How the game works
Nostalgia Diary rolls time back to the year you started first grade. From there, you live through your school years one at a time until you graduate and head out into the world. One playthrough takes about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Choose your country (the United States, the Philippines, Canada, Australia or India), your gender and the year and month you were born, then press "Start"
- Starting with first grade, look at what was big each year and choose how you spent it
- When you finish elementary school, middle school, and high school, choose your next path
- When you finish school and enter the working world, you reach the ending. Your memories from every grade come together in a "life timeline"
Getting started
Country
Choose the country you went to school in. The trends you see each year and the school system — grade names, when school starts, and the paths you can choose — follow that country. The game remembers your choice, and the rest of this section uses the United States as the example; see Other countries below for the Philippines, Canada, Australia and India.
Birth year and month
The game works out the year you started first grade from your birth year and month. School cutoff dates vary from state to state, but the game uses September 1: if you were born January through August, you start first grade in the fall of the year you turn 6, while kids born September through December start the following fall. Kindergarten isn't part of the game — it starts in first grade. If your state used a different cutoff, choose a month that puts you in the right grade.
Example: born in June 1990, you started first grade in the fall of 1996. Born in October 1990, you started in the fall of 1997 — the same year as someone born in February 1991.
Gender
Choose Prefer not to say, Male, or Female. This only changes how your pixel-art character looks (hair and clothes). It doesn't change how the game plays or how it ends.
Each year
At the top of the screen, you'll see the year, your grade and age, what happened at school that year (starting middle school, prom, graduation, and so on), and your four stats. The TV, game console, and phone in your pixel-art room change little by little with the times.
Big this year
Each year shows what was big in the United States that year, in four categories:
- Toys, Games & Cartoons
- Music, TV & Movies
- Fashion & Fads (catchphrases and crazes)
- Events (the news everyone talked about, and changes at school)
Press "Keep this memory" on the one you remember most, and it becomes that year's memory in your life timeline. If you don't pick one, the first item is kept. Use "Look it up on Wikipedia" on any item to read more.
How did you spend this year?
Choose whether you put your energy into studying, sports, friends, or hobbies. The matching stat goes up by 2, and you move on to the next year.
| Stat | How it goes up (examples) |
|---|---|
| Study | Working on homework and reading, prepping for the SAT, working hard in college classes |
| Sports | Playing outside, Little League or soccer, school teams, intramurals |
| Friends | Hanging out at friends' houses, going out with friends, road trips |
| Hobbies | Getting hooked on video games, cartoons, and hobbies |
Choosing your path
Each time you finish a school, you choose what comes next. In the United States, elementary school is Grades 1–5, middle school is Grades 6–8, and high school is Grades 9–12.
| When | Your choices |
|---|---|
| After elementary school | The local public middle school / Apply to a private or magnet school |
| After middle school | The local high school / A career and technical high school |
| After high school | A four-year college / Community college (2 years) / Start working |
If you apply to a private or magnet school, you get in if your Study stat is 6 or higher by the end of elementary school (choosing to study 3 or more times). If not, you go to the local public middle school.
In Grade 12, you turn 18, register to vote, go to senior prom, and graduate in a cap and gown.
Endings and your life timeline
You reach the ending when you start working or finish college or community college. The ending text depends on the path you took into the working world and your highest stat. If two or more stats tie for highest, you get the "well-rounded" ending.
- Highest Study: The Steady Scholar
- Highest Sports: The Go-Getter
- Highest Friends: The Heart of the Group
- Highest Hobbies: The One Who Followed Their Passion
If you're younger and your grades move past the current year, you get the "Caught Up to Today" ending at that point.
The "life timeline" on the ending screen lists the memory you kept, how you spent each year, and the paths you chose. You can share your results on X or another app, or copy the text.
Other countries
If you choose another country, the grades, cutoff, paths and coming-of-age moment follow that country's school system. The study, sports, friends and hobby choices and the endings work the same way everywhere.
Philippines
The game uses a cutoff of around September 1. If you were born January through August, you start Grade 1 in the school year that opens the year you turn 6; if you were born September through December, you start a year later. Players born in 2000 or later follow K-12: Elementary (Grades 1–6), Junior High School (Grades 7–10) and Senior High School (Grades 11–12), where you choose an academic strand (STEM, ABM or HUMSS) or the TVL track. Players born in 1999 or earlier follow the older system: 6 years of elementary school and 4 years of high school (High School Year 1–4), then straight on to what comes next.
Example: born in March 2003, you started Grade 1 in 2009 (2003 + 6) and reached Senior High in 2019. Born in October 2003, you started in 2010. Born in May 1985, you started Grade 1 in 1991 and finished High School Year 4 in 2000.
- After Grade 6: go to the local public high school, or take the entrance exam for Philippine Science High School or a science high school (you pass with a Study stat of 6 or more)
- After Grade 10 (K-12 only): an academic strand or the TVL track in Senior High
- After high school: college for a four-year degree, a 2-year TESDA vocational course, or start working
- In the year you turn 18 (your first year after Senior High under K-12, or College Year 3 under the old system), you register to vote and celebrate friends' 18th-birthday debuts
Canada
Canada plays with a typical English-Canadian school system: elementary school is Grade 1–6, junior high is Grade 7–9, and high school is Grade 10–12 (provinces differ — Ontario, for example, runs elementary to Grade 8 — and Quebec's CEGEP system isn't modelled). The school year starts in September, and the cutoff is December 31, so everyone born in the same year starts Grade 1 together in the September of the year they turn 6. For example, whether you were born in January or December 1990, you start Grade 1 in September 1996 (1990 + 6).
- After elementary school: go to the local junior high, or apply to French immersion or a specialized school with an entrance test (you get in if your Study is 6 or higher).
- After junior high: take the academic program at your high school, or a trades or technical program.
- After high school: go to university (4 years), go to college for a diploma (2 years), or start working right away.
- In your first year after high school (University Year 1 or College Year 1), you turn 18 and become old enough to vote.
Australia
If you choose Australia, the school year starts in late January or early February and runs to December, and the years are counted from Year 1 to Year 12: primary school is Years 1–6, high school is Years 7–10, and senior school is Years 11–12. Cutoff dates differ from state to state, but the game uses 31 July: if you were born January to July, you start Year 1 in the year you turn 6, while kids born August to December start the following year. The Prep/Kindergarten/Foundation year isn't part of the game. Queensland and WA had Year 7 in primary school until 2015, but the game puts Year 7 in high school for everyone.
Example: born in June 1990, you started Year 1 in 1996 and reached Year 12 in 2007. Born in September 1990, you started Year 1 in 1997 — the same year as someone born in March 1991.
- After Year 6: go to the local public high school, or sit the selective school test or a private school scholarship exam (you get in if your Study is 6 or higher)
- After Year 10: stay on for Years 11 and 12 and aim for an ATAR (HSC, VCE and so on), stay on with VET subjects or a school-based apprenticeship, or leave school for an apprenticeship or a job
- After Year 12 (with the formal and schoolies): uni (a three-year degree), TAFE (2 years), or start working
- In your first year after Year 12, you turn 18 and enrol to vote
India
Schools in India differ by state and board, so the game uses a common 10+2 pattern: primary school from Class 1 to Class 5, then Class 6 to Class 10 ending with the Class 10 board exams, and Class 11 and 12. In most states the school year starts in April (in a few, such as Kerala, in June). The game uses a March 31 cutoff and a starting age of 6: if you were born January through March, you start Class 1 in the year you turn 6; if you were born April through December, you start the following year. For example, someone born in February 2000 starts Class 1 in 2006, and someone born in August 2000 starts in 2007.
- After Class 5: continue at your local school, or take the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya / Sainik School entrance test (you pass if your Study stat is 6 or more).
- After the Class 10 boards: choose the Science stream or the Commerce or Arts stream for Class 11 and 12, or start working.
- After Class 12: go to college for a degree (shown as three years), do a two-year ITI or polytechnic diploma, or start working.
In the year you turn 18 — your first year after Class 12 — you get your voter ID card.
Saving
Your progress is saved automatically in your browser every year, so you can pick up where you left off with "Continue" the next time you open the game. When you reach the ending, the save is cleared so you can play again from the start. To start over partway through, press "Start over" at the bottom of the screen.
About the timeline
The game includes trends from 1970 to 2025. Years before or after that move ahead with school events only. You can see everything in the game on the trend timeline for each country: United States, Philippines, Canada, Australia and India.