You're born at random
Weighted by where babies are actually born today. Your country sets your wages, rent, house prices and how long you'll probably live. Your family decides who pays for university.
Series 2026 Note No. SC 004 218 907
Every choicecompounds.
You're born at random, one of 8 billion people. Every big decision after that is about money, and you watch each one grow or shrink for the rest of your life. If you study, you see exactly what it pays you every year until it has paid for itself.
- Babies born since you opened this page
- 0
- People who died in the same time
- 0
Try one choice before you're born
In most life games, studying feels like nothing happened. Here you see the money.
Move the controls. This uses the same wages, fees and prices as the game, with the stock market smoothed to a steady 5% a year after inflation. In the game it goes up and down.
At 65 you'd have$0
You put in$0from your paychecks
Compounding added$0
31
What you put inGrowth from compoundingSame plan, working from 18
How it works
Four rules of this world.
Choose first, see later
Like real life, you choose knowing only the prices, the pay and the fees. Afterwards, a hindsight card shows how every option typically turned out across 40 simulated futures, so you learn why a crypto bet and an index fund are not the same. Easy mode shows it before you choose; Hard mode saves it all for the end.
Every choice gets a line
Your passbook gives each decision its own running total that updates every year. Your degree starts in the red, then you watch it turn green and pay for itself.
You race your autopilot twin
Your twin has the same birth and the same luck, but always takes the default option. The gap between your line and theirs is what your choices were worth.
Where you'll probably be born
Your first decision isn't yours.
Each block is one of the 17 countries in the game, sized by how many babies are born there each year. Tap one to see how a life there starts.
| Country | Share of births in the game | Typical wage a year | Lives to about | Family home | University fees |
|---|
A life, decision by decision
About 50 choices a life, dealt from a deck of 96. Every one has a money side.
Every life deals a different mix, from your first pocket money to your will. Here are 20 of the cards. Time stops for each one, and every year you also pick a focus that keeps paying, or costing, for as long as you keep it.
012age
Birthday money
Spend it, keep it in a jar, or invest it. Your passbook shows what that money would have grown into.
The Fool
XIX16age
Your summer
A part-time job, studying for exams, or rest. Good grades win a university scholarship.
The Sun
V18age
After school
University, a diploma, or work straight away. You see the fees, the loan, and the pay rise you keep for life.
The Hierophant
I18+first job
Choose a career
About 30 careers, from nurse to footballer to hawker. Some need a degree, good health or savings.
The Magician
II18+first pay
Your first paycheck
How much goes straight into an index fund every month: nothing, 10%, 20% or 30%.
The High Priestess
VIII24age
Health insurance
A fixed cost every year, or pay the whole bill yourself if you get sick.
Strength
VII25age
Buying a car
New on a loan, used for cash, or keep taking the bus.
The Chariot
X27age
A hot tip
A friend's new crypto coin. Go big, bet small, or skip it.
Wheel of Fortune
IX29age
Level up
A part-time Master's, a professional certificate, or keep your evenings free.
The Hermit
VI30age
The wedding
300 guests, a modest party, or a registry office and a nice dinner.
The Lovers
III31age
Rent or buy
A family home, a small flat, or keep renting and investing the difference.
The Empress
XVIII33age
Children
Each child costs about 15% of a typical wage every year until they're 22.
The Moon
XVI34–50sometime
The crash
Stocks fall 38% in a few weeks. Sell everything, hold, or buy more.
The Tower
IV36age
Your own business
Quit and go all in, start it on the side, or stay employed.
The Emperor
XI40age
Halfway check-in
Raise or lower how much of each paycheck you invest.
Justice
XIII43age
Your industry changes
Retrain for a year on half pay, or watch your skill slip from 45.
Death
XV47age
A bigger life?
Upgrade your lifestyle, keep things the same, or live below your means.
The Devil
XX46–59maybe
An inheritance
Invest it, pay off the house, spend it, or leave it in the bank.
Judgement
XVII55age
When to stop working
Retire at 55, 60, 65 or 70, and live on what you built.
The Star
XIVAnyage
Credit card debt
18% interest a year. Sell investments, cut spending, or pay the minimum.
Temperance
Your life is waiting.
A life takes about 15 minutes. You'll make around 45 money decisions, and at the end you'll see which ones grew the most and which ones cost you.