A little town, and everyone in it.
You make a citizen, get an apartment on Main Street and find something to do: odd jobs, a shop of your own, a pet, the Midland Pacific downtown. Everyone else who's online is in the same town as you.
- Any browser, on a computer or a phone
- Windows 10 and later
- Android 7.0 and later
- Ages 13 and up
A look round town
Screenshots from the browser version.
The square in City Central: the gazebo, the flagpole and the park, with City Hall across Main Street
What there is to do
On your first day Kassi, the city's Ambassador, shows you around: the shops, City Hall, the Post Office, your apartment and the people who work in them.
A home of your own
Every citizen gets an apartment at The Garden Apartments on Main Street, in one of four layouts: The Studio, The Loft, Garden View or The Corner. There are 48 wallpapers and 38 floors to choose from, and 562 pieces of furniture to put on them.
You can build furniture at the workbench in Ogeechee Hardware from materials Ken sells (wood, nails, cloth, stuffing, paint, glass, metal and bulbs), or buy it ready-made from his showroom. Radios, jukeboxes and TVs play a radio station or a YouTube video for everyone in the room, and friends can visit.
- 562 pieces
- 4 layouts
- 48 wallpapers
2,209 things to wear
Vanilla Threads, on the square, sells 996 tops, 369 bottoms, 189 pairs of shoes, 266 hats, 70 pairs of glasses, 155 bags and 164 extras, everything from headphones to cat ears. Hair comes in 46 styles and 30 colours, there are 12 skin tones, and the Clothes button lets you change outfit whenever you like.
New citizens start with 300 coins, a white tee, blue jeans and black shoes.
Work, save and open a shop
The Community Job Board, by City Hall's door, pays coins for odd jobs: emptying the park's bins, clearing tables at Peach Tree Cafe, reading to the children at the library, walking dogs, and raking leaves in autumn or shovelling snow in winter.
The Bank of Vanilla holds your coins and VanillaBucks and sends them to friends. To open a shop, apply for a business voucher at the Job Board. Once City Hall approves it, take it to the Chamber of Commerce and choose one of 10 kinds of business (café, bakery, boutique, flower shop, bookshop, sweet shop, toy shop, corner store, pub or tech store) for an empty storefront in City Central. Its name goes over the door. You stock the shelves, set the prices, keep the place tidy and empty the till.
Pets
Donna's Pet Pause on Ogeechee Street sells 16 kinds of pet: dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, ferrets, hamsters, turtles, frogs, hedgehogs, parrots, foxes, raccoons, a platypus, snakes, geckos and spiders. You can keep up to 6, take one with you or leave it in your apartment. Anyone can pet, play with or give a treat to any pet they meet.
Things to do in town
Vanilla Arcade & Billiards, by the railroad, has 7 games (Stacker, Gator Chomp, Ogeechee Eel, Vanilla Invaders, Skybird, Brick by Brick and Skee-Ball) and pool tables for two-player 8-ball. The tickets you win go toward any of 116 prizes at Benny's counter. Vanilla Cinema has four screening rooms, and everyone in a room watches the same YouTube video.
Ogeechee Park, down the riverwalk, has basketball courts, and you can fish from the riverbank and the pier. Marisol buys the catch at the Town Market's fish counter:
| Catch | Marisol pays |
|---|---|
| Sunfish | 2 coins |
| Bluegill | 3 coins |
| Carp | 4 coins |
| Channel catfish | 6 coins |
| Largemouth bass | 8 coins |
| Rainbow trout | 10 coins |
| Golden perch | 60 coins |
| An old boot or a tin can | Taken off your hands for nothing |
In winter the sledding hill opens for sleds and tubes, and the lake freezes over for skating.
The Midland Pacific
Johnny sells tickets at the station window for 5,000 coins a ride. When someone buys one, the train leaves 2 minutes later and the whole town is told. You can ride in the diner, the lounge or the sleeper. Downtown is 90 seconds down the line, with its station's waiting hall, Station Square and the harbour.
Real time, real weather
The town follows the real clock and the real weather. The sun rises and sets at real times, the street lamps and car headlights come on at dusk, clouds drift over on cloudy days, and rain and snow fall in town when they're really falling. Pigeons peck around the square and scatter when you walk up.
Friends, postcards and gifts
VanillaCity has no private messages. Citizens talk out loud where they're standing, and write to each other with postcards (12 designs, 6 stamps) and wrapped gifts sent through the Post Office, where everyone has a P.O. box.
The friends list shows who's online and which part of VanillaCity they're in. You can trade clothes, furniture, pets or coins face to face, and nothing changes hands until you've both ticked.
Coins and VanillaBucks
Two kinds of money, both earned in town. Nothing in the game is sold for real money.
Coins
Used for nearly everything: clothes, furniture, materials, pets and train tickets (5,000 coins). You earn them from odd jobs, fish, 8-ball and your shop's sales.
VanillaBucks
For the rarer items: 174 special clothes, 52 pieces of furniture and 8 kinds of pet. Every 25th sale in a citizen's shop puts one in the till.
Arcade tickets
Won at the arcade and spent at Benny's counter on 116 prizes, priced from 40 to 2,400 tickets.
Who you'll meet
The people who work in the town's offices, shops and services.
KassiThe Ambassador
Mayor TyMayor of VanillaCity
Assistant Mayor LucianVanillaCity
SxniyahVanilla Threads
MabelThe Postmaster
DottieThe Concierge
KenOgeechee Hardware
DonnaDonna's Pet Pause
Miss RuthThe Librarian
TonyBank of Vanilla
Officer GradyBank of Vanilla
Officer LaneBank of Vanilla
Mr. WhitakerChamber of Commerce
MarisolTown Market
GusTown Market
Coach DarnellOgeechee Park
MoThe Boathouse
BennyPrize Counter
RosaVanilla Cinema
JohnnyMidland Pacific
PearlMidland Pacific diner
Officer HaithVanillaCity Police
Officer BellVanillaCity Police
Sergeant PikeVanillaCity Police
Captain HayesFire Department
Firefighter LouFire Department
A friendly town
VanillaCity is for ages 13 and up, and every citizen signs the city rules at City Hall before they explore. Parents and guardians, start here.
The city rules
Short rules that every citizen signs, and what happens when someone breaks them. Read them.
A chat filter
Swear words are starred out however they're typed, and anyone who keeps at it gets a visit from the police.
Report
Tap a citizen and choose Report. Staff read every report. When someone has broken a rule, the police deal with it in the open, where everyone can see.
No private messages
Chat is public. Anything private goes by postcard through the Post Office.