A BitLife alternative set in history
If you enjoy BitLife-style life simulators — be born, age up one year at a time and make choices — Crown & Plough is a free alternative that moves the idea into history. Instead of a modern city you are born somewhere on a real map of Europe, from Classical Greece to the Victorian age, and it runs in a browser on PC or phone, so there is nothing to install.
The difference is what happens after you die: you pick an heir and keep the same family going, and if your family wins land the game turns into a grand strategy of diplomacy and war. One life takes roughly 10–30 minutes.
Play free — no download Start the scenario: A ship to Scutari
What feels like BitLife
- Random birth — you do not choose your family. Of every 100 children, 62 are born peasants, 24 to knights or minor nobles, 11 to lordly houses and 3 to royalty.
- Year by year — at 1× a year takes about 2.6 seconds, at 8× about 0.3. From age twelve you choose a focus for the year: martial training, learning, livelihood, gathering strength, socialising or family.
- Events and choices — marriage offers, plague, revolts, campaigns, duels and investments, different in every era. Your choices change your personality over time.
- Family — your spouse and each child have a personality and a bond with you (−100 to 100); between twelve and seventeen, children form dreams of the Church, arms, court, trade, art, learning or the sea.
- Life dreams and bloodline — choose a dream for this life; each life that ends adds bloodline points, which buy perks for the next life on the title screen.
Crown & Plough vs a modern life sim
| Crown & Plough | BitLife | |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Real Europe, 431 BC to the early 20th century (eight eras) | The modern world |
| Platform | Browser on PC and phone, no install | iOS and Android app |
| Price | Free (ad-supported) | Free with ads and in-app purchases |
| Pacing | Time flows at 1–8×, pausing for events | Tap to age up one year |
| After death | Continue as your heir; take the house into the next era | Continue as a child |
| Beyond one life | Win land and play grand strategy: duchy → kingdom → empire | Modern careers and relationships |
| History | Real rulers and events; 39 turning points | — |
Lives you can live
A commoner’s fastest route is martial training or learning until sixteen, then socialising for renown and knighthood. A merchant’s life starts at sixteen with trading ventures — grain, furs, spices, sugar, coffee or coal depending on era and region — and guilds you can climb from member to head. An adventurer follows rumors on the map to ruins, hermits and shipwreck treasure on journeys of one to three years.
Or play someone real. Not every scenario is a king: A ship to Scutari makes you Florence Nightingale in 1853 London; The Table at the Café de Foy is the stammering lawyer Camille Desmoulins at the Palais-Royal in July 1789; The Printer of Wittenberg is the court painter Lucas Cranach in Wittenberg in 1517. Each scenario brings five story events of its own in the first generation.
Who it suits
- BitLife fans who want something similar on PC — it is a web page, so there is nothing to download.
- Anyone bored of modern settings who would rather be a medieval farmer, a Roman citizen or a Victorian nurse.
- Players who like a long family saga that carries on after each life ends.
- If you want school, jobs and dating in the modern world in detail, a modern life simulator is the better pick.
Start playing
Play free — no download Start the scenario: A ship to Scutari
- Scenarios A ship to Scutari · The Table at the Café de Foy · The Printer of Wittenberg
- People Florence Nightingale · Camille Desmoulins · Lucas Cranach
- Eras Victorian Era · Age of Revolution
- What if…? What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo?
- More guides Medieval life simulator: from peasant to king · An idle-friendly history strategy game · A history strategy game for your phone — no app needed
- Reference How to play
FAQ
Is there a game like BitLife on PC for free?
Crown & Plough runs free in a PC browser with no download or account. It is set in European history, from Classical Greece to the Victorian age, rather than the present day.
How long is one life?
Roughly 10–30 minutes depending on speed. When you die you can continue as your heir for as many generations as you like.
Can I play as a woman?
Yes. A random birth decides your gender, and a scenario’s “At this moment” mode lets you pick your own seat, gender, age and region in the same year and world. Some scenarios, such as Florence Nightingale’s, start as a woman.
Does it save?
Automatically, in your browser; nothing is sent to a server. To move to another device, use the backup code under Settings › Save backup.
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