Great Fire of London Game: Can You Survive the Four Days of 1666?
▶ Play free nowNo install · phone or PC · 3–4 minutes a runThe Great Fire of London: Four Days Until the Flames Stop is a free, choice-based history survival game you play in your browser. It is 2:20 a.m. on Sunday, 2 September 1666. You wake above “the Sign of the Bell”, a candle, rope and oil shop on Thames Street. Two lanes up, the bakery on Pudding Lane is burning, church bells are ringing backwards, and old Master Hobb yawns: “There's always a fire round here. Go back to bed.”
The beliefs of 1666 against what we know today
This is an episode of the Era Series. Its core is a conflict: what people believed then (“save the goods first”, “stone churches don't burn”, “you can't pull down another man's house”, “foreigners started it”, “run with the crowd down the high street”) and what we know now. Following the beliefs of the age makes the neighbours trust you — and puts you in danger. Insisting on the right answer keeps you safe, but people start to whisper that you are odd. Push it too far and a crowd gathers. The result screen shows a card for each belief: “Then they believed… → In fact…”.
How the four days unfold
Dates, places and the broad course of the fire follow Samuel Pepys's and John Evelyn's diaries and the Museum of London. The correct choices come from what worked in 1666 and today's fire-safety rules. One run takes 3–4 minutes.
- 40 minutes before the flames reach your lane: wake the youngest maid, Kit, asleep in the garret? Look at the wind? Join the bucket chain while the fire is still small — or pack the shop's stock?
- Where to go: the water stairs and a boat across the Thames, the open fields to the north across the wind, the high street west with everyone else, or the stone parish church.
- The flames hit the lane: burning eaves fall, smoke pours down the stairs. Hold your breath, stay low and crawl out.
- Sunday to Tuesday: fire-drops on the river, a man with a fire hook asking for hands, rumours of arsonists, bread at four times the price, gunpowder blasts by the Tower, and St Paul's Cathedral burning on Tuesday night.
- Wednesday morning: the wind drops. The ground is still hot and the cellars are still burning.
Body actions: the bucket chain and the smoke-filled alley
Some moments are played with your hands instead of buttons — at most twice a run. In the bucket chain, you tap in rhythm to pass leather buckets hand to hand; mash wildly and the water spills. In the smoke-filled alley, you press and hold to hold your breath and crawl, then let go when the needle reaches the green zone. Touch, mouse and the space bar all work.
News of the age, and the villain Mr Skerritt
There are no phones in 1666. News comes from street rumour, church bells and proclamations, and the watermen on the river. Important news drops in as a banner at the top. Mr Skerritt is a fictional profiteering carter. He offers to carry your goods “somewhere safe” for two gold coins, shouts that he saw a foreigner throwing fireballs, and sells bread at four times the price. Ask where he takes the goods, remember what you saw in the dark, and tell the constable or the militia to expose him.
Story, random scenarios and perks
The story follows the real timeline (Sunday 2 September before dawn → Wednesday 5 September). In random scenarios, the time until the flames arrive, the wind, whether Kit is asleep and when the riverside burns change every run. Each run you get a new name and a 1660s trade, and each trade unlocks its own choices.
- 🩺 Midwife's apprenticeCools burns properly with cold water · calms the injured
- 🔧 CarpenterKnows where a house gives way first · pulls houses down fast and safe
- 🦺 Trained-band veteranGood at talking people round · speaks the soldiers' language
- 📦 Chandler's storekeeperKnows where the leather buckets and wet cloths are
- ☕ Coffee-house servantBrought water and bread · calms people with a kind word
- 🔦 Night-watchmanHandles lantern and bell · sharp night eyes, knows every alley
- 💻 Printer's compositorReads proclamations at once · tells printed rumour from official notice
- 📢 Newsletter copyistTraces rumours to their source and corrects them · spots Skerritt's lies fast
- 🛋️ Labourer fresh from the countryNothing to lose · has slept in open fields before
- 🚴 Thames waterman's apprenticeCan handle a boat · grabs a boat at the water stairs in no time
- 🧹 Shop dogsbodyKnows every back door and attic stair · mop and pail always at hand
Same faces, a different era
The same faces from the Survive series appear as Londoners of 1666: the stubborn, fearful shop master Master Hobb, who will not let go of his money box; Kit, the youngest maid; Mrs Dunn, the motherly neighbour and midwife; and Ned, the errand boy who hears every rumour first.
12 hidden missions
Three missions are secretly chosen each run and revealed on the result screen — for example Wake Kit, One wet cloth, Travel light, Firebreak, Protect the stranger, Expose Skerritt and Check the rumour.
12 survivor types
If you survive, your choices decide your type.
Ahead of their timePeople before goods, crosswind, stay low, check rumours. You kept to what's right even amid the whispers.
People before goodsYou left everything you owned and came out holding Kit's and the old man's hands. That was everything you owned.
The firebreak maker"Why pull down someone else's house?" Because it came down, three lanes still stand.
The one who went to the riverTo the water stairs before the fire came. Three days across the river, watching the wall of fire.
Read the WindWhile everyone took the west road, you went crosswind to the northern fields.
Beneath the smokeHold your breath, stay low, all the way. You crawled out of the smoke-filled alley.
The one who stood up to rumour"Who actually saw it?" Those few words saved a life.
Carter exposerYou exposed the truth behind the two-gold-coin "safe place".
Bucket chainFight small fires together, fall back when they grow. You did both.
A pail of cold waterCold water, not butter. Ned's hand kept only a single scar.
A true child of the timesYou packed your goods, trusted the church, believed the rumours. And still survived — you were lucky.
Scorched survivorBadly burned, but alive. Wednesday morning, you gaze at the grey City.12 ways to die
If you die, your type shows which belief or mistake did it.
The One Who Went Back to Sleep"There's always a fire round here." That day the fire burned for four days.
The one who clung to the goodsJust one more candle box. That box was the one that held you back.
The one who stood in the smokeYou stood up gasping. The air up there was fire.
The one who trusted the stone church"Stone doesn't burn." The roof and the piled goods did.
The one who ran with the windWest, to get away from the fire. The sparks were faster than the wind.
The one who went back inIt seemed the cashbox would only take a moment.
The cellar that hadn't cooledThe fire was out. The fire underground was not.
Swept away by rumourMore frightening than the fire were people running in the dark.
Spectator on the bridgeThe houses on the bridge were wooden too.
Capsized wherryThe boat was there to carry people. Not chests.
Gunpowder spectator"Stand back!" The house blew before the shout was finished.
The one who passed under the eavesYou looked up. The burning eaves were coming down.10 tips for surviving the game (and real fires)
- Act while the fire is small. Wake everyone and get out — don't go back to bed.
- People before goods. Heavy bundles slow you down. Once out, never go back in.
- Read the wind. Don't flee in the direction the wind pushes the fire; go across it, or across the river.
- Stay low in smoke and cover your mouth and nose with a wet cloth.
- Fight a fire only while it is small. When it grows, step back and leave.
- Stone buildings burn too. Roofs, benches and piled goods are fuel.
- Firebreaks work. Pulling down houses in the fire's path was what finally stopped it.
- Check rumours before you repeat them. Innocent people were beaten in the street.
- Cool burns with cool running water for 20 minutes — no butter.
- Stay out of burned buildings and cellars until they are declared safe.
Share your result
When a run ends, enter your name and share your result card with a friend. This is the fifth episode of the Era Series (1348 Black Death · medieval siege · AD 79 Pompeii · 1912 Titanic · 1666 Great Fire of London). If you want to know what really happened and what it teaches us about fire safety today, read the history and fire escape lessons.
FAQ
Is the Great Fire of London game free?
Yes. It's a free browser game with no payments, no install and no ads. It works on phones, tablets and PCs.
Is it historically accurate?
Dates, places and the course of the fire follow Samuel Pepys's and John Evelyn's diaries and the Museum of London: it began at a Pudding Lane bakery early on Sunday 2 September 1666, a strong east wind drove it west, and it was brought under control on Wednesday 5 September. The protagonist, the shop, Master Hobb, Kit, Mrs Dunn, Ned and Mr Skerritt are fictional.
How long does a run take?
Usually 3–4 minutes. The four days flow in compressed time and stop only when something happens.
What is the right way to escape?
Leave early, take people rather than goods, read the wind and go across it or across the river, stay low in smoke, and help pull down houses to make firebreaks. Trusting stone churches and running downwind were dangerous.
Why do people call me odd?
In the Era Series, insisting on today's right answer in front of 1666 Londoners raises suspicion. If it gets too high, a crowd gathers. Don't argue — step away, stand by a trusted neighbour or work alongside them.
How many die if I choose by gut feeling?
In bot tests, about 88% of gut-feeling players die. Choosing by the evidence, everyone survives.
Is this game suitable for school history lessons?
It's designed as an educational simulation: each choice links to a source (Pepys, Evelyn, the Museum of London, the London Fire Brigade). There is no gore; deaths are told in a short line and a fade to black.
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