Timber Tycoon: How to Play, Tips & Upgrades

Timber Tycoon is a free idle tycoon game you play right in your browser. You start as a lone lumberjack with an axe and an empty clearing. Chop trees, saw logs into planks, craft chairs and tables, and sell them in your own shop. Reinvest every dollar into machines, workers and upgrades until a whole crew runs a busy timber business for you.

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Controls

• Phone and tablet: put your thumb anywhere on the screen and drag in the direction you want to walk. A small joystick appears under your finger.
• Computer: click and drag with the mouse, or use the WASD or arrow keys.
• You don't need any buttons for actions. Walk next to a tree to chop it, walk over a machine's input to drop materials, and stand on a money pad to pay for it.

How to play: your first five minutes

1. Chop your first trees. Walk into the open forest at the top of the map. Your lumberjack swings automatically, and every felled tree drops logs that stack up on your back.
2. Build the sawmill. Walk onto the glowing money pad marked Sawmill. Your cash drains into the pad, and when it is full the sawmill builds itself.
3. Make planks. Carry your logs to the sawmill's input. It cuts each log into a plank, and the finished planks pile up on the other side, ready to pick up.
4. Stock the shop. Bring the planks to the shop shelf. Customers walk in, take what they want and line up at the counter.
5. Get paid. Customers only pay when someone is at the counter, so stand in the cashier zone to serve them. Pick up the cash pile they leave and spend it on the next pad.

From there the big loop begins: gather, produce, sell, upgrade. Each new building or worker makes the loop a little faster, until it runs mostly on its own.

The production chain

Everything starts with a tree. The further you process wood, the more it is worth:

Chairs and tables need several planks each, but they sell for much more than the planks that go into them. That makes the Chair Shop and the Table Factory the biggest income jumps in the early game. Machines have limited input and output storage. If a machine is full, it stops until someone picks up its products.

Selling and the cashier rule

Customers arrive at your shop, take products from the shelf and queue at the counter. A sale only happens when someone is standing at the counter. In the beginning that is you. Hiring a Cashier early is one of the best investments in the game, because the shop keeps selling while you chop, carry and build. The Advertising, Fast Checkout, Big Spenders and Tip Jar upgrades all make the shop earn more.

Hiring your crew

• Lumberjacks chop trees and bring the logs to the sawmill on their own.
• Sellers carry finished products from the machines to the shop shelf.
• Feeders bring planks from the sawmill to the chair shop and the table factory.
• The Cashier serves customers at the counter, so sales never stop.
• Exporters haul products to the export dock, where boats buy them at a premium.

Workers get better with the Worker Bags (they carry more) and Worker Boots (they walk faster) upgrades.

New forests and the export dock

The forests on the left and right are fenced off at first. You can walk up to them, but you can't chop there until you pay for the gate on its money pad. The West Forest doubles the number of trees you can work, and the Oak Forest has big oaks that drop more logs per tree. Later you can build the Export Dock on the river. A boat arrives regularly, loads whatever is waiting on the pallet and pays more than the shop does. Export Contracts make each shipment bigger and more valuable.

Level up your machines and shop

Every machine has its own level pad right next to it. Each level makes the machine 40% faster and gives it 20% more storage, and there is no maximum. The shop levels up the same way: every level lets one more customer queue at the counter and makes customers arrive 25% faster. Level pads are cheap at first. That means there is always something worth buying, even while you save up for the next big building. The level is shown on the building's sign, for example "SAWMILL 3".

Moving to a New Town (prestige)

Once your Export Dock is running, a New Town pad appears at the edge of the map. Moving to a new town starts your business again from scratch, but every town gives you a permanent +50% income bonus and some starting cash. Your second run goes much faster than the first, and the third faster still. The star badge next to your money shows how many towns you have founded and your total bonus. Each new town costs more than the last, so there is always a bigger goal ahead.

Every unlock

Money pads appear on the map as soon as their requirements are met. Here is everything you can build, roughly in the order it becomes available:

Every upgrade

Upgrades are bought at the Upgrades office. Walk into it and the upgrade list opens. Each level costs more than the last.

Quests, boosts and offline earnings

• Quests: the bar under your money always shows the next goal, like chopping trees, crafting chairs or reaching a cash target. Completing it pays a cash reward.
• 2x Cash: the boost button doubles everything you earn for a few minutes. It is unlocked by an optional short ad. The Longer Boost upgrade makes it last longer.
• Offline earnings: your crew keeps working while you are away. When you return, collect what they earned, or double it.

Tips and strategy

1. Never walk empty-handed. Carry logs on the way to the sawmill and pick up planks on the way back. The Backpack upgrade pays for itself quickly.
2. Get the Cashier early. A shop that only sells while you stand there wastes most of your customers.
3. Move up the value chain. A table is worth more than 15 times a log. Unlock the Chair Shop and the Table Factory as soon as you can.
4. Fix the slowest step first. If logs pile up at the sawmill, buy Machine Tuning. If planks pile up, add Sellers or Feeders. If the shelf is full, buy Advertising.
5. Save the 2x boost for full production. It doubles income, so it is worth the most when every machine and worker is busy.
6. Check in regularly. Offline earnings are capped, and Night Shift raises that cap. Coming back now and then keeps the money flowing.

Frequently asked questions

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