How it works
In Bloomvale, a made-up village, a bulb was worth about two coins as a flower. But people began buying bulbs to sell, not to plant.
The price climbed: two coins, then four, then eight, then twelve, because each buyer hoped someone would pay even more.
Then buyers stopped coming and everyone wanted to sell, so the price tumbled right back to a flower's price. That is a bubble bursting.
A tulip craze like this really happened in Europe in the 1630s. A good question: what is it worth to use, with no buyer waiting?