The enemy is the cascade over weeks.
It is not one dramatic moment that hits you, but the chain of failures: without power the electric pumps stop, the water runs out — high-pressure zones and upper floors first. Card and TWINT payment fail, only cash still buys. The mobile masts run only about an hour on battery, then the mobile network is dead. The cold chain breaks, shelves empty within days, and in winter, with the power, the heating fails too — gas, oil, heat pump and district heating all need electricity. Whoever prepared BEFORE the event cushions each of these blows; for the unprepared, every jolt lands in full.
The solar storm is the trigger — the blackout is the Swiss hazard.
The Confederation lists the solar storm as a national hazard and explicitly as a possible trigger of a power outage (National Risk Analysis KNS 2025). The actual, officially listed hazard for the population is called 'power outage / blackout'. Honesty remains: the official power-outage scenario lasts two to four days; the months-long blackout from destroyed large transformers, which this game dramatizes, is a worst-case study estimate, not a Swiss official fact. That is precisely why the long arc carries the lesson: it makes tangible the cascade that a familiar short outage never shows.
What really happens in 72 hours
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Advance warning — hours.
A space-weather warning reports the storm; the concrete advance warning is short. Now the switches are set: get water, get cash, check the radio, involve the neighbour. Whoever acts now cushions the coming weeks.
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Day 1 — The grid collapse.
The geomagnetically induced currents strike the large transformers, the grid collapses. Lifts stop, traffic lights are dead, the fridge falls silent. The first night decides how safely you cook and keep warm.
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Day 2–3 — Basic supply tips over.
The tap gives only a trickle, the mobile network is gone, card payment dead. What you got and withdrew beforehand is now all you have.
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Week 1 — The gap opens up.
Fuel pumps dead, shelves empty, only cash buys. The prepared draw on their supplies and seem almost normal; the unprepared lack the essentials at every turn.
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Week 2–3 — Cold chain and cold.
The neighbour's medication that must be kept cold becomes a problem, and in winter the cold flat wears everyone down. Neighbourhood and rationing now carry the load — or not.
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Week 4 — The peak.
The neighbour's crisis, the odourless CO danger from grill and generator indoors, the pressure on supplies. Here falls whoever fails to fetch organized help in time and to read the warning signs.
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Month 2 — Rolling partial supply.
Power returns zone by zone, in windows; the Confederation can order cyclical shutdowns (about four hours of power, four hours without). Whoever knows the windows plans charging, cooking and paying deliberately.
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Afterwards — Partial return.
The grid stabilizes slowly; appliances are switched on one after another. Whoever was prepared comes out stronger — for the unprepared, losses of health, property and trust remain.
The deadliest mistakes
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Running a grill or generator indoors.
The classic, deadliest blackout mistake. Carbon monoxide is colourless, odourless and tasteless; headache and nausea are the only warning, and in sleep it does not come at all. Charcoal and gas grills as well as petrol generators belong outdoors without exception — not even 'just briefly' with a window ajar. The ventilated gas stove is the only safe way indoors.
Protects you: Cooking and heating without power First aid: poisoning
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Relying on card and TWINT instead of cash.
If the power fails, the ATM, card and mobile payment are dead — only cash still buys. Whoever has nothing in small notes at home stands empty-handed in the shop while the shelves empty. Build a cash reserve before the machine fails.
Protects you: Build a cash reserve Hazard: power outage
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Counting on the phone as a source of information.
In a power outage the mobile masts run only about an hour on battery, important nodes up to four hours — after that the network is dead, however full your battery is. Then the battery or hand-crank radio is the only reliable channel. Without a radio, only misleading rumours remain.
Protects you: Hazard: communication failure Satellite communication
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Taking the vulnerable person seriously too late.
The cold-storage medications of a neighbour living alone are the real loss channel. Whoever does not check on her regularly and considers no cooling plan notices too late how critical it gets. Daily checks and the emergency meeting point known in advance are the decisive early warning.
Protects you: Home medicine cabinet Build up emergency supplies
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The burning candle as you fall asleep.
For weeks candles are light, clock and company — and precisely there lies the danger: you stop seeing them. A toppled candle, a curtain, a stack of newspapers, and the power-less blackout gets its quietest death channel. Fires from improper candle use are a documented cause of death in a power outage. Always supervise candles, place them on fireproof surfaces, nothing combustible above — and put them out when leaving or falling asleep. A flameless LED or headlamp is the safe alternative.
Protects you: Surviving a power outage Staying warm without heating
Radio in the blackout — your fallback
In the solar-storm blackout the usual communication breaks down — here what counts is that you can receive and reach the most vulnerable. Four channels carry, in the game as in reality:
- NOAA / space weather — the advance warning. The official space-weather warning centre (NOAA SWPC) observes flares and coronal mass ejections. The L1 satellite DSCOVR provides, before entry into the atmosphere, only a short concrete warning of minutes to hours — and a G5 storm does not automatically mean a blackout. But it can become one.
- Battery and hand-crank radio — the situation. When the mobile network is gone after hours, the battery radio (SRF) is the most important and most reliable information channel. It reports the authorities' situation and, during rolling supply, the power windows. Spare batteries and a hand-crank radio belong in every emergency supply.
- Alertswiss & authorities. The Alertswiss app (install in advance) and the cantonal channels bundle the behavioural recommendations: switch off mains-powered appliances, switch them back on one by one after the outage, use emergency calls and networks only in a real emergency, inform and support neighbours.
- Emergency meeting point — when everything goes quiet. If phone, radio and TV fail, the emergency meeting point is the point of contact: there is situation information, and you can place emergency calls to the blue-light organizations. Know your own meeting point in advance — in the blackout no online map loads.
Reminder (in the game as in a real emergency): get and ration water, cash in small notes, battery radio instead of phone, indoors only with a ventilated gas stove — grill and generator NEVER indoors (carbon monoxide). In winter keep one room, blankets and layers, huddle together. Check on the vulnerable person, keep her medication cold, know the emergency meeting point. And: you don't prevent the blackout — you prevent it from ruining you.
More in our radio section: Surviving a power outage Staying warm without heating Emergency power and solar Hazard: energy shortage Hazard: solar storm
Frequently asked questions
Is the scenario realistic?
The chain of phenomena is established: a solar storm (flare, coronal mass ejection, geomagnetic storm) can, via geomagnetically induced currents, damage large transformers and trigger a wide-area power outage. The Confederation lists the solar storm as a hazard and as a possible trigger of a power outage (KNS 2025). Important and honest: the official power-outage scenario lasts two to four days; the months-long blackout this game dramatizes is a worst-case study estimate, not a Swiss official fact. Characters, flat and exact course are fictional.
Why does the blackout here last weeks and not days?
Because a solar storm, in the extreme case, does not only switch off the power but can damage large transformers — and these are custom-made, not off the shelf. Studies (Lloyd's, US-NAS, Metatech) then reckon with weeks to months of restoration. That is the plausible extreme this game dramatizes to make the cascade tangible — not the official Swiss expectation, which is two to four days.
Why is carbon monoxide the most dangerous mistake?
Because it is the most common deadly blackout trap and strikes without warning. A grill or generator indoors releases carbon monoxide — colourless, odourless, tasteless. It displaces the oxygen in the blood; headache and nausea are the only warning, and in sleep that is missing too. Grill and generator belong outdoors without exception; indoors only the well-ventilated gas stove is acceptable, as briefly as possible.
What distinguishes 'prepared' and 'unprepared'?
Only the starting state and the available options — never a better tip. The prepared person has water, cash, radio, stove, medication supply and neighbourhood contacts and can therefore choose more effective actions. The unprepared person sees the same scenes, but the resource-bound options are missing. The difference is only felt through the experienced consequence — and it deliberately shows only over the weeks.
Does the game store data?
No. No cookie, no account, no sign-up, no tracking. Your progress is held solely in the address (URL) of this page — close the tab and it is gone. You can share the URL or save it as a bookmark; it contains no personal data, only your decisions.
What exactly should I prepare?
The official emergency-supply list is the best start: nine litres of drinking water per person and week, food for about a week, a battery and hand-crank radio with spare batteries, a torch, candles, a gas stove, a power bank, some cash, personal medications and hygiene items. Plus: know the emergency meeting point, talk to the neighbourhood and have a plan for cold-storage medications.