Hester’s Homestead.
A cozy game for iPhone and Android that teaches people to work with AI. Designed, built and published by Prairie Giraffe. Free, with no ads and nothing collected.
What it is
Your Aunt Hester leaves you her homestead and three eager familiars. The raven gathers, the owl writes, and the fox goes to market. They do exactly what you ask. Not what you meant. What you asked. So you learn to brief them well, check what they bring back, and decide when to trust them.
Every lesson is a real AI skill
- Writing a clear prompt. Tell the raven what you want, why, and what done looks like.
- Checking the output. Look in the basket before the jam goes on sale.
- Catching made-up answers. The fox says it sold twelve jars. The coin purse says nine.
- Chaining agents. Link the familiars so the work runs while you’re away.
- Permissions and sign-off. Tag the tools, and have the fox check with you before anything big.
- Automation and building with AI. Simple contraptions, and a sprinkler you describe and fix one step at a time.
- Prompt injection. Learn to ignore the stranger’s note pinned to the board.
Aunt Hester’s Almanac explains each one as you go, with something to try with the AI tools at work and at home.
How it was built
One build runs on both iPhone and Android. Everything happens on the phone: no account, no ads, no tracking. Players can send a note from inside the game, with a picture of where they were, and it lands in my inbox. It passed Apple’s and Google’s review and has been live in both stores since November 2026.
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