Business games part 3: Wall Street Raider

August 5, 2006 | Filed Under business games 

Greed is good.

Slip into the suit of Gordon Gekko and play this addictive business simulation game. Operating in the US economy you are an investor with $100-1000 millions in starting capital. Capital growth is your goal. The tools used to reach it can range from the honest to the dirty.

Spreadsheet warning

The game is complicated. I first played it several years ago before my business degree and did not understand much to be honest.

 

The appeal

If you have more than just casual interest for either the stock market or entrepreneurship the game is very addictive and interesting. You can do everything from research and investing in individual stocks, create holding companies to reduce tax and risk, and start-up your own companies in industries you find promising. Let me show you some screenshots from my  start-up of a company in the beverage industry.

The name of the company is Get Drunk and Be Somebody, inspired by Toby Keith’s hit song. It aims for a rapid growth. This is very capital intensive so expect to make losses the first years until you grow bigger and can start to reap the rewards of reduced fixed costs.

Research reports are available for all companies.

My thirst for growth made me acquire an underperforming competitor priced at 70% of net assets.

After you have acquired a competitor your options are increased. Merger, LBO, Liquidate?

I merged the two companies, but performace was poor. Be aware, quick fixes comes at a hefty price.

Conclusion

The game is shareware, and the shareware version is very playable. The game is not the easiest to get into, if you find the game promising, the full version includes a strategy guide that links general financial theory with the options available in the game. The wisdom provided by this actually helped me on some of the finance and entrepreneurship courses I completed during my degree.

Download the very playable shareware version of the game (direct link)

More information about the game at Ronin Software’s pages

More business/economy games

Previous entries in this series include

Rise from mailroom clerk to CEO in Executive Suite

Sort out what Bush refers to as ”shit” in the Middle East by being the Israeli Prime Minister

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