Bootlegger: Moonshine Empire

Bootlegger: Moonshine Empire is a 210,000-word, entirely text-based interactive historical novel by Drew Morrison, with hundreds of choices and no graphics or sound effects. Set in 1920, after Prohibition makes alcohol illegal, it follows your rise from running whiskey in rural Pennsylvania to building an operation that distills and distributes liquor in New York City.

Build your operation

You begin with a few friends in a barn, making bathtub gin and white lightning to improve life for you and your sister. As you expand, you manage your workers and decide whether to lead generously or act as a merciless profiteer. You can use business acumen and instinct to outwit rivals or ally with them, and bargain with union leaders and mob bosses to supply Manhattan’s growing network of speakeasies. You can also eliminate rivals in shootouts or drive in car chases to get moonshine to the city before they catch you.

A life in Prohibition

In New York, wealthy customers want to drink while dancing the Charleston, and organized crime is rising to meet the demand. Back in Pennsylvania, a preacher tries to keep your hometown dry while the Feds close in. You can navigate local politics among Communists, union organizers and temperance preachers, become mayor and put them under your command, or climb the city mob’s ranks to inherit an empire.

You can launder your illegal earnings through a Broadway play and possibly become its star. Your path may also lead to wealth in a Manhattan penthouse or a place in your hometown’s government. If you cross the wrong people, you could end up in prison or worse; getting caught by the Feds can bring your operation down.

Choose your character

You can play as a man, woman or nonbinary character, and choose to be gay, straight or bi.