The 10 money ideas
The game has three parts: Earn, Spend smart and Grow. One idea per year, in the order players meet them. Numbers come from the first game everyone plays. Each idea ends with the in-game question and a prompt for discussion.
Watch: 7 short videos
- 1💰 Earn · year 1 · age 16
Spend less than you get
- Money comes in (your allowance) and goes out (what you buy).
- The golden rule: spend less than you get. What's left is your savings.
- Savings are a superpower: they let you grab chances and handle surprises.
In-game questionWhat's the golden rule of money?
Show the answer
Spend less than you get, and keep the rest. What's left after spending is what builds your wealth. No leftover, no wealth.
Talk about itIf you got 12 coins a week, how much would you keep, and why?
- 2💰 Earn · year 2 · age 17
Money comes from helping people
- People pay you when you solve a problem for them or make their day better.
- AI tools let one person do more: edit, design, write, sell.
- Start small, do great work, and let happy customers bring the next ones.
In-game questionWhat's the best way to earn more money?
Show the answer
Help more people with something they need. Income follows value: the more people you help, and the better you help them, the more you earn.
Talk about itWhat's something people near you would happily pay for? Who could you help this month?
- 3💰 Earn · year 3 · age 18
Your skills are your best asset
- Better skills mean people pay you more for the same hour.
- Nobody can take your skills away, and they keep paying you for life.
- Free videos and AI tutors make learning cheaper than ever.
In-game questionWhich of these can nobody take away from you?
Show the answer
Your skills. Skills keep paying you for life, and AI tools make them worth even more.
Talk about itWhich skill do you have that AI could make twice as valuable?
- 4🛍️ Spend smart · year 4 · age 19
Needs, wants and fads
- Needs keep you going: rent, food, getting to work. Wants are extras.
- Fads are wants that everyone suddenly "needs". They fade fast, and so does their value.
- Before you buy, ask: do I need it, or does everyone just want it right now?
In-game questionWhich one is a need?
Show the answer
Rent for a place to live. Needs keep you housed, fed and working. Everything else is a want, and that's fine in small doses.
Talk about itName something everyone wanted last year that nobody wants now. What happened to its value?
- 5🛍️ Spend smart · year 5 · age 20
Most stuff loses value
- Most things are worth less the moment you buy them. That's called depreciation.
- A new phone loses about 40% of its value in a year. Cars lose 15 to 20% a year.
- Buy what you need, use it well, and let your savings grow instead.
In-game questionWhat happens to a new phone's value after a year?
Show the answer
It drops, often by about 40%. Stuff wears out and new models come out. That's depreciation: money spent on things slowly disappears.
Talk about itLook up what a two-year-old phone sells for today compared with its price when new.
- 6🛍️ Spend smart · year 6 · age 21
Loans for stuff make you poorer
- Ads and influencers are paid to make you want things.
- A loan for something that loses value is double trouble: you pay interest, and the thing shrinks.
- If you need it, buy one you can pay for with your own coins.
In-game questionWhich of these makes you poorer?
Show the answer
A loan for a new car. You pay interest on something that keeps shrinking in value. Two losses at once.
Talk about itFind an ad that makes buying feel easy ("only X a month"). What does it really cost in total?
- 7🌱 Grow · year 7 · age 22
Cash is handy. But it shrinks.
- Cash is great for emergencies: keep a few months of needs where you can reach it fast.
- But prices rise every year, because more money keeps getting created. A pizza went from 10 to 16.2 coins. That's inflation.
- So grow what you won't need soon in things that can't be printed, like gold and Bitcoin.
In-game questionWhy does cash buy less every year?
Show the answer
More money gets created, so each coin is worth less. Same pizza, more coins chasing it. When more money is created, every coin you hold buys less.
Talk about itAsk an adult what a pizza, a bus ticket or rent cost when they were your age. Why did it change?
- 8🌱 Grow · year 8 · age 23
Scarce vs. hype
- Gold is rare and has held its value for 5,000 years. Bitcoin is capped at 21 million coins.
- Anyone can create a new hype coin in minutes. Most crash to almost nothing.
- If someone promises guaranteed riches, it's a trap. $ROCKET fell 95% this year.
In-game questionWhat makes gold and Bitcoin different from a hype coin?
Show the answer
They're scarce and have a long track record. A brand-new coin can be made out of nothing, just like new money. Gold and Bitcoin can't.
Talk about itFind an ad or post that promises easy money. What are the red flags?
- 9🌱 Grow · year 9 · age 24
The one kind of loan that can make sense
- Borrowing for stuff (phones, cars, holidays) makes you poorer.
- Borrowing for a scarce asset that pays you, with payments you can always afford, can make you richer.
- Bonus: you repay the loan with coins that buy less every year, while rents and prices rise.
In-game questionWhen can a loan make sense?
Show the answer
To buy an asset that earns money, with payments you can afford. Only borrow for assets that earn or hold their value, and only when you can make every payment.
Talk about itWhat makes a place scarce? Why can't more of it be created?
- 10🌱 Grow · year 10 · age 25
Patience pays
- Gold, and especially Bitcoin, can drop a lot, sometimes by half.
- This year Bitcoin fell 50%, then climbed 30% before the year was over.
- Long-term savers only use money they won't need for years, so they never have to sell in a panic.
In-game questionYour Bitcoin dropped by half. What do long-term savers usually do?
Show the answer
Hold, because it's money they won't need soon. Selling in a panic turns a temporary drop into a real loss. Borrowing to buy more can wipe you out.
Talk about itWhy do people sell when prices fall, even when they don't need the money?
The 3 money moves
The game teaches from the viewpoint of the Austrian school of economics. Prices in the game are a simplified story: in real life, inflation is usually slower, and gold, Bitcoin and property can fall a lot, sometimes for years. This is education, not financial advice.
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