About

Managing ones finances can be a daunting task, especially with limited experience. The challenge of learning how credit works, how to implement a monthly budget, and how to properly handle ones finances is that mistakes in real-life during the learning process can be costly.

To aid in this challenge, Spartan Villa bridges this gap by creating a realistic financial system embedded in a fun, low-pressure game world. Spartan Villa introduces the player to critical financial concepts through the virtual management of a college house, making the player responsible for expanding and maintaining their house by utilizing their finances effectively. Paying bills on time, allocating funds to the proper accounts, and monitoring their monthly spending are important aspects of the gameplay; ultimately this allows the player to purchase rooms to expand their house, host social events to attract future tenants, and increase their overall credit score.

By successfully completing these tasks, the player is able to learn effective money management skills and increase their financial literacy in a way that is engaging as well as accessible to a younger audience.

The game was developed by the Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab at Michigan State University. The game was made possible by the generous support of the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union.