Description

Suckerfish Investing Game is a fun and educational tabletop game that teaches players the important life principles of value investing!

The theme of this game is to not only survive but thrive within the deep sea of investing! This game is named after the smart and cunning “suckerfish” (aka a Remora) that swims alongside sharks and whales in the deep ocean. These fish are not scared of the sharks and the sharks are not bothered by the fish.

They thrive together. The sharks catch big fish and the Remora eat up all the scraps! Then the Remora suction-cup their heads to the sharks (which remove any barnacles from the shark) in order to catch a free ride on the shark as it swims through the vast ocean.

These suckerfish have a pretty good deal!

In Suckerfish Investing players will follow alongside a whale and a shark as they rise and fall (in price) throughout the deep sea of investing! Players will learn the mental side of investing, such as buying low, selling high and collecting dividends. Likewise, players will learn the emotional side of investing, such as not freaking out, being patient and investing for the long term.

In this game, players will start with $5,000 each and then receive an additional $2,000 contribution every couple of months. Each player will receive the same amount throughout the game, and it is their job to invest it wisely to WIN!

This game consists of a deck of 44 playing cards, 8 player cards, and 2 company cards. Each company card has 26 tiles that represent units of stock, and each company has an electronic tally counter (2 total) that keep track of the price of each company as it moves. Each card (labeled NEXT MONTH) represents 1 month of time and the entire deck represents an investing journey of over 3 years!

Once the game is setup and all players are ready, the game begins and players may buy Fast Growth or Blue Chip in increments of 100 shares. Players do not have “turns” in this game, rather, they can buy and or sell at any time and must help each other to double-check the math and accounting.

When all players are ready, one player can flip the NEXT MONTH card on the top of the deck and follow its instructions to either:
Update the numbers on the electronic tally counters by pressing the red or green buttons
Distribute contributions to the player whose color matches the color on the card
Pay dividends to all players who own the dividend paying company
All players pay taxes when these cards arise

Throughout this game, players have to keep track of two moving stock prices while deciding whether to buy, sell, hold or wait, and this game is an emotional rollercoaster ride of investing!

Players will continue this throughout the entire deck of cards. When the last card is played, the player with the highest score WINS! (Fast Growth + Blue Chip + Cash = Total Score)

This game teaches players:
1. Multiplication, addition, and subtraction
2. Accounting of money and stock units
3. Investing principle - buy low and sell high
4. Investing principle - collect and reinvest dividends
5. Emotional intelligence - don’t let your emotions lead you to bad investing such as buying when the price goes up and then watching it go down, rather than watching it go down and then buying!
6. Advanced strategy - keeping track of the spread and standard deviation between the two companies to take advantage (buy and sell) of opportunities in price swing
7. Advanced strategy - recognizing the patterns and building an investment strategy to take advantage of these growth and dividend payments patterns

About the Two Companies:

Fast Growth - a fast-growing company whose price is up and down and all over the place. You can make a lot of money with Fast Growth if you buy it at the right time. Buy low and sell high! *Fast Growth does not pay dividends.

Blue Chip ETF - a whole bunch of individual companies rolled into one “exchange-traded fund” or ETF. This stock will grow a bit slower than Fast Growth, but it pays big dividends!

Each player may buy or sell either Fast Growth or Blue Chip in increments of 100 with a limit of 500 per month. The player with the highest score at the end of the card deck is the WINNER!

“I created this game because I truly wish I had this game when growing up. I didn’t learn about this basic investing stuff until my 30’s and I definitely wasn’t able to cram 3 years of investing experience into 30 minutes! I believe this game can help educate and inspire a generation to become financially free!”

Josh Vojtisek
Game creator