---
title: Vries
description: Village in Drenthe, Netherlands; Jan Wilmake's childhood home and the place where MasterCrimeZ began at age 12
category: Places
---

# Vries

**Vries** is a small village in the municipality of Tynaarlo, province of **Drenthe**, Netherlands. It is the childhood home of [[Jan_Wilmake]] and the place where his career as a developer effectively began at age 12 in 2006.

## MasterCrimeZ Origins

In 2006, at age 12, Jan built **[[MasterCrimeZ]]** — a text-based multiplayer browser game — from Vries. The game was written in PHP and at its peak had over 500 daily active users and generated more than €2,000 per month in revenue. This is the foundation event of Jan's entire career as a developer and entrepreneur.

## Connection to Groningen

Vries is located roughly 15 km south of [[Groningen]], in the province of Drenthe. Wilmake moved to Groningen to study Artificial Intelligence at the University of Groningen (RUG) from approximately 2012, maintaining family ties to Vries throughout.

## See Also

- [[Groningen]]
- [[Jan_Wilmake]]
- [[MasterCrimeZ]]