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Pay Day Game


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Does 'Pay Day' have educational value?  

  1. 1. Does 'Pay Day' have educational value?

    • Yes, it has educational value
      12
    • No, it's strictly for fun
      4
    • Other
      1


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My oldest really wanted Monopoly a couple of birthdays ago. We got her PayDay instead as you can determine how long it goes on. (I hate how long a game of Monopoly lasts.) We've used it for counting/numbers/money as well as discussions of Real Life and how Pay Day is or is not like Real Life.

 

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The instructions say you win by going into debt. I don't care how great the math practice is, the real life implications make me say: Play it for fun.

 

This isn't true...at least in our version, which is the only version I'm aware of. The person with the greatest net worth wins the game. If by chance everyone is in debt at the end of the game, the person with the lowest amount of debt wins.

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You don't have to go into debt to win. You can borrow money (loan - think "mortgage") to buy businesses. You pay the interest on the loan at the end of each month of play. You can pay the loan off completely then or at the end of any other month of play. When you sell the business, you earn the money to pay back the loan plus profit.

 

However, there have been several games we've played where you didn't have to (or players chose not to) go into debt to get into business for yourself. You simply wait until you have enough to purchase a business without taking out a loan.

 

The decisions that are good to talk about are (esp. with older kids) things like profit margin on a particular purchase or value-for-price-paid. This takes on some concrete numbers when you run into one business you can buy for $8,000 and sell for $10,000 vs. buying for $3,500 & selling for $7,000.

 

The whole "pay interest on loans" and paying bills (especially unexpected ones) are very good discussion to have. These are things kids should know about. When you set up a budget, you should leave yourself some room (to save up) for those unexpected things (like your furnace breaking). There are also things where you find that a splurge (like a weekend out on the town) cause you a headache when the bill comes. How many adults don't think of the cost when they pull out their credit card to buy a "want" until the bill arrives?

 

But you already knew I thought it was an educational game.

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This isn't true...at least in our version, which is the only version I'm aware of. The person with the greatest net worth wins the game. If by chance everyone is in debt at the end of the game, the person with the lowest amount of debt wins.

 

:iagree: This is how we've always played it.

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This isn't true...at least in our version, which is the only version I'm aware of. The person with the greatest net worth wins the game. If by chance everyone is in debt at the end of the game, the person with the lowest amount of debt wins.

 

 

Yeah, I know. But the whole premise of the game is based on taking out loans to make deals (I do not go into debt when I play - and I've only won once). Maybe it bothers me so much because of the housing bubble, but I'm rather anti-speculation and big risk taking with finances. It's not like I forbid the kids to play, but whatever good you might see in it, it isn't the model I would use to teach my kids about finance/real life.

 

Quote from instructions: The time will probably come, however, when you don't have enough money on hand to buy a Deal - or to pay your bills, pay a neighbor, or make a charitable donation. Do what all investors have had to do from time-to-time: Take out a LOAN!

 

 

I don't make charitable donations with loans, for starters.

 

Not saying you can't have fun and practice math with it.

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I haven't played it since I was a kid, so I can't comment about the going into debt thing as I don't remember that being the rules at all... but I remember you did have to count and figure so any game where you do that I think has value educationally - at least for young kids. I doubt it would be very educational for a teenager.

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