I am sure like me there are many times when you hear about the results of an investment proposal after it has grown in value or fallen in value and you wished there was a way you could have experienced the risk and challenges of the investment market without risking your home and livelihood.
Well there is now a game, which having played it recently I can say is as close to real investing as you can possibly get. The Investment Game developed locally by Frank Newman brings out the real competitive characteristics often not seen since the last time you played Monopoly.
However the comparison of this game to Monopoly really starts and ends with the fact that it uses virtual money and is played on a board – this game is vastly different and far more challenging and engaging.
The game is certainly not for kids and the word game is only true as in there is a winner who at the end of the allotted time has the greatest wealth – pretty simple, but wait to see how the game operates. The game is played on a table with the ubiquitous board, player pieces and dice – however without a PC on hand this game goes nowhere – this game comes to life around the virtualisation of a marketplace defined by a share market, a property market and the financial market.
Everyone starts with identical wealth and selects their investment strategy – combination of shares, property, education and derivatives. Set against this chosen path the players face the changes and trends in the market which as perfectly life-like, especially as they are based on real data of market movements of the past 20 years.
This is as the profile and feedback says more of an education that a pure game, however it does not lack that aggressive and at times manic pace of ambition which pervades any good team game. This game is fun and having played it with the team at realestate.co.nz the other week – we collectively decided we want to play it again, a 90 minutes game certainly didn’t feel like we did justice to it, so I suspect we will have a re-match very soon.
The game is 100% kiwi owned and developed and with the support of key sponsors (full disclosure here Realestate.co.nz is a sponsor) this excellent game is available in stores or by online ordering which Frank Newman has set up through this link. The game costs $149.95 plus $10 post and packaging within NZ.
This game would make a great Christmas present or client gift – it has been rated as the best new game of the year by the NZ Games Association.
Can’t wait until you host/ sponsor a game between players whose names we read about in financial / property news each week. It could be webcast that could potentially be quite entertaining.
Steve
A brilliant idea – lets start a poll – who would be on a “celebrity” game – criteria would be those who consider themselves experts on investment strategy – I can see this as a real feasible idea. An ideal game would be 4 teams of 2 people per team.
I hope Mary Holmes is one of the players. It would be very entertaining to see how she would play the game. Would her strategy of term deposit and kiwisaver investment win her the game?
Me thinks not
A good suggestion – had not had her on my list. We are looking like this might eventuate – will provide regular updates.