Grant's Patch Guide: Getting Started

What is Grant’s Patch?

Grant’s Patch is a released educational game by azimuthdigital. Its official manual describes it as an NES-styled historical farming simulator and a fast-paced puzzle game for web-connected computers.

The game takes inspiration from classic games including Oregon Trail, Tetris, Chess and Frogger. Its official page lists HTML5 as its platform and keyboard as its input method. The stated average session is about a half-hour.

Historical setting

The story is set early in Ulysses S. Grant’s army career, when he was ordered to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River in what was then Oregon Territory. To help feed his troops on the frontier, he planted 20 acres of potatoes.

The Columbia River creates the game’s central threat. Players must race the flood while trying to harvest the potato crop and feed the troops.

Starting and choosing moves

The official gameplay instructions begin by directing players down the trail to select a starting point. From there, players cycle through their currently available destination options while considering their next moves.

Landing on potatoes harvests them. The official page lists these keys: Select: Space; Cycle: < >; Restart: ESC.

How to play

Open the GameTio game page, select Play, then choose Run game on the developer’s itch.io page. Grant’s Patch runs in the browser through its HTML5 version.

After opening the game, head down the trail and select a starting point. Cycle through the available destinations, plan the next move and land on potatoes to harvest them. The stated goal is to race the flood, gather the crop and feed the troops.

GameTio has not played the game, and these details come from the official page.