NETWORK ENGINEER · FREE BROWSER GAME

PACKET QUEST

8-bit browser adventure for network engineers: close tickets with networking mini-games before The Great Outage. No download, no account: progress saves in your browser.

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SCREENSHOTS

NETWORK ENGINEER

You're a junior network engineer across hospital campuses, closets and data centers. Route patch cables, place access points, sort VLANs, hunt rogue APs and break broadcast storms before The Great Outage takes down 2,200 sites at once.

7 mini-games4 bosses~30-40 minKeyboard + mouse

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GAME GUIDE

Mini-games

Mission	How it works	Base pay
Cable Chaos	Click tiles to rotate patch cables until every port on the left reaches its switch port. Swat gremlins before they unplug a tile. Don't let the closet overheat.	10 T$
AP Placement	Click to place access points. Get the heatmap green with zero red dead zones, then hit Survey. Walls eat signal; the MRI suite is lead-lined.	20 T$
VLAN Sorter	Devices fall; steer each into the right VLAN bucket (data, voice, IoT, guest). Three wrong drops and you fail.	20 T$
TTL Run	You are the packet. Jump over ACL walls and gaps, grab routers to refill TTL, and reach the server before TTL hits zero.	50 T$
Config Commit	Read the switch config and flag every typo before the commit timer fires. Flagging a good line is a rollback.	50 T$
Rogue AP Hunt	Follow the beeping RF meter to the hidden AP and unplug it with Space. Stay out of the guards' sight.	50 T$
Spanning Tree Siege	Click links to block them until the network is a loop-free tree, with no switch cut off, before the broadcast storm melts down.	100 T$

Enemies

Gremlins chase you and steal T$. Zap them.
Interference Ghost (a floating microwave) slows you and drains the SLA twice as fast. Zapping pushes it away.
Shadow IT Slime splits into unmanaged switches when zapped. Keep zapping.
Change Window Phantom appears only from 2-4 AM. Three zaps banish it for 25 T$.
Upgrade chests might be a Firmware Mimic.

Progression

Ranks: Tier 1 Tech → Field Engineer (150) → Network Engineer (450) → Senior (900) → Architect (1500) → Principal (2500 + beat the final boss).
Areas: the Data Center side opens at Network Engineer; HQ Campus at Senior Engineer.
Certs: Cable Chaos and VLAN Sorter are free. CCNA 80 T$ (AP Placement, Config Commit), CCNP 200 (TTL Run, Rogue AP), CCIE 400 (Spanning Tree Siege, +10% pay, needed for the finale).

Bosses

Boss	Where	How to unlock
The Loopmaster	Branch Clinic	Field Engineer + 3 closed tickets in the Branch area
Lord BGP Flap	Data Center	Loopmaster down + Network Engineer + CCNA
The Auditor	HQ Tower	BGP Flap down + Senior + CCNP. Bring documentation: buy the Golden Label Maker early so the sites you close get documented.
The Great Outage	NOC War Room	All 3 bosses + Architect + CCIE. Restore 3 of 4 sites on running timers, then find the root cause.

HOW TO PLAY

Packet Quest and Uptime Quest share the same loop. Nothing to install: click Play, then pick New Game. Progress saves automatically in your browser, so you can close the tab and pick Continue later.

Take a ticketWalk to HQ and press E. Pick a ticket. Green, yellow and red set how much time you get and how much it pays.
Get to the siteFollow the yellow arrow. The SLA timer (top right) is already running, and enemies on the map can steal time or Tech$$$.
Fix itPress E at the site's door to start that ticket's mini-game. Each one explains its rules on the intro card.
Get paidFinish fast for up to +50%. A blown SLA pays half. Failing costs one of your 3 lives and the ticket stays open.
Level upSpend T$ at the Supply Depot. Cert scrolls unlock new ticket types. Lifetime earnings raise your rank, which opens new areas and bosses.

CONTROLS

Key	On the map
`←↑→↓` or `WASD`	Move
`Shift`	Run (uses stamina, the orange bar)
`E` or `Enter`	Enter doors, use the terminal and shop, open chests
`Space`	Zap enemies (costs stamina)
`C`	Drink coffee for full stamina (buy mugs at the Depot)
`M`	Mute / unmute

Key	In a mini-game
`Enter` or click	Start from the intro card
Mouse or arrows	Every mini-game works with the mouse; most also use arrows + `Space`
`P` or `Space`	Acknowledge the on-call pager for +5 T$ (miss it and lose SLA time)
`D`	On the intro card: send the AI drone to auto-solve (if you own it)
`Esc`	Bail out. No life lost, but the SLA keeps ticking

Stuck? After 20 seconds in any mini-game, a tiny dns button fades into the top-right corner. Click it and the puzzle is solved... for exactly 1 Tech$$$ and a sad trombone. It's always DNS.

TIPS FOR NEW HIRES

Getting started

Take green tickets close to HQ first. They're forgiving and pay out fast.
Buy a cert scroll early: the new ticket types pay 2-5x more.
Three clean closes in a row (no fails, no DNS) earns a +25% streak bonus.
Losing all 3 lives means burnout and costs 10% of your T$. Bailing with Esc is free.

Later on

Buy the Golden Label Maker / Runbook well before the Auditor. It only documents sites you close after buying it.
The AI Drone (500 T$) has 3 charges. Save them for boss phases you hate.
Loading screens show real networking and sysadmin tips, so the games double as light training.
Each game keeps a local leaderboard. Beat the final boss to sign it.

MORE GAMES

Prefer the other side of the house? Read the Uptime Quest guide or go back to all games.