Introduction

The game’s simulation is built on academic research, public data, and international statistics. Our sources include the OECD, the World Bank, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, among many others. We aim for a social and economic model as close to real life as we can get, with numbers grounded in evidence.

That research shapes the choices you face. The prices of roads, hospitals, and other public services come from real-world construction and running costs. Hospitals need staff and supplies, and roads need repairs. The opening ceremony ends; the bills keep coming.

Reality, at a smaller scale

Real cities are far larger and more complex. Bringing them down to the game’s scale means choosing which details to leave out and how to adapt real-world figures. Those choices shape the results just as the data does.

We think of Microlandia as a test tube: somewhere to try a policy and watch its effects. More health care can meet a real need, but its costs compete with schools, transport, and everything else your citizens depend on. You have to weigh those needs against limited resources, as a real mayor would.

The numbers behind the city

These pages show what happens inside the simulation and how we arrived at its numbers. Use them to play better, or to learn a little about how the world works. Each topic brings together the research, the assumptions, and all the parameters: the numbers that drive that part of the city.

The values, explanations, and sources come straight from the game code. When we change them, the website updates this reference, keeping it in step with the simulation.

Help us check our homework. If a number looks odd, we’d love to hear what you found.