CURE-ALL
1885

The Story

It's 1885. Your wagon smells of grain alcohol, exotic herbs, and promises you can't keep. But the desperate widow in the front row doesn't know that. And the shiny bottle with your label is worth more than the hope inside it.

Travel across America with your medicine show. Craft your tonics. Put on a performance. Sell to the crowd. Dodge the skeptics. Skip town before the truth catches up.

How long can you keep it up before the world discovers the trick? The clock is ticking: 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act, and your industry dies.

Features

• ◆ THE SHOW — the heart of the game. Choose your opening hook, demonstration, and closing pitch. Handle live events mid-show.
• ◆ 9 patent medicines across 3 tiers — from harmless Hair Tonic to dangerous Immortality Tonic with radium
• ◆ Crafting system — mix bases, actives, and packaging to create your products
• ◆ 8 towns from Abilene to New Orleans, each with unique crowds and moods
• ◆ 8 customer archetypes — the Desperate Mother, the Skeptic Merchant, the Preacher, and more
• ◆ 3 assistant NPCs with their own stories, loyalty, and opinions
• ◆ Competing shows — 3 rival medicine sellers that follow you across America
• ◆ Soul system — every sale has a moral weight. Your conscience keeps score.
• ◆ Historical countdown — regulations tighten year by year until 1906 kills the industry
• ◆ 5 endings — from lynching to legend, your choices define your legacy

The Countdown

The game spans 1885 to 1906 — the golden age and death of American patent medicine. The timeline is real history:

• ◆ 1885-1890 — Wild West of medicine. Nothing is regulated. The golden age.
• ◆ 1896-1898 — Radium discovered. Marie Curie. A new miracle ingredient — and journalists start digging.
• ◆ 1899-1902 — Muckraker journalists publish exposes. Damage to reputation hits harder.
• ◆ 1905 — Federal campaign by Harvey Wiley. Agents appear in every town.
• ◆ 1906 — The Pure Food and Drug Act. The industry dies. Game over if you're still selling lies.

The Soul

Not every sale is the same. The game tracks your moral choices with a Soul system (0-100).

A dying man is brought to your wagon. His family is desperate. Your tonic is colored water. Do you sell it for $200?

A widow saved all year for your "Cancer Remedy." It doesn't work. Do you take her money?

A local doctor offers to partner — real medicine, theatrical presentation. Less profit, real results. Do you accept?

Your Soul score shapes your ending. Even with a fortune, a low Soul leads to the worst finale.