The Umbrella-Mender
Umbrella-mender“A one-eyed karakasa who was left in a shed for sixty years and would rather be useful than remembered.”
Art · bell-hero · master 3600×1800
The Bell at the Crossroads
Strangers come down the road and knock. You decide who stays — and the town they build is yours to live with.
You're the mayor. Mind the door.
A tiny town at a crossroads. Travellers come down the road and some knock to ask if they can stay. You lay the ground — plots, paths, a lamp, a bridge — and decide who settles. Whoever you take in builds their own place, so the town ends up made of the people in it.
- Players
- One
- Pace
- A few minutes, whenever you like
- Price
- Free
- Where
- In your browser — a phone is the right size
- Account
- Needed, so your town is kept
How it works.
Someone knocks.
A traveller waits at the crossroads with what they want written on their card: near the crowd, away from the fire.
Take them in, or send them on.
Plots are few and residents stay, so every yes is one fewer — and who you let in changes who turns up next.
Choose their plot.
Every plot says which of their wants it would answer, and which it wouldn't.
Listen to the neighbours.
Each resident tells you, in their own words, how they find where they live.
A town that keeps.
Lamps, paths, a bridge over the ford, and whatever the residents build for themselves. Play a few minutes at a time; sign in and the town waits for you on any phone, exactly as you left it.
Odd folk, out of old stories.
Eighteen of them so far, each with a trade, a few wants, and a past they'd rather explain themselves. A handful who might knock:
The Kappa of the Well
Well-keeper“Their river was diverted for a mill three towns back, and they have been looking for water that stays put ever since.”
The Rokurokubi Weaver
Weaver“She was a respectable woman until about eleven each night, and is still respectable at eleven.”
The Lamplighter
Lamplighter“They cannot be put out, which sounds better than it has turned out to be.”
The Umi-bozu at the Bath-House
Bath-house keeper“He sank one boat, regretted it immediately, and has been running hot water for strangers ever since.”
The Zashiki-Warashi
Guest-house keeper“She has kept four houses lucky and left each one the week before it burned.”
How a game goes.
What changed lately.
Your town waits for you
The Bell now lives on Jibbick. Sign in and your town is kept: open it on any phone and it's exactly where you left it. If two devices have been playing it apart, the game asks which town to keep instead of picking one behind your back.