Vol. I — No. 35

ERSTWHILE

Price $10,000

2026

The daily investing game

Guess the year.
Invest $10,000.
Beat the S&P 500. The daily investing game at erstwhile.io.

A new investing puzzle, every day. Make the right choices, balance your portfolio, and see how you stack up against the S&P 500.

This is the browser puzzle at erstwhile.io, not the Steam roguelike or the 2018 interactive fiction.

Play on erstwhile.io

Google sign-in and the Supporter checkout open more reliably in a full window. Open Erstwhile on erstwhile.io.

The tape uses abstract asset labels to illustrate the format; the line is decorative.

Year:20??
Stock A
Commodity A
Commodity B
Stock B
5 years
2 rebalances

The power of a five-year window

You place ten chips of $1,000 on a hidden year between 2005 and 2020, then live with that portfolio until the reveal.

Diversify, or concentrate

Any one option takes at most four chips. The rest of the ten have to sit somewhere, including cash.

See it against the S&P

Year 5 shows your result next to an S&P 500 fund over the same five years. That comparison is the score.

Today’s puzzle · No. 35 on 11 November 2026

Open on erstwhile.io
FieldReadingStatus
PriceDaily puzzle free2 sources
PlatformBrowser, no install3 sources
Stake$10,000 as ten $1,000 chips2 sources
WindowA hidden year, 2005–2020, then five years2 sources
BenchmarkS&P 500 fund over the same five yearsOfficial · 1 source
Illustrated newspaper desk with a cream certificate, ten chips, and a green year stamp for the daily investing game
Ten burgundy chips arranged on a cream certificate beside a hidden year marked 20 question marks

Watch a real run

Three moves, then the reveal

You start with ten chips. Four real stocks, two other assets, and cash are on the table. No single option can take more than four chips.

At year 2 and again at year 4 you may hold, or sell everything and place ten new chips on the new total. Year 5 shows your result beside the S&P 500 fund, plus a daily rank.

Where to go next

The rules page is the walkthrough. Strategy stays general on purpose: this site does not publish the day’s year, the day’s assets, or a solved portfolio.

Questions

Is the daily investing game free?

The daily puzzle is free. A Supporter plan is $2.49 a month or $8.99 a year on the public game pages.

Do I need an account?

No. Google sign-in is optional and is described as a way to sync results.

Keep reading

How to playFive years, chips, and the two rebalance points.StrategyHow to read a headline without spoiling the day.Games like itSeven other market puzzles.FAQReset time, phones, archive, and streaks.Which game?Steam, the 2018 story, and this puzzle.UnlimitedWhat the paid mode adds.

Sources