not depend on the hour.

Your first ten minutes

The first chapter of goals walks you through the basics. The goal card (top left on a computer, a pill under the top bar on a phone) shows each step and pays a fixed reward when you press Collect:

1. Draw a road. Pick Road and drag across your land. +80
2. Build a home. Build → Residential Tower, next to a road. +300
3. Build an Arcade. Build → Arcade next to a road, near homes. Your town already has food. +360
4. Check your Arcade’s price. Open the Arcade and keep it at its best price (tap Use best price if it moved). +110
5. Place a park next to homes. Build → Fountain Park within 3 tiles of homes: happier homes buy more. +200

Collect all 5 goals and the chapter bonus adds +230.

Together that is 1,280 coins, about what the chapter's purchases cost, so you finish it with at least as many coins as you started with.

Good habits from the start

• Roads first. A building must touch a road along one side to be placed at all, and to keep working.
• Shops near homes. A shop's customers come from homes within its reach, and its workers from homes within 10 tiles.
• Mix the markets. Every home shops in each market (food, fun, care, work, goods) that has a shop in reach. A new kind of shop finds fresh customers; a second shop of the same kind shares them.
• Watch the top bar. It shows your coins and your net income per minute. Tap or hover any number for a breakdown.

What comes next

More residents unlock new buildings, your first plots of land give you room to grow, and the City HQ unlocks level 3 for the buildings that have one. The goal track leads you there through 7 chapters and then keeps going (see Goals and chapters).

Controls

Tools

Mouse and keyboard

On a computer you place a building with a click: its see-through ghost follows the pointer and shows the price, or in red why it cannot go there. Keys never fire while you type in a field or while a dialog is open.

Touch

• Tap a building to open its panel, or a plot for sale to see its price.
• Drag with one finger to move the map. With the Road tool or the Bulldozer one finger draws, so move the map with two fingers.
• Pinch to zoom. Double-tap to centre the map there.
• Placing works in two steps: the first tap puts a ghost of the building, which you can drag into place; press ✓ to build and pay, or ✕ to cancel. After ✓ a new ghost offers another one nearby.
• Press and hold a card in the build menu to see its details.

On the screen

Top bar

Coins and net income per minute (a ✦ marks income that includes the new-city bonus), residents, happiness and the city clock. Tap or hover each one for a breakdown. Next to them: the radio, help and settings.

Goal card

The current chapter's goals with their rewards and a Collect button when one is met.

Saving for

After the first chapter, a chip names the next sensible purchase and how long your income needs to afford it.

Issues

A chip that appears when buildings have a problem; each press moves the camera to the next one.

Toolbar

The five tools, the zoom buttons and the home button.

Building and roads

Roads

Pick Road and drag across land you own. Road costs 10 coins per tile; a label at the end of the stroke shows its length and price. Tiles that cannot take road turn red with the reason (land you don't own yet, a building in the way, not enough coins). When you let go, the road is built from where you started up to the first red tile. Roads cost a tiny upkeep: 0.06 coins per tile per minute.

To remove road, drag the Bulldozer over it: you get 5 coins back per tile (50 %). Buildings that would lose their only road light up amber before you let go.

The road rule

Every building needs a road tile directly beside one of its sides; a road that only touches a corner does not count. Without one you cannot place the building, and a building that loses its road closes (no sales, no upkeep) until you draw a new one.

Placing a building

Open Build, pick a card in one of the tabs (Homes, Shops, Community, Landmarks) and place it. Buildings come in footprints of 1×1, 2×2 and 3×3 tiles. When you pick a card, every valid spot is tinted and the road edges the building would touch glow; community buildings and shops also show their reach. A red ghost says why it cannot go there:

• Needs a road along one side: draw a road beside it first.
• Buy this land first: the spot is on a plot you don't own.
• Overlaps a building or Overlaps a road: find a free spot of the right size.
• Unlocks at … residents: grow your city first.
• Only one City HQ per city: it is unique.
• Outside the map: the building would stick out over the edge.
• Need … more: you are short of coins, and it says by how many.

In the Build or Road tool, a click on an existing building simply opens it. The build menu lists what you can build first, then a Coming up next row with the residents each locked building still needs.

Every copy costs more

The first of each building is the cheapest. Each further home costs 6 % more than the one before, each further shop of the same kind 30 % more, and each further community building 35 % more. Every card in the build menu shows what the next one costs.

The buildings your city starts with count as copies too: your next Residential Tower costs 300, your next Sushi Bar 520 and your next Fountain Park 270 coins. The catalog lists the price of the very first one of each kind and, for these, your next one.

Undo

Changed your mind? After you place a building, draw or remove road, demolish, cancel a construction, start an upgrade or buy land, a notice with Undo stays for 10 seconds. Undo (or Ctrl / ⌘ + Z) reverses the action exactly and gives back every coin it cost. You can step back through your last 5 actions, newest first, each within its 10 seconds. Collecting a goal reward, importing a save or starting a new city clears the undo history. Land can be returned only while nothing has been built on it.

Demolishing

Pick the Bulldozer and click a building. You get 50 % of everything you spent on it (building and upgrades) back, or all of it if you undo within 10 seconds. A building that is still a construction site is not demolished: you cancel it and get every coin back (see Upgrades and construction).

Building catalog

All 22 buildings, straight from the game's balance table. Prices are for your first one of each; build times are real time.

How to read the cards

Cost

Under level one: the price to build your first one. Under the higher levels: the price of each upgrade of that first one.

Output per minute

What a shop makes each minute with all its workers. Half the workers make half as much.

Stock shelf

How much a shop can hold before it stops adding to its shelf.

Appeal

A shop's pull within its market: shops in reach of the same home split its customers by appeal, and higher appeal also makes each customer buy more.

Customers from

The shop's reach: homes within that many tiles of it send customers (see Counting tiles).

Happiness and reach

Community buildings add their points to every home within their reach.

How the economy works

Counting tiles

Reach, workers' commute and crowding are all counted the same way: in steps from the nearest tile of one building to the nearest tile of the other, with diagonal steps counting like straight ones. Buildings that touch are 1 tile apart, and with one empty tile between them they are 2 tiles apart. So within 3 tiles leaves room for up to 2 empty tiles between a park and the homes it cheers up.

Residents and workers

Homes house residents: half of them work, and everyone shops. Shops hire from homes within 10 tiles, the nearest homes first, and older shops hire before newer ones. A shop with half its workers makes half its output; with none it makes nothing.

Your residents are also your progress: more of them unlock new buildings.

Customers and markets

Every home sends its residents shopping in each market that has a shop whose reach covers the home. Happiness changes how much they buy: from ×0.5 for a miserable home to ×1.5 for a perfectly happy one. Within one market, the shops in reach of a home share its customers by appeal. Different markets never compete with each other.

Prices and the best price

Every shop has a price slider from 0.5 coins up to its highest price. The higher the price, the less customers buy, in a straight line down to nothing at the highest price. The slider marks the best price: the one that earns the most coins per minute from what the shop makes. When customers want more than the shop can make, the best price rises until demand matches production; otherwise it sits at half the highest price.

New shops open at their best price. The best price moves as your city changes, though, so look in now and then: when the slider is off, the panel offers Use best price and says how much more the shop would earn per minute.

Stock

A shop puts what it makes on its shelf and sells from it every second. The shelf holds about 3 min 20 s of output. The panel explains the state of the shelf: a full shelf means the shop makes more than it sells (lower the price or add homes in reach); an empty one means it sells everything it makes (more workers would make more).

Upkeep and net income

Every open building costs upkeep each minute (see the catalog), and roads a little per tile. Construction sites and buildings cut off from roads pay none. The number next to your coins is your net income: what your shops earn per minute at their current prices, minus all upkeep. A shop's panel shows its own income, upkeep and net.

Competition

Two shops of the same market whose reach covers the same homes share those homes' customers; the panel says how many shops a shop shares customers with. Spread shops of one market across the city, or open a different market instead. Upgraded shops have more appeal and win a bigger share.

Happiness

Every home has its own happiness score; the one in the top bar is the average over all residents. Open a home to see its breakdown.

Happy homes buy more (see Customers and markets). Homes within 2 tiles of each other (at most 1 empty tile between them) crowd each other: a park between them beats packing homes tightly. Keep noisy industry away from homes.

Land

The map is 32×32 tiles, cut into 64 plots. You own the free downtown from the start; every other plot shows a For-Sale sign with its price, green when you can afford it. Pick Buy land (or simply tap the plot) to see its size and price and buy it. A plot's price depends on:

• Size: 60 coins per tile.
• Distance: each ring further out from downtown adds 50 %.
• Plots you own: every plot you have bought makes the next one 20 % dearer.

For example, a 5×4 plot next to downtown costs 1,800 coins as your first purchase and 4,480 once you have bought 5 plots. Buying land can be undone within 10 seconds as long as you have not built on it.

Upgrades and construction

Construction

A new building first stands as a construction site and opens when its timer runs out (the catalog lists the times). Until then it does nothing and pays no upkeep. Changed your mind? Use the Bulldozer on the site, or Cancel construction · full refund in its panel: every coin comes back.

Upgrading

Select a building and press Upgrade. The panel shows what the next level brings (more residents, output or appeal), what it costs and how long it takes. The building stays open at its current level while it upgrades. Not every building grows: 13 kinds have a single level, 3 have two and 6 have three (see the catalog).

The catalog lists upgrade prices for your first building of each kind. Later copies' upgrades cost more in the same proportion as their build price (see Every copy costs more).

Level 3 (on the buildings that have one) needs an operating City HQ. It unlocks at 120 residents, costs 15,000 coins, and a city can have only one.

Goals and chapters

Goals guide you from your first road to a metropolis. The goal card shows the current chapter. When you meet a goal, press Collect for its coins; once every goal of a chapter is collected, its chapter bonus waits. Rewards are fixed amounts, never random. Settings → Show goals hides the goal card if you prefer to play without it.

How big the rewards are

The first chapter (5 goals) pays fixed rewards: 1,280 coins with its bonus. From the second chapter on, each chapter has 3 goals. A goal pays about 1.25 minutes of your city's net income at the moment it appears on the card (at least 100 coins, at most the amount listed below); a chapter bonus about 2 minutes of income when its chapter starts (at least 250). A reward is fixed when it appears, so waiting does not make it bigger.

Ticked silently, and previews

A goal only counts during its own chapter. If you already meet it when its chapter starts (you already have enough residents, say), it is ticked off silently: no reward and nothing to collect, and the chapter is over sooner. When fewer goals are open than the card has room for, the next chapter's goals appear greyed out as a preview; they start counting when their chapter begins.

The chapters

1. Chapter 1 First steps bonus +230

   • Draw a road +80
   • Build a home +300
   • Build an Arcade +360
   • Check your Arcade’s price +110
   • Place a park next to homes +200

2. Chapter 2 Growing town bonus up to +1,000

   • Reach 100 residents up to +600
   • Earn 200 coins a minute up to +600
   • Build a Community Hall up to +600

3. Chapter 3 Busy streets bonus up to +1,200

   • Reach 150 residents up to +900
   • Make the city happy: 60 up to +700
   • Earn 400 coins a minute up to +1,200

4. Chapter 4 Room to grow bonus up to +1,500

   • Buy your first plot up to +900
   • Reach 200 residents up to +1,400
   • Upgrade a home to level 2 up to +900

5. Chapter 5 City life bonus up to +2,500

   • Reach 240 residents up to +1,500
   • Earn 800 coins a minute up to +2,400
   • Upgrade a shop to level 2 up to +1,000

6. Chapter 6 Skyline bonus up to +5,000

   • Reach 320 residents up to +1,800
   • Earn 1,600 coins a minute up to +4,800
   • Build the City HQ up to +3,000

7. Chapter 7 Metropolis bonus up to +10,000

   • Reach 400 residents up to +2,200
   • Upgrade a home to level 3 up to +3,000
   • Earn 3,200 coins a minute up to +9,600

8. Generated Metropolis 2 bonus up to +18,000

   • Reach 500 residents up to +3,000
   • Earn 4,000 coins a minute up to +12,000
   • Earn 500,000 coins in total up to +12,000

9. Generated Metropolis 3 bonus up to +21,600

   • Reach 600 residents up to +3,600
   • Earn 4,800 coins a minute up to +14,400
   • Earn 800,000 coins in total up to +14,400

10. Generated Metropolis 4 bonus up to +25,200

    • Reach 700 residents up to +4,200
    • Earn 5,600 coins a minute up to +16,800
    • Earn 1,280,000 coins in total up to +16,800

After Metropolis the track goes on with generated chapters, Metropolis 2 and onwards, with bigger resident, income and lifetime-earnings goals. It never runs out.

The new-city bonus

A young city gets a head start: at first every shop makes and sells ×3.5 its normal amount. The bonus shrinks a little every minute and is gone after 60 minutes of play.

It counts the city's own time, including the time your city runs while you are away, so after a long break it may be over. A shop's panel shows it (New-city bonus · fades out in …), a ✦ next to your income marks it, and the coins breakdown shows your income without it. When it ends, income drops to the normal rate: that is expected, not a fault.

While you are away

Your city keeps running when you close the tab. When you come back, the game works out everything that happened while you were gone (sales, upkeep, constructions finishing) for up to 8 hours; a longer break counts as 8 hours. The same happens when the tab was in the background.

Away for 2 minutes or more, you are greeted by Welcome back: how long you were away, the coins your city made (sales and upkeep), its best earners, constructions that finished, new buildings you unlocked, buildings that need attention, and your next goal. The coins are already in your account; the button just takes you back to your city. A shorter break may show a small notice instead.

Problems and how to fix them

A building with a problem gets a badge on the map, and the Issues chip steps you through them. The building's panel says what is wrong and offers the fix.

Other things to look at

Shelf full

The shop makes more than it sells: lower the price or add homes in its reach.

Priced above its best price

Fewer customers buy: press Use best price in its panel.

Upkeep is higher than sales

The shop loses coins: give it more workers and customers, try the best price, or move it to a busier spot.

Low happiness

Add parks or a Community Hall, spread homes out and keep noisy industry away from them.

Income suddenly lower

Most often the new-city bonus has ended, or a shop lost its road or workers.

Nothing affordable

The Saving for chip and every locked card say how long until you can afford them. Goal rewards help too.

Cashmate Radio

The game has its own radio: 5 stations of original chiptune music, made live in your browser (no audio files, no streams). The music starts with your first click, tap or key press in the game, on Neon FM at 30 % volume. Each station shuffles its songs, with a short station jingle between them.

The radio button (in the top bar; on a phone just below it) opens the stations, what is playing, back ⏮, play or pause ⏯, next ⏭, the volume with mute, and Music off. On a keyboard, M turns the music on or off. Settings has the same music switch and volume. Your choice is saved with your city and kept from then on. The music pauses while the tab is hidden. Sound effects have their own switch in Settings and are off by default.

Saves and backups

Your city saves itself in this browser every 10 seconds and whenever you leave the page. Settings → Your city shows when it was last saved. Your settings (sound, music, motion, goals) are saved with it.

Move or back up your city

Export save downloads your city as a small file. Import save loads such a file, in another browser or on another device too. Before anything is replaced, the game compares both cities (day, coins, residents, buildings) and asks. The city you replace is kept as one automatic backup: Restore backup in Settings brings it back until your next import.

Start over

Start a new city… deletes your city after asking: the goals start again from the first chapter and your settings go back to their defaults. A deleted city is not kept as a backup, so export a copy first if you might want it back.

Good to know

• The save lives in this browser's storage for this site. Clearing site data, some private windows and some cleanup tools delete it; another browser or device has its own city.
• If your city matters to you, export a save now and then.
• When the game is updated, older saves are converted automatically.

Privacy and fair play

• No account. No sign-up, no e-mail, no password.
• No tracking. No cookies, no analytics, no ads; the game loads nothing from other sites. Your city stays in your browser unless you export it.
• No cash value. Coins are an in-game currency and have no cash value. You cannot buy them, cash them out or trade them. Cashmate is free: there are no payments.
• No luck for sale. Every reward is a fixed amount of coins; nothing is random.
• Calm if you need it. Settings → Reduce motion stops the neon pulse, blinking signs, camera glides and flying coins. It follows your system setting until you change it.

Who runs Cashmate: see the imprint.

FAQ

Is Cashmate really free?

Yes. There is nothing to buy, no account and no ads.

Can I win real money?

No. Coins are an in-game currency and have no cash value. They exist only in your city: you cannot cash them out, sell them or send them to anyone.

Does my city grow while I'm away?

Yes, for up to 8 hours. See While you are away.

Why did my income drop?

Most often the new-city bonus ended. Otherwise a shop may have lost its road or its workers (look for the Issues chip), or homes became less happy.

Why does every new building cost more?

Each copy of a building costs more than the one before (see Every copy costs more). A new kind of building is often the better deal.

How do I get more residents?

Build homes next to roads, upgrade them (each level houses more people), and buy land when downtown is full. Happy homes don't house more people, but they buy more.

My shop sells nothing. Why?

It needs a road, workers and customers. Open it: the panel names what is missing. See Problems and how to fix them.

Can I play on my phone or tablet?

Yes, in the browser, with touch controls (see Controls).

How do I move my city to another device?

Export a save on the old one and import it on the new one (see Saves and backups).

I cleared my browser and my city is gone. Can I get it back?

Only from an exported save file. The game keeps your city in your browser alone; there is no copy anywhere else.

Can I play with friends or trade with them?

No. Cashmate is a single-player game: your city lives in your browser.

Does the time of day matter?

Not for your coins. Day and night change how the city looks and who is out: offices fill by day, nightlife at night.

What are the little people in the buildings doing?

Living their lives. They are there to watch: they never change your city's numbers.

Can I turn off the music or the sounds?

Yes: press M, use the radio button, or switch them in Settings. Sound effects are off unless you turn them on.

What happens after the last chapter?

The goals continue with generated chapters (Metropolis 2 and onwards), so there is always a next goal.

Glossary

Appeal

A shop's pull within its market; upgrades raise it. See Competition.

Best price

The price that earns a shop the most per minute; marked on its slider.

Chapter

A set of goals with a bonus for finishing it.

Coins

What you build, buy and upgrade with. They exist only in the game and have no cash value.

Copy

Another building of a kind you already have; each costs more than the last.

Footprint

The square of tiles a building stands on.

Happiness

A home's mood score; happier homes buy more.

Level

How far a building is upgraded; level 3, where a building has one, needs the City HQ.

Market

Food, fun, care, work or goods. Shops compete only within their market.

Net income

Sales per minute minus all upkeep; the number next to your coins.

New-city bonus

The head start that multiplies every shop's output and sales at first and then fades out.

Plot

A piece of land you can buy.

Reach

How far a building's effect goes, in tiles, counted from nearest tile to nearest tile (diagonal steps count like straight ones). Touching buildings are 1 tile apart; see Counting tiles.

Residents

The people living in your homes; some work, all shop.

Ring

How many plots out from downtown a plot lies; further rings cost more per tile.

Stock

The goods on a shop's shelf, waiting to be sold.

Upkeep

What an open building or a road costs each minute.

Workers

The share of residents who work in shops nearby.