Behind the 8.5-million-player city is one developer with a Chromebook. The Lagos Life origin story has become part of the game’s mythology — here are the facts as reported, separated from the claims. For what changed in the game itself this month, see the update tracker.

Who created Lagos Life?

Shalom Rayhamen, a Nigerian software developer who goes by Eliy online (@Shalom_HeyEliy on X) — the founder, the creator and the developer are all the same person. She is 26, grew up in Port Harcourt and wrote the first version of the game on a Chromebook her mother gave her, per Zikoko’s profile. The official live stats page credits her by name, and the game’s terms list her as the operator. The official account @LagosLifeApp announces features in her voice, often with the developer’s own follow-up posts explaining what shipped and why.

Shalom Rayhamen, the founder of Lagos Life, in a selfie wearing headphones

Shalom Rayhamen, founder of Lagos Life. Portrait via her public social profiles, as published in Zikoko’s profile.

The eight-hour core grew into this — a persistent home you furnish, a Sim with moods and skills, all running live in a browser tab:

A Lagos Life home interior: the Sim standing in a starter room with a bed, desk and mismatched furniture under warm light

How long did it take to build?

A Zikoko profile reports the first version took about eight hours to build — started on a Wednesday night for fun, finished around 5 a.m. on 1 October 2026 (Nigeria’s Independence Day), with the link posted on X at 7 a.m. and ten thousand plays by mid-morning. “All I know is I started building a game for fun on a Wednesday night,” she told Zikoko, describing a Sims-inspired build prompted by a Danfo driving game trending on her timeline. That eight-hour core explains the shape of the launch: a small, sharp game (live in a browser, free, instantly social) that went viral before most features existed. Everything layered on since — the third city, courts, CBN elections, the phone app ecosystem — came through near-daily updates after launch, which our tracker logs.

How fast did it grow?

The first week set the pace: Zikoko reported 1 million players inside seven days (7 October), and tech reviewer Fisayo Fosudo’s interview with the creator puts 1 million sign-ups inside three days. By the numbers on the official stats page (checked 11 October 2026):

Milestone Figure
Total players 8,597,891
Active yesterday 1,542,312
Visits all time 37,923,834
Launch date 1 October 2026

Ten days, 8.5 million players, no download required. The player-driven politics layer — where a CBN election drew 493,067 votes — is the clearest sign the population is engaged, not just registered.

What is Lagos Life worth?

The figures in circulation, with their sources:

  • $500,000 pre-seed at a $10 million valuation — reported by Techpoint Africa on 9 October, in the launch window. This is the only funding figure with a named source and a date.
  • Rejected $100,000 buyout — reported by both Vanguard and Zikoko. Zikoko adds that her disclosed earnings at the time were over $46,000, and quotes her reasoning: “How can I sell a business that is projected to earn $50m before December?”
  • $1 billion valuation — the creator’s own claim, as reported by Vanguard. Treat it as a founder’s statement, not an audited number.

What the money story cannot inflate is the usage data — and that part is public on the stats page.

How does a free game make money?

The same way the open web always has: optional Naira top-ups (the currency is in-game only and cannot be withdrawn — see what is Lagos Life) and advertising. Zikoko’s profile details the mix: Naira bundles from ₦500 to ₦2,000 (later ₦10,000 and ₦20,000) made roughly ₦150,000–₦200,000 in the first three days, while virtual billboards became the most profitable surface. The ad layer is real money, not in-game Naira: a main-road digital board books at ₦250,000 for 7 days (about $175) through a Flutterwave checkout, and TechCabal counted 244 ads across 40 locations worth about $46,900 in the second week — see billboards and sea plots and the economy timeline. There is no subscription and no pay-to-win gate on careers or elections.

Where do I follow the founder and the story?

The founder:

The long-form interviews:

For in-game changes (court reform, elections, new venues), the update tracker mirrors official announcements with dates.