The MARKET in Big Board Raiders

Market Review – One of the basic concepts of this game is how the market records and maintains the share value of the four companies that trade on the Rutland Stock Exchange. In this fictitious country called Rutland, they have a central bank and their own currency that is injected into the economy regularly through the stock exchange.  And like any fiat economy inflation is a part of the deal.

The share values are recorded on the Big Board in the center of the playing board (a small section of it is shown as the thumbnail in this review). The Big Board is the 4 color coded columns representing the 4 companies (Yellow, Blue, Red and Green) that trade on the Rutland Stock Exchange. The red markers represent the value of the shares at any particular time and there is only one marker for each column or company. Each time a value changes, the appropriate markers are moved to record the value.

The Market has two components; the first event of any players turn is the part of the market that is programmed by the algorithm built into the playing board and the other part of the market is the result of what the player does on their turn.  If they buy the market goes up or if they sell it goes down. When it is not your turn, the value of your portfolio is still being affected by what other players are doing, so a little table talk might help your situation. In fact, your mouth is your biggest asset or liability.

Ganging up and back-stabbing are also strategies. Hey it’s a stock market, which is the result of the players’ actions at the table. Different personalities make for a different game, like the real market. The players’ influence is magnified so that their decisions have the muscle of a hedge fund manager.

This all might sound intimidating, but this game is a perfect grade 5, 6 and 7 math problem generator. Each turn presents the player with another math problem to solve.

For instance, you have to calculate how much the number of shares you want to buy or sell will cost, then how much dough to give the broker and finally, how much change you have coming back, if any. Then you will have to keep track of your income streams at year-end.

Here is a standard problem;

In grade 6 math: Soda costs $1.50 per bottle and Jimmy wants 5 bottles, how much will it cost. $7.50

In Big Board Raiders: Red company shares trade for $1.50 per share and Jimmy wants 5,000 shares, how much will it cost. $7,500

It’s the same problem only we push it a little to add place holders for the integers by moving 3 decimals to the right. Then you have to count out the right amount to pay for it, or deal with how much overpayment.

So if you passed grade 6 math you are equipped to play. If you are in these grades, after you play this game, you will ace math and you’ll know something about money as well.

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