Pillworks Idle

A free pharmacy idle game, starring Pilly the pill bottle.

Pillworks Idle puts you behind the counter of a small, old-fashioned apothecary. You start by verifying prescriptions one tap at a time. Before long you are hiring technicians, filling the bench with counting trays and machines, opening a drive-thru, and growing into central fill, mail order, hospital contracts and specialty pharmacy. Along the way, real pharmacy questions pop up as STAT orders, and getting them right is the fastest way to grow.

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How to play

Tap Pilly to verify. Every tap verifies a prescription and earns money. Tap quickly to build a combo, which multiplies what each tap earns.
Hire and build. Spend money in the Store on pharmacy technicians, fill stations, counting machines, a drive-thru window and more. Each one earns money every second, even while you are away.
Buy upgrades. Upgrades double what a building earns, and each one changes the pharmacy you see: gold spatulas, label printers, a pneumatic tube at the drive-thru, a hospital lighting up in the skyline.
Answer STAT orders. A STAT pill appears now and then. Tap it to answer a pharmacy question. A right answer pays a big reward and raises your floor trust; a wrong one shows you the explanation so you learn it for next time.
Earn floor trust. Trust multiplies all of your earnings and unlocks bigger work, like the hospital contract and specialty pharmacy.
Climb your career. Ranks take you from pharmacy intern to chief pharmacy officer. Opening a new location earns stars, and stars buy certifications such as BCPS or Sterile compounding that make every future location stronger.
Come back each day. The daily shift bonus grows for every day in a row you play, up to day seven.

What the questions practice

The game's question bank was written for Pillworks and checked against primary sources such as federal regulations, FDA labeling, USP chapters and professional guidelines. Questions come in a few kinds:

Order verification

Short patient cases with a medication order to check: the right drug, dose, route and frequency for the patient's kidney function, weight, allergies and other medications. These mirror the checks a pharmacist makes before an order reaches the patient.

Pharmacy calculations

Days' supply, quantities, IV drip and infusion rates, dilutions, percent strength, weight-based doses and insulin units. The wrong answers are built from the mistakes people really make, like mixing up pounds and kilograms.

Federal pharmacy law and safety

Controlled substance schedules and records, DEA forms, prescription label rules, child-resistant packaging, and error-prone abbreviations that should never be written.

Medications and sterile compounding

Brand and generic names, drug-class stems, storage rules, and the basics of clean rooms: which ISO class applies where, positive and negative pressure, and handling hazardous drugs.

Questions are for practice and fun. They are not medical advice, and they don't replace official references, your training, or a pharmacist's judgment.

Who it's for

Pharmacy students, technicians studying for the PTCE, new pharmacists, and anyone curious about what happens behind the pharmacy counter. You don't need any pharmacy knowledge to enjoy the idle side of the game; the questions simply reward knowing your stuff.

Playing on any device

Pillworks Idle runs in your browser on a computer, tablet or phone, and can be installed like an app from your browser menu. It keeps working offline with the questions already on your device. You can adjust the size of the interface with the A− and A+ buttons, switch on a high-legibility font, turn off motion with Calm mode, and turn music and sound effects on or off in Settings.

Meet Pilly

Pilly is the friendly pill bottle who explains pharmacy in plain English on the @PharmaPilly channel. In the game she reacts as you play: she grins on a combo, gasps when a STAT order lands, and cheers when you get one right.

Support the game

Pillworks Idle is free and supported by ads, an optional "remove ads" purchase, and donations on Ko-fi. Plain-English pharmacy guides are available at the Pillworks Etsy shop, and short videos are on YouTube.