Best Stock Market Board Games
I love board games! I grew up playing Monopoly and other strategy games, and loved it!
Board-game sales were estimated at around $1.5 billion in 2018, more than double their 2013 levels and projected to surge to $12 billion by 2023. MarketWatch site logo Latest. To do this, the game simulates the market forces and elements of the oil and gasoline markets at all levels of production, including oil drilling, oil pumping, oil and gasoline buying and selling. Board Game News Brief: September 18th, 2019. A Coraline board game, The Space Base designer goes to the start of life, and Concordia gets some complementing maps – all on this week’s News Brief.
We’ve talked before how video games can teach personal finance skills to kids. But boards games can also teach kids about the basic concepts of investing, money management, and more.
And with a push to stop the TV and iPad addiction, what better gift to give your kids than a board game the whole family can play together?
Here is our list of the top five board games that can teach you about investing:
1. Monopoly
Monopoly is one of the best board games for teaching you kids about money and investing. Why? Because the goal of the game is to invest in real estate, earn cash flow, and have the most money at the end.
How do you do it? By investing at the right time, and having enough cash to be able to do so. You can also upgrade and invest in your real estate to develop it and make it worth more.
This game also has planning and trading aspects – you have to plan what to do with your cash, and you have the opportunity to trade and make deals as well. This is a great way to teach kids about the basics of money management.
Check out great deals on Monopoly at Amazon.com ->
2. The Game Of Life
The Game of Life is another classic board game that teaches kids and families basic money topics. Similar to Monopoly, except you choose different paths based on simulated real life choices, such as career and family.
The game teaches really great money skills, such as the importance of career and income. It also teaches kids why it’s important to start investing early, and how compound interest works.
Check out The Game of Life at Amazon.com ->
3. Million Dollar Challenge
Million Dollar Challenge is the only “true” investing focused board game on this list. But it’s not at the top of the list because, honestly, it is a bit harder to learn than any of the other games.
The reason is that this game focuses specifically on investing – the first phase of the game focuses on learning how to trade, stop losses, and more. The second phase of the game enters into even more advanced topics into investing.
The goal, as the game it titled, is to get to $1,000,000 before anyone else does.
This is a pretty rare game, but you can still find it sometimes on Amazon.com.
Check out Million Dollar Challenge at Amazon.com ->
4. Cash Flow 1o1
Cash Flow 101 is actually a board game created by Robert Kiyosaki. Love him or hate him, he does teach the fundamentals of money very well.
This game is a combination board game and learning tool. It has more teaching material than any other board game on this list. The goal of the game is not just to play, but to learn solid money management techniques.
This game will teach players the basics of investing, income and expenses, and even gets into advanced investing techniques.
This game also has a free online version kids can play here.
If you want the board game version, check out Cash Flow 101 at Amazon.com ->
5. Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is probably the least known board game on this list, but it’s a lot of fun and a great way to teach kids about money.
The game play is all about being a capitalist on the Island of Puerto Rico. Your goal is to build up your company before the island runs out of workers, the capital becomes civilized, or the market has geared up to full capacity. The average game takes about an hour to and hour and a half to play.
This game will teach your kids about cash management, and also about the importance of investing. It will also teach your kids about managing change, and how investments may be positively or negatively impacted by changes in the market outside their control.
Check out Puerto Rico at Amazon.com ->
Bonus: Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan is a board game where each player is a settler that is trying to build their holdings while developing resources and trading. This is a great money management game that has a few aspects of investing built in.
We included it in the list because this game continues to increase in popularity every year.
The goal of the game is to get to 10 victory points by developing your land using resource cards. Players can also trade to get the resources they need. There are also unexpected events, such as a robber, who could stop production on the spot it lands on.
Check out Settlers of Catan on Amazon.com ->
The power of hands-on learning is indisputable. But when it comes to investing your money in the stock market, however, making a beginner's mistake can cost you more than just your self-esteem. Thankfully, the web makes it easy to practice with virtual money.
There are a multitude of online investment games like Investopedia and gnuTrade that play with virtual money, but not all of them are easy for beginners. Here are five of the best free (because you shouldn't have to spend real money to play with fake money) online games for getting your feet wet.
1. Wall Street Survivor
Invest $100,000 in virtual cash via drop-down menu choices. A friendly cartoon version of stock guru Mark Brookshire helps you make your final decision by providing some rating numbers when you input a stock. These include a rating for survivor sentiment, fundamentals, technical and a Motley Fool Rating.
For additional help choosing stocks, the site has an impressive resource library that spans beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Start with Investing 101 and consider taking advantage of the community forums if you have specific questions. Those who need a little help getting started can also choose to adapt one of the preset portfolios created by proven traders.
While the $100,000 competition is most popular, anybody on the site can create a contest. Prizes vary, but most often consist of competitive pride.
2. HowTheMarketWorks
Owned by the same company as Wall Street Survivor, this game is great for investors looking to gain experience with a new type of portfolio. In addition to stocks and indexes, there are options to experiment with Forex portfolios, penny stocks, mutual funds and short selling.
Beginners can execute market order-based trades in a 'fun mode' without worrying about things like set hours, maximum number of trades per day, per stock and order expiration. A 'realistic mode' amps up the complexity after they've mastered the beginner level.
Players can manage up to three stock portfolios and three Forex portfolios on the site at once. For each portfolio, they select a starting value between $100 and $500,000 and set how much virtual commission you are charged per trade.
The competition aspect is optional. General monthly contests give each player $25,000 as a virtual starting point. Other public contests include challenging restrictions like 'short sells only' or 'penny stocks only.' Users can create their own password-protected games as well, which is a feature that teachers find helpful for creating class competitions.
3. Young Money Stock Market Game
Young Money Magazine's stock exchange game is easy to learn but also fairly realistic, which is a hard balance to strike.
Realistic aspects include a virtual commission that's taken out of each trade, adhering to market hours and rules about how you can invest. Unlike many investing games, trades are made at a real-time price. Learning aspects include convenient help icons on key terms and an intuitive tabbed interface.
The site runs a monthly contest with a $100 (real) cash prize that goes to whoever gained the highest percentage. Players can also create their own contests or join other user-made contests.
4. MarketWatch Fantasy Earnings Trader Game
MarketWatch will run this mock stock market contest for a total of four weeks, awarding the winner of each week with an iPad. It's on week three right now, but there's still time to get in on the competition for week four.
You must have your selections picked before the week starts on Monday. The shares that you select are 'purchased' at Monday's open and will 'sell' automatically at Friday's close.
The catch is that all players can only use the 15 to 20 symbols selected for each week. The companies are selected by the game owner for companies that are projecting their earnings during each week. Lining up picks is easy — players simply drag the company's logo to their trading card and designate if they want to sell short or go long.
Although there are some pros playing, this game is especially manageable for beginners due to the limited stock options for each week.
5. UpDown
Like Young Money's game, UpDown has helpful icons that explain key terms for beginners. More comprehensive resources in the education center mercifully cover even the most basic of investing concepts.
Community features, like the opportunity to collaborate with a group and to see the most-bought and most-sold stocks, are also helpful for beginners. The 'watch list' tool provides a convenient dashboard for monitoring potential picks.
Best Online Stock Trading Games
UpDown sponsors a monthly contest that rewards players who beat the market with real cash.
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Stock Trading Board Game
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