An interactive learning experience where students navigate twelve virtual months of real-life financial decisions — building money management skills through engaging scenarios and meaningful consequences.

The Budget Game provides a real-life experience for individual students with flexible time commitments to fit every class schedule. Users learn to manage a checking account, savings account and credit card as they try to live on a monthly budget and deal with life’s unexpected events.  Students come to recognize the advantages of long-term planning and preparation by making individual life choices.

Your students’ goals are to build their net worth by transferring money from their checking account to savings and build up their credit score by responsibly covering cash flow shortfalls and paying off their balance on time.  Outcomes are game experiences that can translate to successful real-world applications.

Students progress through 18 “months” of the game, with each month taking about 20 minutes to complete. “Life Events” pop up every couple of days, with unplanned expenses (and occasionally income) putting pressure on their budget – requiring careful planning!  Students become better at prioritizing their tasks and anticipating the obstacles.

Class rankings tie everything together, with students able to compare their net worth, credit score, and overall score with their classmates!  Teachers can monitor the pace, accomplishments and success students achieve in this highly captivating simulation.