StockPetsFrom Radio to Smartphone: How the Eras and Real News Unfold in StockPets
Updated: · StockPets team
Short answer
StockPets starts in January 1996 and moves one month per turn, so your pixel room drifts through three eras: the radio years (1996–1998), the computer years (1999–2006) and the smartphone years (2007 onward). Short summaries of real milestones, like the Mars Pathfinder landing or the launch of the euro, unlock only when your game date reaches them.
What does it feel like to live through the eras in StockPets?
You wake up in January 1996 with a small farm, a new pet companion and 10,000 virtual coins. Every turn is one month, and the calendar quietly drives everything: the look of your room, the little things that happen to you and your pet, and which pieces of real-world news you’re allowed to know. Nothing is fast-forwarded behind your back. Time moves only when you decide to turn the page.
That slow, month-by-month pace is where the nostalgia comes from. You don’t read a recap of the late ’90s; you sit in a tiny room while the radio plays, watch the years of the home computer take over, and eventually hear a phone buzz on the table. If you’ve ever wished a retro pixel game felt less like a museum and more like a life, this is the idea.
The three eras at a glance
| Era | Game years | A moment you might notice |
|---|---|---|
| Radio years | 1996–1998 | A favorite song comes on the radio |
| Computer years | 1999–2006 | A new-email chime, and your pet sitting on the keyboard |
| Smartphone years | 2007 onward | The phone buzzing on the table |
The room itself changes as each era arrives, so your Album slowly turns into a timeline. Every month, a memory of the room, your pet and your farm is saved to the Memories screen, which means you can scroll back and see exactly when the radio years gave way to the computer years in your own playthrough.
What are the radio years like?
The first three years of your journey belong to the radio. It’s where you learn the ropes: you’re getting to know your pet’s habits, planting your first seeds, and getting used to the rhythm of one month at a time. Era-specific moments here include a favorite song drifting out of the radio, the kind of small, specific detail that makes a pixel room feel lived in.
In the wider world, these are the years of the late-1990s internet boom. StockPets never tells you what to do about that, and it never shows you a chart before its month arrives. You only “vaguely remember the future,” which is a big part of why going back to 1996 is harder than it sounds.
When do the computer years start?
From 1999 to 2006, the room moves into the computer years. You might hear the chime of a new email, or find your pet curled up on the keyboard as if it has opinions about your inbox. It’s a small touch, but it lands, especially if you remember the sound of a home computer being the center of the house.
These years also hold the 2000–2002 bust that followed the dot-com boom. In the game, that simply means some months on your farm feel like long winters. Your pet still gets free basic care every month, and market losses never kill your pet, so the mood of the era shows up in your crops, not as punishment.
What changes in the smartphone years?
From 2007 onward, you’re in the smartphone years, and the room picks up a new sound: the phone buzzing on the table. This era carries you through the 2008 financial crisis, the long recovery of the 2010s, and the sharp crash and rebound of 2020. In StockPets, those are things you live through month by month rather than headlines you scroll past.
And the journey doesn’t stop when the history books do. When the historical price archive runs out, around the present day, later months re-use the ups and downs of randomly chosen past months, and it’s the same future each time you reopen that journey. Your room, your pet and your farm simply keep going.
Which real news stories unlock, and when?
The “News known by this month” feature shows short summaries of real historical events, drawn from official sources, and each one appears only when your game date reaches it. Three are already known when you start, because they happened before 1996:
- Hubble Space Telescope launch (NASA, 1990)
- The World Wide Web put in the public domain (CERN, 1993)
- Windows 95 (Microsoft, 1995)
The rest unlock during play, as the calendar catches up with them:
- July 1997: the Mars Pathfinder landing (NASA)
- January 1999: the launch of the euro (ECB)
- October 2001: the iPod is announced (Apple)
- January 2007: the iPhone is announced (Apple)
- August 2012: the Curiosity rover lands on Mars (NASA / JPL)
- December 2021: the James Webb Space Telescope launches (NASA)
Seasons and small life events every month
Besides the eras, each month brings one small life event. There are 22 kinds, plus birthdays. Some follow the seasons, others are just the little surprises of a quiet life:
- Visitors at the window, like a pigeon or a magpie
- Rain, first snow, falling petals and autumn leaves
- A full moon, fireflies, or a pumpkin from a neighbor
- Coins found under the rug
- The baker sharing a warm roll
- Your pet learning a new trick
- A thunderstorm, a cup of cocoa, or a slice of watermelon
Your pet also celebrates birthdays at 1 and 2 years old, complete with a tiny cake. You can read more about the stages your companion grows through in our pet growth guide.
Market weather, without made-up headlines
StockPets has one more kind of monthly event, and it’s deliberately vague. When the average move of all the crops on your farm in a month goes beyond ±3.5%, you get a line of market weather: a bumper month, clear skies, cloudy, or a storm. It tells you how your own farm felt that month, not why.
That choice keeps the game honest. Real news in StockPets is limited to well-documented public milestones, and anything about your crops is described as weather rather than as a story about a company. You get the feeling of a boom or a storm without a fictional headline pretending to explain it.
Why the slow pace makes the nostalgia work
During your first 12 months, you can advance as fast as you like. After that, one calendar page, equal to one month, refills every 8 hours, and you can hold up to 3. So the computer years don’t blur past in an afternoon; they unfold over real days, a few check-ins at a time, and the farm doesn’t lose value while you’re away. If that sounds like your kind of pace, our guide to a cozy game at your own pace explains the rhythm in more detail.
When you want to keep a moment, the Memories screen lets you share an image card of your room, your pet and the game date. Coin amounts stay private, so a snapshot of your radio-years room is just that: a little picture of a time you lived through again.
Frequently asked questions
What years does StockPets cover?
Your journey begins in January 1996 and moves one month per turn. It passes through the radio years (1996–1998), the computer years (1999–2006) and the smartphone years (2007 onward), and continues endlessly after the historical archive runs out.
What real news events appear in StockPets?
Short summaries of public milestones from official sources, such as the Mars Pathfinder landing in July 1997, the euro launch in January 1999 and the James Webb Space Telescope launch in December 2021. Each one appears only when your game date reaches it.
Does the news in StockPets hint at which seeds to plant?
No. The news covers general tech, space and world milestones and is never linked to the seeds on your farm. The game also never invents news about a specific real company.
Can I skip straight to the smartphone years?
Only in the first 12 months can you advance as fast as you like. After that, one calendar page refills every 8 hours, up to 3 at a time, so later eras unfold over several days of play.
Do the seasons in StockPets change every month?
Each month brings one small life event, and many follow the seasons, like first snow, falling petals, autumn leaves or fireflies. There are 22 kinds of events in total, plus birthdays.
StockPets is a game that uses virtual coins only. Nothing on this page is investment advice, and past price changes do not predict future results.