Subject: Economics, World Landmarks, World Geography and Continents, Currency Exchange Rates, Large Calculations Involving Decimals

Grade Levels: 6-8

Burnside's Billions is a challenging and involved game that requires students to role play and to have strong math skills.

Storyline: Students play the role of Mr. Burnside's heir. They have the opportunity to acquire his entire fortune under one circumstance: They must buy 27 of the world's most iconic landmarks for $10 billion dollars in 40 days (not actual days but game-play days). There can only be one transaction per game-play day.

Game Play: This game is incredibly fun and challenging. Students must purchase each landmark in the home country's currency. They must use the tools given to them within the game, including a real-time, accurate currency conversion rate chart and calculator. For example, students will need to purchase the Taj Mahal. The game will say something like, the Taj Mahal costs 42 billion Indian Rupees. Students will see five purchase price options in American dollars. They must choose the correct purchase price to make a successful purchase. For a successful purchase, students would open the "rates" panel to see the actual exchange rate between a dollar and Indian rupees. Then, they'd use the calculator tool to determine the price of the Taj Mahal in American dollars. Ultimately, students would calculate how dollars is equal to 42 billion rupees.

• If they choose correctly, the circle on the map in the location of the Taj Mahal will turn blue, indicating it has been purchased and can be sold.
• If they choose an amount that is incorrect, and their buy price is too low, the sale will be unsuccessful and students will lose their deposit fee.
• If they choose an amount that is incorrect, and their buy price is too high, the sale will be successful, but they will pay too much.

Students can see all of the landmarks they have purchased in their portfolio. It's important to note, that students will also have to sell landmarks to make enough money to ultimately purchase every landmark. Periodically, alerts will appear indicating landmarks on specific continents should be sold for various reasons.

Students can save their game at any time and return later. Each time they save they will receive a new code that must be written down or saved.