Built like the real economy.
accurate where it counts.Most adults wish they had learned about money earlier. This game is a free, accurate, accessible tool that helps close that gap. Students learn budgeting, investing, taxes, credit, and retirement by making the decisions instead of memorizing definitions.
REAL FINANCIAL MECHANICS
Compound interest, federal tax brackets, FICA, IRS late-filing penalties, recession-driven market drift, mortgage amortization. Every system works like the real one. Your students don't memorize formulas, they live with them.
GUIDED 20-QUEST CURRICULUM
A quest tracker takes students through 20 lessons, from first paycheck to a million-dollar net worth. Each quest must be done before the next opens, and progress is always visible.
ZERO STUDENT DATA COLLECTED
Saves live entirely in the student's browser localStorage. No sign-up required. No PII leaves the device. FERPA-friendly out of the box for the public version of the game.
20 quests. 6 phases. One curriculum.
a structured path from first paycheck to millionaire.The in-game Quest Tracker is the spine of the lesson sequence. Each phase below is self-contained and can be assigned independently. Pick one, run a class around it, then move on. Phase colors here match the phase chips students see in the game.
Income & Banking Basics
- Receive your first paycheck
- Open an account via Virtual Banker
- Review monthly expenses
- Save your first $1,000
- Configure Income Allocation
Education & Investing
- Enroll in a degree program
- Make your first stock trade
- Hold an index fund
- Hold a cryptocurrency
Retirement Planning
- Set 401K contribution rate
- Grow 401K balance to $1,000
- Open a Roth IRA
Real Estate & Vehicles
- Buy your first property
- List a property for rent
- Buy your first vehicle
Annual, Macro & Business
- File your first tax return
- Witness a recession year
- Found your first business
- Pay off all loans
Capstone
- Reach $1,000,000 net worth
Pick a phase. Run a class.
six ready-made class sessions.Each plan below is a self-contained class period mapped to one curriculum phase. Use them as-is or remix the objectives for your standards.
Banking Basics
Students earn their first paycheck, open a Savings account through the in-game Virtual Banker, review their monthly expenses, save their first $1,000, and configure Income Allocation to auto-split future paychecks.
- Identify the four core account types and what each is for
- Calculate take-home pay vs. gross pay (FICA + 401K deduction)
- Build a monthly budget that includes a savings line item
Investing Fundamentals
Enroll in higher education to raise hourly pay, then make a first stock trade, buy an index fund (SPY/QQQ/VTI), and hold a small crypto position to compare risk profiles.
- Distinguish stocks vs. index funds vs. crypto in terms of volatility
- Calculate compound growth on a sample portfolio over 10/20/30 years
- Recognize the cost of attempting to time the market
Retirement Planning
Set a 401K contribution rate, watch the balance grow with employer match, then open a Roth IRA to compare tax-deferred vs. tax-free growth.
- Compare traditional vs. Roth retirement accounts on tax treatment
- Estimate retirement nest egg using the rule of 72
- Quantify the cost of not capturing employer 401K match
Real Estate & Vehicles
Buy a first property and list it for rental income (appreciating asset, passive cash flow), then buy a vehicle and watch it depreciate (15%/yr). The contrast lesson on assets vs. liabilities.
- Define appreciating vs. depreciating assets with real-world examples
- Calculate net cost of vehicle ownership over 5 years
- Evaluate when financing makes sense vs. paying cash
Taxes, Macro & Business
File a tax return at the in-game Government dashboard, weather a recession year (red on the GDP chart), found a small business, and pay off all loans to become debt-free.
- Walk through a 1040 in plain language using the in-game breakdown
- Identify what happens to markets / business risk during a recession
- Calculate the true cost of late tax filing (FTF + FTP + 8% APR interest)
Reflection & Capstone
Class discussion and reflection writing as students work toward $1M net worth. Compare strategies across the room. Who got there fastest, who took the most defensive route, who lost ground in a recession.
- Articulate three financial habits that compound over a lifetime
- Identify one financial mistake the student would now avoid
- Connect game decisions to real-world financial planning steps
What your students will leave knowing.
the skills, in plain language.By completing the curriculum, students should be able to do all of the following on their own. These aren't abstract concepts. They're things they'll have practiced inside the simulation.
Three taps. Class assigned.
no setup. no integration to wire up.TAP SHARE
Click the green Share to Google Classroom button. Google Classroom opens in a new tab.
PICK YOUR CLASS
Choose the class and select "Create assignment". The game URL is pre-filled.
ADD INSTRUCTIONS
Paste lesson-plan questions, set a due date (3-5 days per phase), and post.
Need teacher dashboards? Coming soon.
we're piloting a paid school build.The free public game stays free forever. For schools and districts that want classroom rosters, progress reporting, ad-free environments, and assignment templates, we're piloting a paid School Edition.
SCHOOL EDITION · PILOT PROGRAM
No ads. Roster sync. Teacher progress dashboard.
Frequently asked.
we swear it's really free.Is the game really free?
Yes. No sign-up, no paywall, no in-app purchases. Supported by Google AdSense and a small set of finance affiliate links inside the in-game Lessons. Both are visible to students; if your school blocks ads at the network level, the game still works fine.
Do students need to create an account?
No. The game runs entirely in the browser; saves are stored in localStorage on the student's device. Optional Google Sign-In syncs progress across devices, but it's never required.
What ages is it for?
Designed for adults and older teens (high school + adult ed). Simulation starts at age 18 with real tax/credit/loan mechanics. We recommend 9th grade and up.
What about student privacy?
The public game does not collect or transmit student PII. All progress is local. We have no roster, no class data, no per-student tracking. (Roster-aware features are on the School Edition roadmap below.)
Can I make the game work without ads?
The public game shows AdSense to keep the project free. If you need an ad-free classroom build, contact us about the upcoming School Edition (no ads, optional teacher dashboard).
Does this teach real financial concepts or is it gamified fluff?
Real concepts. Federal income tax uses 2024 brackets. FICA caps at the SS wage base. Property tax is 1.1%/year. Late filing triggers 5%/mo Failure-to-File plus 0.5%/mo Failure-to-Pay plus 8% APR daily-compounded interest. That's exactly what the IRS does. We simplify for pace; the math is real.