Can you design the next Monopoly?

If so, you could win $15,000 in The Money Game Design Jam, presented by Yetizen and AmTrust Financial this weekend.

There is a catch, of course.  The game must be designed to model financial choices and teach high school kids to understand the impacts of basic financial decisions.  As examples, games could incorporate financial planning, choice modeling, cost benefit analytics, the time value of money, and budget planning.  

It’s all pretty dry stuff.  But that’s actually why this event caught my eye.  It’s easy to remake a classic arcade game and pretend like you re-inventing it as your own.  It’s a major pain to teach high school kids (and adults) financial planning and make it into a fun game.  Monopoly actually is a great example that achieved this combination of financial teaching and fun, but since then, not much has been released.

There are a couple other catches.  You have to be in San Francisco and commit to 54 hours (whoa) this weekend to the game design jam where you’ll develop your concept, game design document, and playable demo (code or paper) and present to a panel of judges.  The winner will be chosen September 9 and will win the aforementioned $15,000.

If you are a game developer and interested to help design a game that saves the financial world, you can learn more and sign up for The Money Game Design Jam here.  

Joel Brodie