Brackish Bay

About this game

Brackish Bay is a free idle game about running a salt farm on a tidal bay. Flood your pans at high tide, let the sun dry them, and rake the salt at low tide. Buy upgrades and automation, then sell the bay for Deeds that raise your income for good. Progress is saved in your browser.

Brackish Bay is an idle game built around a tide. The bay runs on a repeating 90-second tide clock, and your income follows that rhythm instead of a steady trickle. For about 30 seconds the tide is high and you flood your pans with brine. The water then drops, and for another 30 seconds the tide is low and you rake the salt that has formed. After that the water rises and the cycle starts again. There is no way to fail, only a bay to improve.

Each pan holds brine that the sun and wind slowly turn into a white crust. A tap does the sensible thing for the moment: it floods a pan at high tide, rakes it at low tide, or stirs it to speed up drying a little. Raking outside the low-tide window still works but pays less, so timing matters. Weather changes the pace. Clear skies are normal, a scorcher dries pans faster, overcast days slow them down, and rain slows them most and washes away part of the crust. A forecast chip shows what is coming next, and an occasional spring tide makes the pans flooded during it pay more.

Salt buys upgrades in the Works tab. You can add pans, dig them deeper, fit evaporation sails, sign dock contracts and cover the pans against rain. New rows appear as you progress. Two upgrades automate the cycle: sluice gates flood the pans for you, and a rake crew rakes them near the end of the low-tide window. Automation keeps the bay running while you are busy, but hands-on play always earns more per cycle, and flooding and raking most of your pans by hand each cycle builds a tide streak that raises what hand raking pays.

When your run has earned enough, a Sell the bay chip appears showing how many Deeds the sale would give. Selling resets your salt, pans and upgrades, but Deeds are permanent and raise your income in every later run. In the Coast tab you can spend Deeds on a bigger coast with more and larger pans, or on perks such as a longer forecast, better offline earnings and a starter kit of automation. The first sale is designed to arrive in under an hour of hands-on play.

Close the game and the bay keeps working, within limits. If you own both sluice gates and a rake crew, coming back after at least a full tide cycle pays offline earnings for up to eight hours, at a lower rate than playing. Without that automation, pans simply finish drying and wait to be raked. Optional boosts, such as doubling a welcome-back haul or a short salt boost, appear only when offered, and the game is balanced without them. Progress is saved in your browser, there is no account, and it plays with mouse, touch or keyboard, with phones best held sideways.

How to play

1. Press Play. Your first pan already holds salt, so tap it to rake it, then buy a second pan with what you earn.
2. Watch the tide dial. When the high-tide window opens, tap your pans, or press Flood all, to fill them with brine.
3. Let the sun dry the brine into crust. The pending-salt counter above each pan shows the next payout forming. You can tap a pan with brine in it to stir it along.
4. When the low-tide window opens, tap the ripe pans, or press Rake all, to collect the salt. Raking outside the window pays less.
5. Spend salt in the Works tab on pans, depth, sails, contracts and, once they appear, Sluice Gates and a Rake Crew.
6. When the Sell the bay chip appears, sell for Deeds. Spend them in the Coast tab and start a new run on a stronger footing.

Controls

Tips

• Read the tide dial before you tap. Flood while the high-tide window is open and rake while the low-tide window is open, because raking outside it pays less.
• Rake by hand before the crew arrives. The rake crew works at the very end of the low-tide window, so hands-on raking earlier pays more.
• Check the forecast chip. Rake ripe pans before rain begins, since rain washes away part of the crust, and expect slower drying on overcast days.
• Buy new pans at the start of the high-tide window, so you can flood them in time and keep your tide streak going.
• Before you step away, get both sluice gates and a rake crew. Offline earnings need the two of them.
• The sell chip shows how much more salt the next Deed needs, so you can decide whether to sell now or keep farming a little longer.

Frequently asked questions

What is Brackish Bay?

It is an idle game where you run a salt farm on a tidal bay. You flood pans at high tide, let them dry, rake the salt at low tide, and spend it on upgrades and automation.

How long until my first sale?

The first sale is designed to come in under an hour of hands-on play. Leaving the work to sluice gates and a rake crew takes longer, since automation earns less than playing by hand.

Does the bay earn salt while I am away?

Yes, if you own both sluice gates and a rake crew. You are paid for up to eight hours away, at a lower rate than playing, and a welcome-back panel shows the haul if you were gone for five minutes or more.

What does selling the bay do?

It resets your salt, pans and upgrades in return for Deeds. Deeds are permanent: they raise your income and buy bigger coasts and perks in the Coast tab.

What do weather and spring tides change?

Weather changes how fast brine dries. A scorcher is fastest, overcast is slower, and rain is slowest and washes away some crust. A rare spring tide makes the pans flooded during it pay more.

Are the ad boosts required, and is my progress saved?

No. Boosts are optional, appear only when offered, and the game is balanced without them. Progress is saved in your browser, and Start over in the menu clears it after a confirmation.