PlugIdle is an idle game about building an ever-growing power empire. You tap to plug in cords, buy machines that plug themselves in for you, and watch your watts ⚡ climb — even while you're away. The whole game is reachable for free, at your own pace. Here's how it all fits together.
Tap → earn watts → spend watts on cords and upgrades → earn faster → repeat. That's the heart of it. Everything below makes that loop bigger.
Tap the socket on the PLUG screen to plug in a cord by hand. Each tap earns you ⚡ watts. Early on, tapping is most of your income — later, upgrades raise how much each plug is worth, so the socket stays useful.
Under the socket is your list of cord generators — from humble USB cables up to far more exotic cords. Each one you own produces watts automatically, every second, even when you're not tapping. Higher tiers cost a lot more but produce far more, and buying many of the same cord stacks up fast. A good rule of thumb: buy the most expensive cord you can comfortably afford.
Every 25 of a single cord you own doubles that cord's output, and every 100th milestone is an even bigger ×10. Each cord shows its next milestone, so you always know how close you are to a jump.
The UPGRADE tab sells one-time permanent boosts: stronger taps, a boost to a specific cord, or a boost to all cords at once. Some are synergy upgrades, where owning a lot of one cord boosts a different one. Buy them as you can afford them — they pay for themselves quickly.
While you play, a spark will randomly appear on screen. Tap it before it fades for a bonus — an instant Overload of watts, a Production Frenzy that multiplies your output, or a Click Frenzy that supercharges tapping. Catch surges back-to-back to build a chain bonus, and keep an eye out for the rare Grid Storm, when surges come rushing in all at once.
The GOALS tab tracks dozens of achievements that unlock as you hit milestones. Each one you earn permanently adds +1% production (your "Grid Bonus") — so chasing goals literally makes you stronger. They carry over even when you recycle (below).
Check in each day to build a streak that grants a growing production bonus. Miss a single day and your streak is forgiven (you have a 48-hour grace window), so it's hard to lose progress you've built up.
Your cords keep working while the game is closed. When you come back you'll get a "Welcome back" summary of what you earned while away (at 50% of your normal rate, up to 24 hours' worth). You never have to leave it running — but it's nice to return to a pile of watts.
Once you've built up a sizeable empire, the MORE tab lets you visit the Recycle Plant: melt your whole operation down into Prestige Cores ◆. You start over from scratch, but each core grants a permanent boost to all production on every run after. Your achievements and surge stats are kept. Crucially, your per-core bonus is based on the cores you've ever earned — so spending them never lowers it.
Spend Prestige Cores on permanent upgrades: bigger taps, more production, a longer offline cap, faster and stronger surges, machines that tap and buy for you, and more. These stick around through every recycle, so each prestige run starts stronger than the last.
After your first recycle, Challenges unlock in the MORE tab — special runs with a twist (production halved, no tapping allowed, only the most basic cord, and so on). Clear one and you earn a permanent perk. Starting a challenge resets your current run like recycling does, so jump in when you're ready for a reset anyway.
The game autosaves to your device — there are no accounts and nothing is uploaded. To move your progress to another device, open Settings and export a save code, then import it on the other device. That's the only way to transfer a save, since everything lives locally.
Stuck or have an idea? The game is made by Nick Overstreet — nickcoverstreet@gmail.com. Now go plug in some cords. 🔌