New York 2040: how it works and credits

A free open-world game in your browser. The streets, one-ways, building shapes and heights are the real Midtown Manhattan, from OpenStreetMap. Most cars drive themselves, charger trucks refill cars that hop onto them, and drones park and charge on car roofs. Every billboard teaches a numbered stop, names a top AI contributor, or points somewhere useful, and clicking one opens the real page in a new tab while the game keeps running.

Play the game

Learn in order: SEO Street, then AI Street

Nothing on the streets is random. If a sign has a number, it teaches, and it stands in exactly one place. SEO Street is West 45th, right where you start, with stops SEO 1 to SEO 7. AI Street carries on up West 46th to West 49th, with stops AI 1 to AI 27: how AI reads, how it learns, how it searches and how to use it. A tall numbered sign marks every stop, a line painted on the sidewalk joins them, and the billboards on those blocks teach the stop below them.

Every shop sign pairs a real word with a New York business: Tokens & Burgers, Overfitting & Suits, Semantic Search & Rescue. The window says what the word means in one line, so you pick it up just by walking past. Click the shop for the real meaning and a link to the full lesson, then answer one question for a stamp. Every other shop is just New York.

The map and the search box

Press L, or open Options, for the AI + SEO map: every stop on a subway-style line through the real streets, with your stamps and where you are. Tap a stop and choose how to get there: drive the roadster, ride in the limo, or walk. You can also ride the whole line in the limo, and it stops at each stop you have not stamped. Claude's search box takes a road, a corner, a place, a person or a word, says what it is, and takes you there. It runs on your own computer, using this game's own data, with no paid AI model behind it.

A roadmap for your job

The free AI Roadmap becomes New York blocks, east of 7th Avenue. Pick your job, and West 43rd Street is Point 1. Walk into each ring to open a lesson, finish the street, and the next Point opens. The lessons are the same as on the roadmap page, and your ticks are shared with it.

Who is who

The billboards around Times Square count the top AI contributors by rank, No. 1 first, out from where you start. Ask Claude for anyone by name and it takes you to their board. Clicking any billboard opens its page in a new tab, and the game keeps running.

Controls

W A S D

Walk or drive. The arrow keys work too

Shift

Run

Space

Jump on foot, fire the roadster's thrusters, brake any other car

E

Get in or out. A car asks: drive it, or let it drive you

C

Look at your car from the back, right, left, front, top or bottom, or the action camera

X

A flip, while the roadster is in the air

R

Swap between the human and the robot, on foot

N

Day or night

V

Sound: off, low, medium

B

The next song

Q

The display on your watch

L

The AI + SEO map: every stop in order, and a search box for any road, place, person or word

M

The list: the map, a roadmap for your job, places to go, a car, things to read

Drag

Look around

Click

A numbered shop opens the lesson for the underlined word on its sign. A billboard opens its page in a new tab, and the game keeps running

H

Show or hide this list on the screen

Questions

Do I need to install anything to play it?

No. It runs in a desktop browser with WebGL. It fetches its models and textures while you play, so the first visit takes a little longer.

Is this the real New York?

The streets, one-ways, building footprints and heights are the real Midtown Manhattan, from OpenStreetMap. The building surfaces are free textures, so the shapes are real and the facades are not.

How do I learn things in order?

Nothing on the streets is random. SEO Street is West 45th, with stops SEO 1 to SEO 7, and AI Street carries on up West 46th to West 49th, with stops AI 1 to AI 27. A tall numbered sign marks each stop, and a line painted on the sidewalk joins them. Press L for the map. Every other shop is just New York.

What are the shop signs for?

Each numbered sign pairs a real AI or SEO word with a New York business, such as Tokens & Burgers. The window says what the word means in one line. Click the shop for the real meaning and a link to the full lesson, then answer one question to earn a stamp.

How do I find a place or a word?

Ask Claude in the search box under Options. Type a road, a corner like 7th and 45th, a place, a person or a word. Claude says what it is, and takes you there in the roadster or the limo, or draws the way if you walk. It runs on your own computer, with no paid AI model behind it.

Where does a link open?

In a new tab. The game keeps its place, so you can read and come straight back.

Can I see my car from other sides?

Yes. In any car, press C or use the buttons on the screen to look from the back, right, left, front, top or bottom, or swing to the action camera.

What is the roadmap for my job?

The site's free AI Roadmap, as New York blocks east of 7th Avenue. Pick your job, and West 43rd Street is Point 1. Walk into each ring to open a lesson, finish the street, and the next Point opens. Your ticks are shared with the roadmap page.

Thank you, Bill Slawski

One billboard in Times Square thanks Bill Slawski, who wrote SEO by the Sea and spent years reading search patents so the rest of the industry could understand them.

Credits

This city is built from free work that other people shared. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License; the processed map is at /game/free/nyc/midtown.json. Vehicle shapes may resemble real makes; the game is not affiliated with any of them.

Needs WebGL and works best on a desktop. Without it you will see a still picture of the city.