The Payoff

The three lesson modules include teacher lesson plans and student activities.

Students

Teachers

What is The Payoff game?

The Payoff is an immersive experiential game for teens to easily learn about financial basics. The game is played in a web-app that simulates a mobile phone where players can chat with characters, check their bank, open fake websites, check their emails and more.

In the classroom, teachers invite students to join the experience. When everyone is ready, the teacher starts the game allowing students to play. There is an option to login as a teacher, student or solo player.

Students’ scores go up when they save money and make good financial decisions, and go down when they spend money or make poor decisions. Make it a part of your classroom curriculum with three lesson plans and student activities prior to teens playing The Payoff. Each lesson plan is structured as a comprehensive teaching tool for easy integration into your own classroom curriculum.

The Goal

Students have access to a banking app with a checking and savings account where they can transfer money from one account to another. Most choices impact costs, some of them impact their future savings, and others have consequences later in the game. The main goal is to complete the video challenge while maintaining a high score and preparing for a rainy day by saving what they can in case of the unexpected.

Classroom resources include:

Teacher’s Guide

A comprehensive guide to learning how to integrate The Payoff game into your classroom curriculum by registering your class, creating teams and inviting students to play.

Lessons for Teachers

Designed for teachers who want to use The Payoff to teach financial concepts to students over multiple days. The lesson plan is structured using the experiential learning method and also includes a student handout.

Student Handout

Designed for teachers who can only dedicate enough time for students to play the game once. Students are to play The Payoff, document their decisions, and answer the reflection questions. Encourage students to try to play again on their own when they have the time, applying what they learned the first time.

Assessments

A 12-question pre-assessment and post-assessment as well as teacher master documents.

Terms and Definitions

A consolidated glossary of terms and definitions to help students better understand the content in the game.