- Money simulators can teach the basics of business and finance.money makes money image by Andrey Andreev from Fotolia.com
The Internet is teeming with simulation games, and some of the most educational example are simulation games about money. These games come in many forms and range from fun games that a young child can play to games intended for high school students. Money simulations may involve running a pretend business or playing a pretend stock market based on actual stock exchange data. - Lemonade Stand is a game that is entertaining for children and addictive for adults. Starting with $20 cash, the object of the game is to buy cups, lemons, sugar and ice for a virtual lemonade stand and set the price that you think will draw in the most customers. Overall, the virtual entrepreneur tries to make as much profit as possible over the course of 30 days.
It's not as easy as is sounds though. The game asks the player for the recipe to the lemonade, and if it is too sour, too warm or too sweet then the customers will spread the word and business will suffer. In addition, the price has to be right and the weather will affect sales as well as this is an outdoor venture. Restocking supplies on a daily basis is also a challenge as the player tries to buy just enough to serve everyone and not too much so that ice melts and lemons rot. The game is available on lemonadestandgame.com. - Johnny Money is an advanced retail money game. Starting with $50,000, the player attempts to run a retail shop for two years and make the biggest success he can.
The player decides everything from the product and logo design to the amount of startup capital he'll need from the bank. The player can even shop interest rates. In addition, the game features the ability to change retail prices, get bulk discounts from suppliers, manage an advertising budget, hire and fire employees, hand out perks and seemingly endless other options.
The player is faced with real-world business situations including renewal of licenses, employee retention problems, natural disasters and crime. This game is a lot of fun for virtual entrepreneurs who think they can turn $50,000 into a million in 24 months. The game can be found at game.johnnymoney.com. - Smart Stocks is a simple, text-only stock exchange simulator in which the player begins with an imaginary bank account with $1 million in available cash to invest. Using actual ticker lookup tools within the game, the player can buy and sell stocks from the New York Stock exchange and watch the portfolio grow or shrink based on the player's trading decisions.
This game will teach the basics of how the stock market works before any real money is invested and can be quite enjoyable to play. That is, until the fake money makes you "fake rich" and you wish it was for real cash. Play the game at smartstocks.com.
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