Payday Pioneers

The Payday Pioneers board game is one of the two posters of the Fundamentals of Financial Literacy toolkit, created by the Khazana Foundation and StreetSmart in 2023. The two organisations joined forces to create a new toolkit together to allow more vulnerable children to learn about the basics of financial literacy via playful, accessible educational materials.

The Payday Pioneers board game is closely linked to the Money Matters poster, and allows players to experience the fundamental pillars of financial literacy - shown on the Money Matters poster - in practice during an enjoyable board game. The game elaborates further on the five pillars.

• Earn = green squares
• Spend = yellow squares
• Save = red squares
• Invest = blue squares
• Protect = grey squares

THE BOARD

The board game follows the structure of one month, on the left hand side of the poster. On the right hand side of the poster, players can find the legend of the board game, a space to keep money in the savings account, and icons to keep track of the purchases players made during the game (cows, watches, books).

THE RULES

• Players can put money in their common savings account (piggy bank) until the 23rd of the month. At the end of the month, players will receive interest on their savings: for every 5 coins they saved, they will receive 1 coin extra.
• If a player or the group is bankrupt, you can borrow money from the bank. However, at the end of the month, players will need to pay off their loan, by paying one coin extra for every 5 coins they borrow from the bank.
• Players can protect themselves from bad luck by purchasing insurance at all times. Collective insurance costs 10 coins, individual insurance costs 3 coins. The players can put a bottle cap on the insurance icon on the right hand side. If a player lands on a protect square and he/she is protected, you don't need to pay the half of your belongings (savings account + what you have in your hands) to the bank. Please note insurance needs to be renewed every month!

SPECIAL SQUARES

• INVEST (squares 3, 9, 12, 18, 24, 29): If a player lands on a BUY square, the player can decide to buy one or more of the products (cow, watch, books). If so, he/she puts a bottle cap on the icon on the right hand side of the poster. If this specific player lands on a SELL square, the player can sell this specific product for the amount mentioned on the square.
• Collective saving (square 6): every player puts 1 coin in the collective savings account. If one of the players cannot contribute to the collective saving, other players will need to pay for him/her.
• Protection squares (7, 17, 27): if you have insurance, you are protected and nothing happens on these squares! If you haven't bought insurance, you loose half of your money as a team.
• Reflection squares (11, 19): here the player is asked what he/she thinks about the current status of the game. Are you happy with the money you have, or with the strategy you're following? On what would you spend the money?
• Savings deadline (square 23): if you have passed this square, you cannot put money into the savings account anymore until the next month. This is a rule for the whole group.
• Everyone goes 1 square back (25): all players go back one square and complete the task on these squares.
• Lottery (31): on this square you can play the lottery. Choose any amount you want to place as a bet. If you throw 1, 2 or 3, you loose your bet. If you throw 4 or 5, you keep your bet. If you throw a six, you win the lottery and you receive your bet times 3!!!
• Payday (middle board): yes, it's payday! Receive your salary of 5 coins. If everyone has arrived at this square, the month is over and you can start calculating the result (loans, savings, investments ...) Then, players decide if they will play another month.

• In the most basic version, all players will put their money in one collective account next to the game board. However, players can also play a second version in which they will still need to collaborate, but every player possesses an individual account. This way, players will need to help each other if another player faces bad luck or goes bankrupt.
• For more advanced players, you can also play the competitive (individual) version.

• Children experiment with the basic concepts of money and finance