Needle Tycoon

A haystack factory tycoon for iPhone and iPad

Needle Tycoon

Six needles hide in a pile of millions of straws. Build a hay factory to find them.

Needle Tycoon is a factory-building tycoon game for iPhone and iPad by Jazz Games. You start with a farm hand and bare hands, buy tools, draw conveyor belts with your finger and build rakes, robot arms, drones, generators, presses and needle scanners until every needle in the haystack is found.

Get it on the App Store How it plays

Coming soon to iPhone. The App Store link goes live on launch day.

A pile of amber straws with a silver needle in it
Platform
iPhone and iPad, iOS 18+
Price
Free, optional purchases
Ads
Rewarded only, by choice
Languages
12, from English to Japanese
Publisher
Jazz Games

Watch the shed grow

Half a minute of the game itself: from one farm hand with a shovel to belts, scanners and a roaring line.

Find the needle in a haystack

Everyone says it, nobody tries it: find a needle in a haystack. Needle Tycoon takes it literally. Somewhere in a pile of three million straws lie six steel needles, and the only way to them is through every last straw.

It starts small. One farm hand, a toy shovel and a hole in the floor where hay is sold for a fraction of a cent. Each trip pays for a better shovel, the shovel pays for a bucket, the bucket for a conveyor belt you draw with a finger.

Then the shed wakes up. Piston rakes bite into the pile, robot arms swing hay onto the lines, a generator burns straw to keep the lights on, presses turn loose hay into bales worth far more. Somewhere in a clump on a belt rides a needle, and only a scanner will catch it before it drops through the hatch.

A metal detector ticks faster as you get close. The first needle is a celebration; the sixth finishes the pile and earns a medal. Then the barn is behind you, and the next haystack is bigger: fourteen million straws, then a mountain of three hundred and fifteen million.

How it plays

Every pile is the same puzzle on a bigger scale: move a mountain of hay, and catch six needles on the way.

  1. Dig

    Tap the pile. Your farm hand scoops a handful and walks it to the sell hatch, where it drops through the floor. Every straw sells for a fraction of a cent. Buy a bucket or a wheelbarrow and he carries more each trip.

  2. Draw belts

    Buy plans to put better tools on Supply Co.'s shelf, then draw conveyor belts with a finger. They find their own way round the pile.

  3. Build machines

    Piston rakes, three sizes of robot arm and drones dig for you. Generators burn hay for power. Compressors, wrappers and pelletizers make it worth more.

  4. Scan

    Needles ride the belts hidden in clumps of hay. Only a needle scanner takes them out. The metal detector tells you how close the next one is.

  5. Earn a medal

    Find all six and the pile is done: a permanent medal, and the next, bigger pile. Barn, then Standard, then the Mountain.

3M
The Barn

3 million straws. Where everyone starts.

14M
Standard

14 million straws, after your first medal.

315M
The Mountain

315 million straws, and it repeats.

What is in the shed

A real factory game, built for a phone and short sessions, with no timers in your way.

Belts you draw

Drag from a machine's exit and a belt routes itself round whatever is in the way. Merges are two belts meeting; splitters skip a full exit instead of stalling.

Fifteen buildings

Farm hand, sell hatch, splitter, power pole, silo, piston rake, small, standard and long-reach arms, drone pad, needle scanner, hay generator, compressor, wrapper and pelletizer.

A 52-node plan tree

172 levels in six bands: Hand Work, Hay Lines, Power, Automation, Processing and The Yard. Two plans open only through contracts.

Needles never vanish

A needle that is sold or burnt drops back near the face of the pile, and the game tells you. A scanner before the sack catches it next time.

Eight tools

Toy shovel, spade, pitchfork, thermos, bucket, wheelbarrow, yard vac and a metal detector that shows how close a needle is, not which way.

It works while you are away

The shed keeps running for up to eight hours when you close the app, and a card tells you what it earned.

Bonuses that last

Each needle found is a permanent bonus, and each finished pile a medal: sales +50%, the hand +25%, arms +25%, for good.

Contracts and leaderboards

Six contracts on the notice board, a needle case, a ledger, and Game Center leaderboards for needles found and piles finished.

Fair money

No banners and no interstitials. Ads are rewarded videos you choose. Nothing is for sale before your first machine, and money never buys a needle.

Questions people ask

Is there a find the needle in a haystack game for iPhone?

Yes. Needle Tycoon is exactly that: six needles hidden in a haystack of millions of straws, and a factory you build to find them, made for iPhone and iPad.

What kind of game is Needle Tycoon?

A factory-building tycoon for iPhone and iPad, seen from above. You dig a haystack by hand, buy tools, draw conveyor belts with your finger, and build rakes, robot arms, drones, generators, presses and needle scanners. It plays in short sessions and keeps earning while you are away.

How many needles are there?

Six in every pile. The Barn has 3 million straws, Standard 14 million and the Mountain 315 million. A metal detector tells you how close the next needle is, and only a needle scanner takes a needle off the belt.

Is Needle Tycoon free?

Yes. It is free to download and free to play to the end. Optional in-app purchases (Brass, the Starter Crate, the Foreman's Pass and the Shed Membership subscription) save time or add looks. Nothing is offered before your first machine, and money never buys a needle.

Does Needle Tycoon have ads?

Only rewarded videos that you choose to watch, for example to double what the shed earned while you were away. There are no banner ads and no interstitials, and the Foreman's Pass gives every ad reward without the video.

Does it work offline?

Yes. The game plays without a connection and saves on your phone. The shed keeps working for up to eight hours while the app is closed. Ads, purchases, leaderboards and the iCloud backup need a connection.

Is Needle Tycoon on Android?

Not at the moment. Needle Tycoon is for iPhone and iPad (iOS 18 or later) for now.

What happens if I sell a needle by accident?

Nothing is lost. A needle that is sold, burnt or left on a belt goes back into the pile, near its face, and the game tells you. Put a needle scanner before the sell hatch and it will catch it next time.

Will I lose my progress on a new iPhone?

No. Your shed is saved on your phone and backed up to your own iCloud, so it comes back on a new iPhone signed in to the same Apple Account. Purchases come back with Restore purchases in Settings.

Which languages does it support?

Twelve: English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Indonesian. The game follows your phone's language, and you can switch in Settings.

Needle Tycoon app icon

Somewhere in there are six needles

Free on iPhone. Start with your hands, finish with a factory.

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