Wiñay Kawsay 2026

Machu Picchu has captivated the imagination of the world and academia alike. There's been plenty of theories about what its purpose could have been. Was it a lost city? Perhaps a citadel? Or maybe something else entirely? That is for you to decide!

In Wiñay Kawsay — roughly pronounced win-nyay cow-say — you will step into the shoes of historical scholars. Uncover artifacts, reexamine evidence, publish your histories, and navigate the impact of your actions on this enigmatic wonder. In the deeply competitive world of publish-or-perish academia, will you succeed in influencing perception of what Machu Picchu really was? Or will your theories be one of many forgotten attempts at unravelling this mystery?

In slightly more detail, over the course of the game you place researchers to pick up evidence cards across the site of Machu Picchu, then commit evidence cards to support different interpretations of Machu Picchu's past to win publications and bonuses, while also trying to mitigate your disturbance of the site by returning artifacts to the land.

—description from the publisher