No More Needles!

The haystack is where it all started. Thousands of people searched for needles in haystacks on their farms. Apparently, they did not search carefully enough. The needles they missed ended up inside compressed bales, entered the conveyor system, and are now traveling throughout the supply chain. They are being shipped to farms, furniture factories, warehouses, stables, and other unsuspecting customers. Someone has to stop them. That someone is you. You are the newest inspector at NFAC: Needle-Free Agricultural Compliance. Officially, the company ensures the safety of agricultural products. Unofficially, the factory belongs to a cartel whose boss has lost one extremely important needle somewhere among the shipments. Every ordinary needle must be found and destroyed. One special needle must be identified and preserved. INSPECT EVERY BALE New shipments of hay arrive continuously on the conveyor. Every bale has its own supplier, destination, shipping documents, and safety requirements. Inspect each shipment at your workstation: - scan the bale with a handheld detector; - rotate it and compare signals from different sides; - use an industrial shaker to move hidden objects inside; - examine suspicious areas with a depth probe; - inspect the internal structure using an X-ray; - open precise sections with a core sampler. But no machine gives you a definitive answer. A sewing needle, nail, piece of wire, metal staple, or broken machine part may produce similar readings. To determine what is hidden inside, you will need to compare evidence from several tools and decide how confident you are in the result. Every additional inspection costs time, damages the product, or consumes limited resources. Sometimes it is safer to check one more time. Sometimes it is more profitable to simply stamp the paperwork. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIVES Official regulations require every dangerous object to be removed. The production department demands that you meet the daily quota. The cartel wants that one particular needle found—and it has an agenda of its own. When the directives contradict one another, the final decision is yours. EXPAND YOUR INSPECTION STATION At the beginning of the game, all you have is a basic metal detector and your own questionable judgment. Successful shifts earn you money that can be invested in new equipment. Every tool unlocks a different way to investigate suspicious cargo: - the shaker changes the position of objects inside the bale; - the depth probe helps estimate the distance to a signal; - the X-ray reveals an object’s approximate shape; - the core sampler allows you to inspect a small area directly. New equipment does not remove the need to make decisions. It simply gives you more information—provided you have enough time and resources to obtain it. The shipments themselves will become increasingly complicated. Dense and damp bales, permitted metal fasteners, multiple hidden objects, protected suppliers, false signals, and increasingly convincing counterfeits will all pass through your station. FIND THE RIGHT NEEDLE Ordinary needles, industrial debris, and suspiciously convincing false candidates will all pass along your conveyor. The real needle is somewhere in the supply chain. Find every needle. Destroy all but one. GAME FEATURES - Hands-on bale inspection using physical tools and industrial equipment. - Imperfect information: your instruments provide evidence, but they do not make the decision for you. - Conflicting official, production, and cartel directives. - An expanding workstation with new inspection methods to unlock. - Consequences delivered through news reports, fines, inspections, and warnings. - Gradual discovery of the identifying features of one special needle. - A compact, self-contained campaign lasting around 2–3 hours. - A stylized industrial world filled with absurd corporate-criminal humor.