Starting the Game: Clicking the "Start Game" button above begins the game which will last about 10 minutes. You will soon see the market values for the various commodities traded begin to change. A new price for the commodity is posted in the "market" and the price change is also given - red if it is a change in value going down, and green if it is a change to the upside. Click Here to reload the game and play again.

News and Rumor Reports: Below the market is an area where you can read about constant changing news reports and rumors heard around the coffee houses and Bourse (stock exchange). You will begin to see the various commodities possibly effected by these reports change accordingly as other traders are buying/selling the effected item. Like today, in the 17th century not all information is clear, or certainly other's response to it certain.

Your Portfolio: On the right is your portfolio showing your financial position. Note, you begin the game with $50,000 and no shares of any traded commodity. (Actually, at the Amsterdam Bourse you would have been trading in florins, but I've priced the game in dollars so you will have a better feel for the values traded.) During the game you can buy and sell items listed in the market and you will see your portfolio change accordingly.

Trading: To conduct a trade, you first select in the drop-down box the option "buy" or "sell." In the next box you type the number of shares you want to traded. Finally, in the last drop-down box select the commodity you want to trade. (For an explanation of what these commodities are you can read about them here.) After you have made these three decisions you click the "Execute Transaction" button and wait. Some time will pass as your trade is being executed (you can only buy something if there is a seller - or inversely, sell something if there is a buyer). As soon as the transaction has "gone through" you will be notified with a pop-up alert citing the result of the trade. It is very important not to change anything in your trading selections until you get this alert. Requesting a trade and getting the trade are two different things!

Margins and Short Selling: Hey, it's a speculative business... you can buy shares with cash you don't have (called buying on margin) AND sell shares you don't yet own (called short selling). The only limitation is you can never be more margined than 50% your net-worth. So in other words, if your net-worth is $50,000, you can have a negative cash value of up to -$25,000. If you exceed this you will get a call from the broker demanding that you raise cash fast (sell some shares to "cover the margin.") Short selling is when you sell shares of something you don't even own because you think its price is going down. The idea is to sell it high and buy it back ("cover your shorts") when its price has fallen. Be careful though - short something and it goes up and you will get in a classic "short squeeze." If your net-worth ever goes below zero you lose right away. Having fun yet?

Winning the Game: To win the game you have to double your net-worth in the course of the game. (You start with $50,000 so you need over $100,000). Consider a gain above your starting amount, but not doubled a marginal win. If you have less than you started with you are a loser. (Take that statement any way you like!)

Humanities Resource of Mark Hunter