About Viral or Bust
Viral or Bust is a free browser game that turns a marketing budget into a story you can play: £5,000, twelve months, and every decision shows up in cash.
Why it exists
Marketing metrics like CAC, ROAS and conversion rate are easy to define and hard to feel. A game makes the trade-offs concrete: spend too little and nothing happens, spend in the wrong place and the money disappears, pick the wrong audience and even a great channel underperforms.
How the simulation works
- Audience fit: each product sells best to particular ages, genders and content styles.
- Channels with diminishing returns: Instagram, TikTok, Google search ads, SEO, creator ads, YouTube and email each saturate as you spend more.
- A live profit and loss: revenue, gross profit, ad spend, overheads, new and returning customers, CAC, ROAS and ROI every month.
- A moving market: trends, seasonal sales, rivals, investor targets, creator collaborations and surprise events.
Every number in the game is fictional. The model is inspired by real digital marketing patterns but it is a simulation for learning and fun.
Built with player data
The game is measured with Google Analytics 4: every campaign launch, choice and result is an event, so the design changes based on how people actually play. Player data led to a mid-year review that turns each player’s January to May results into personal hints, a rebalanced money curve so early months feel rewarding, faster one-tap choices and the surprise events.
Play it
It runs in any modern browser on mobile or desktop, with no sign-up, in English and Korean. Share your result to enter the hall of fame, or send a friend a challenge link to play the exact same year.