Ages 10+ · Money · Investing and growing
Practice investing with pretend
Flip the weather card Change each garden's worth Count your pile Think about it One round of Garden Market. The big idea A pretend game lets you practise spreading and swinging, with nothing real at stake.
How it works Garden Market is a board game with six gardens, and every coin in it is pretend. Each player starts with sixty coins, as six tokens of ten.
Each round a weather card says how every garden did. The weather is made up, so nobody's coins can be hurt.
A game lets you practice spreading and swinging with nothing real at stake. It does not tell the future.
After round 1 0 5 10 15 20 12 Oak 11 Pine 16 Berry 9 Mint 10 Fern 13 Rose coins What ten coins in each garden were worth after round one. Each player's pile 0 20 40 60 80 100 71 Maya r1 96 Cy r1 71 Maya r2 48 Cy r2 coins Maya spread her tokens. Cy stacked all six on Berry. Example 1: Counting Maya's pile In round one her six tokens are worth 12, 11, 16, 9, 10 and 13. 12 + 11 + 16 + 9 + 10 + 13 = 71 So her pile is worth 71 coins. Example 2: Counting Cy's pile All six of Cy's tokens are on Berry. Round one: 6 × 16 = 96 Round two, when Berry drops to 8: 6 × 8 = 48 Example 3: Who leads? After round one, 96 − 71 = 25, so Cy leads by 25. After round two, 71 − 48 = 23, so Maya leads by 23. Nobody could know that after round one. Example 4: Maya in round two Her six tokens are worth 14, 12, 8, 12, 10 and 15. 14 + 12 + 8 + 12 + 10 + 15 = 71 Her pile stayed close to 71, because spreading steadied it. Words to know token A piece worth ten pretend coins. weather card A card that says how every garden did. spread out A token in each garden, not all on one. pretend Not real money: a game to practice with. Watch out A game board is not a real market, and its weather cards are paper. Spreading does not win every round: Cy led after round one. Nobody can flip a card to see tomorrow. A game only practices thinking. Every coin in the game is pretend, so nobody's coins can be hurt. Try it Each player has 6 tokens of 10 coins. How many coins is that? Cy has 6 tokens on Berry and each is worth 16. What is his pile worth? Berry drops to 8. What are Cy's six tokens worth now? Can a pretend game tell us what will happen? Answers: 1. 60 coins · 2. 96 coins · 3. 48 coins · 4. No
Try at home Play a board game with a grown-up. Afterwards, talk about a moment when you took a chance, and what happened.
For grown-ups Play a board game together, then talk about a moment when you took a chance and what happened. Garden Market is made up, and playing it says nothing about real markets or what to buy.