Trading Floor Game
The Money & Society MOOC gathered a group of participants IRL and, among other things, we ran around the room trading playing cards for other cards and – most important – for candy.
It was part of a game created by Matthew Slaters – one of the MOOC instructors – to show how different forms of exchange work. He led us though 3 rounds, one where we were doing a form of direct barter, then another where we had limited but interest-free money allowing us to exchange without finding first a “double coincidence of needs”, and finally a version where we could borrow money at will – with interest.
These three rounds simulated 3 different types of economy and money systems and it was quite fun to play. Depending on the time available, the game can include even more options, such as:
- Direct Barter
- Chartalist
- Credit money
- Debt money
- Commodity money
- Mutual Credit
- Self issued credit
- Basic Minimum Income
- BitCoin
- Democracy
(this last one comes with the note: “Players decide the rules. Don’t worry if you never get around to actually trading.”)
