Games That Teach About Money

In my quest to help youth understand the importance of budgeting, avoiding unnecessary debt and saving money, I have looked at various board games as teaching tools.  Some games, like Life, has aspects of what I am looking for but is too unrealistic.  I have altered the rules to Monopoly, adding savings account and mutual fund options, and most recently making GO a salary based square where the salary goes up and down with education and may even be missed if you lose your job with a Chance card.  That version is actually coming very close to what I want, but I have some minor tweaks to do yet.

A game that my eldest son has been playing over the past couple of months is called Record Shop Tycoon.  You start out in a small store in a poor location (it's all you can afford) and then are responsible for stocking music CDs to sell to your customers.  The game takes into account neighbourhood buying patterns, supplies
pricing increases and decreases and a variety of marketing opportunities.  It's a nice game that allows you to move up in amount of stock, size of store and desired location as the game progresses.  My son really enjoys it, and I found it a bit of a challenge.  It wasn't too easy but not too hard either.  It covered the basics of operating a business.  During one part of the game my son actually said to me "I try not to go into debt because the cost is too high."  I was thrilled to hear those words from him. 

I personally played Railroad Tycoon a few years ago and really enjoyed it.  It was interesting to learn about the importance of running needed materials to certain towns, and then taking their exports to other towns, all the while considering the cost of track, trains and storage.  I did okay at the construction and operation of railways and companies, but I didn't quite get the knack for selling shares and paying dividends.

While I haven't played them, I know that other Tycoon games have been extremely popular and have received good ratings:

DQ Tycoon - Become the manager of your very own Dairy Queen! DQ Tycoon serves up Dilly Bars, Blizzard Treats and all the rest of your favorite DQ Treats. Help Emily work her way up from an employee at a local DQ treat store to the manager at the new DQ Grill & Chill. Along the way she will need to make DQ cakes dip soft serve cones and serve up a juicy Grill Burger to satisfy customers. Hire staff to help meet the growing demand for treats and food!

Zoo Tycoon - Create a thriving zoo by building exhibits to accommodate animals and keeping the guests happy. Exhibit-building is one of the primary goals, and to keep the guests and animals happy, exhibits should be suitable to the animal; for example, a lion is best suited to a savanna environment. Choices in terrain, foliage, rocks, shelters, fences, toys and the presence of zookeepers all contribute to the suitability of an exhibit and the happiness of the animal. Guest happiness is dependent on animal choice, animal happiness, buildings, and scenery.

Cinema Tycoon - Select the movies, make customized improvements, and hype your Cinema to become the next Mega-Plex. Choose the next big Hit and avoid the Flops through 3 unique games and locations. Outsmart the competition to keep your Cinema ahead of the game, as you become a Mega Movie Mogul.

The above are just a few of the computer games out there that can help teach the principles of budgeting and running a business.  And they seem to be pretty fun too.  I'll definitely have to check out the DQ Tycoon.  Jerry