Gigawatt guide: power, heat and three stars on every shift
To win in Gigawatt, keep Grid load under the substation's limit with room for evening peaks, because the houses share it; put a cooler right next to every rack, ideally one cooler between two racks; add a battery before peaks and model launches; and switch racks off rather than risk a blackout.
What is Gigawatt?
Gigawatt is a free isometric puzzle-strategy game about AI data centers and the power grid. It was made after Gartner forecast that data center electricity use will grow 26% in 2026, with AI servers about a third of it, and that power has become the limit on AI. You build a data center on a made-up city block: GPU racks that serve tokens, coolers, cables, batteries, solar panels and gas peakers. The goal on each shift is to serve enough tokens before time runs out, without blacking out the houses next door.
Controls
| Input | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1 to 6 | Pick rack, cooler, cable, battery, solar, gas |
| Click a tile | Build there (drag to lay cables) |
| Right-click or X | Bulldoze (half your money back) |
| Click a rack | Switch it off or on |
| Wheel, right-drag, arrow keys | Zoom and pan |
| Space | Pause |
On a phone, tap a building in the bar, then tap tiles. Pinch to zoom. Drag with two fingers to pan, or with one finger when no building is picked (tap the picked building again to put it down).
How do power networks work?
Every group of touching cables and buildings is one network. Each network adds up its supply (the substation, solar, gas, batteries) and its load (racks at 10 MW, coolers at 3 MW). If the load goes over the supply, the network trips: everything on it goes dark for four seconds, and the breaker switches off some racks (marked TRIPPED) so it doesn't trip again straight away. Click them to switch them back on when you have the power.
The substation also powers the houses on the block, so their load counts against it. If the network that trips includes the substation, the houses black out and the neighbours' anger jumps. At 100 anger you're shut down. A rack on a network with no power source at all just shows NO POWER: connect it with a cable.
Heat and fires
From shift 2, a running rack heats up. Over 85 it slows down, and at 100 it catches fire, burns down and heats the racks next to it. A cooler on a tile right next to a rack pulls heat out, shared between all the racks it touches. One cooler between two racks is enough on most shifts. Water next to a cooler makes it 50% stronger, and in the Heatwave shift coolers work at 70%.
Batteries, solar and gas
- Battery: stores spare power and gives it back, up to 20 MW at a time. Build one before an evening peak (the houses' load doubles) or a model launch (traffic goes 10x and every rack runs flat out).
- Solar: 9 MW for free while the sun is up, nothing at night. Pair it with a battery.
- Gas peaker: 30 MW day and night, but it burns money every second and its smoke slowly raises anger.
A plan for each shift
- Hello, rack: four racks next to the substation is plenty. Don't add a fifth: the houses need 12 of its 60 MW.
- Feel the heat: build rack, cooler, rack in a row so each cooler serves two racks.
- The neighbours: a small substation and evening peaks. Leave headroom and add a battery early.
- Sun's out: solar and a battery let you run more racks than the substation alone.
- New model dropped: the launches are when you earn the most. Have batteries charged before they hit.
- Heatwave: put coolers next to the water.
- Peaker: one gas peaker is fine; two will anger the neighbours before the shift ends.
- Gigawatt: two substations. Build two separate clusters so one trip doesn't take out everything.
Frequently asked questions
Is Gigawatt free?
Yes. It runs in your browser on computers and phones, with nothing to install.
How do I get three stars?
Reach the token goal, keep every blackout away from the houses, and either serve half as much again as the goal or finish with at least as much money as you started with.
What is the endless mode?
Demand doubles every minute, with model launches and evening peaks on a timer. It unlocks after shift 3. Your score is tokens served plus time survived.
How do I get on the leaderboard?
Create a free account (18+). Your best score on each shift adds up to your All shifts score, and your best endless run has its own board.
Free browser gameGigawattAn isometric neon puzzle game about AI data centers and the grid: place GPU racks, route power and cooling, and keep up as demand doubles without blacking out the neighbourhood.▶ Play free
