New video game aims to teach kids entrepreneurship and money skills

A financial literacy video game designed with the help of planners and other investment experts will debut next month with the goal of boosting kids' money skills — but not boring them.

The demo of "The Four Money Bears: Berryville" at a gamers event called the "Steam Next Fest" is one of the final stages before its public release later this year through an app and white-labeled versions in collaboration with financial firms. Founders Mac Gardner of Fidelity Investments' eMoney Advisor-backed technology firm FinLit Tech and Ryan Gallini of Dillo Interactive have been pursuing the concept since meeting at an eMoney event six years ago and raising $32,000 through a Kickstarter fundraiser in 2022.

"Our mission has always been, we want to teach financial literacy, but, in reality, it has to be fun," Gallini said. "And that is the dragon that we're chasing."

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New wrinkles in financial literacy

Gallini described the game's genre as a "cozy merchant sim" or a "business sim" that is the result of expanding the plot and scope of the lessons far beyond the farm that formed the setting of Gardner's children's book, "The Four Money Bears." By operating a small-town store selling pies, jam, wood and other inventory requiring them to navigate a series of side challenges and strategic choices throughout a calendar year, players at a fifth-grade reading level or higher can learn skills and knowledge about entrepreneurship, investing, saving, insurance, financing and giving. Gallini and Gardner strove to avoid gameplay that "reeks of education" in figuring out the structure and how to collaborate with financial advisors and firms, Gardner said.

"They want to increase their marketshare, they want to increase their presence," he said. "So we have a tool that not only allows them to do that, but also educates the community, too."

Advisors and wealth management firms are rolling out more financial literacy programs as they seek to copy some aspects of how social "finfluencers" work while citing certifications and expertise that distinguishes their posts and videos from viral online money content. 

Gardner's work through the game and efforts such as a college student group for aspiring planners called the MNY Fraternity show some of the ways that "digital tools are transforming how people access and engage with financial literacy," said Terry Parham, the chief financial officer and a co-founder of California, Maryland-based Innovative Wealth Building.

"We're living in a time where financial education is more accessible than ever," Parham said in an email. "By integrating financial concepts into an interactive gaming experience, Berryville empowers users (especially children) to grasp essential money management skills in a fun and relatable way. No longer confined to traditional classrooms or textbooks, financial literacy is now within reach for diverse audiences, regardless of their background or location."

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Professional passions and cozy gameplay

An advisory board for the new game includes executives from Fidelity, Orion Advisor Solutions, Asset-Map and other fintech firms, alongside planner Preston Cherry and a strategic partnership with the University of South Florida. Gardner and Gallini aim to launch the app around the start of the school year in the third quarter as a free game or an ad-free one for a small fee and with third-party versions through banks and credit unions or nonprofit organizations like Junior Achievement Tampa. Those so-called enterprise agreements with companies or organizations and the app could eventually lead to the game reaching popular consoles at some point.

Gallini has produced animated educational videos for wealth and fintech firms, and he and Gardner credited each other's passion for financial literacy as the driving force behind the game. They hope the game reaches children well before the increasingly widespread financial literacy classes in high school that may instill healthy money habits and skills too late to be effective.

"That passion is really important, because we've been grinding at this for a while," Gardner said. "He's like, 'Let's go and change the world with this stuff."

The Four Money Bears

The game demands some careful decision-making and a great deal of time — every season lasts about two hours worth of gameplay. Besides taking users through the process of launching a company by obtaining a business license and a bank loan, the game incorporates activities like hunting for mushrooms, fishing, woodchopping and mining, incentives for gifts to fellow community members and quick quizzes that highlight a lot of the concepts. Every price point can add or detract from relationships with other residents and the user's bottom line.

So the players will be trying to find a balance between earning enough "customer service hearts" alongside the money proceeds enabling them to meet monthly loan payments, Gallini said. "You always have to plan for that," he added. "Kids are a lot better than you think at really hard, challenging things because they get to sit there by themselves and figure it out."