Run a stock market game in class

Guide · for teachers, club leaders and anyone hosting a game

Hype Cycle Exchange is a stock market game made for a room full of people. The host puts the market on a projector, and everyone trades on their own phone or laptop. Each round is one year: players read the rumors, buy and sell, and then the host reveals what actually happened. A full game fits in one class period, and it gives students something most investing lessons can't: the feeling of watching their own decisions win or lose in real time.

This guide covers how to set up a game, how the rules work, and how to turn the results into a discussion afterwards.

Pick an edition

There are two editions, and they teach different things.

• AI Hype follows seven made-up years of an artificial intelligence boom. Companies with exciting stories rise fast, some of them collapse, and a few quiet businesses keep growing. It's good for talking about bubbles, hype and the gap between a good story and a good business.
• Decades (1980–2008) uses real companies in disguise. The years follow what really happened, including booms and crashes, without telling players which company is which. It's good for history and economics classes, and for showing that a famous name doesn't guarantee a good investment.

If you're not sure, start with AI Hype: the story is easier to follow in one sitting.

Before class

1. Get the results file. The host needs a small results file (rounds.json for AI Hype or rounds-decades.json for Decades). It holds the secret outcomes, so it's never posted on the website, and players can't see what's coming.
2. Open the game on the computer connected to the projector, go to Host a game, choose the results file and press Create game. You get a short game code.
3. Choose the rules. Capital gains taxes and short selling can each be turned on or off. For a first game with younger students, turning both off keeps things simple. With older students, leave them on: they're where the most interesting decisions come from.

Running the game

1. Players join with the code and a team or player name. Teams of two or three work well: they argue about trades, which is the point.
2. Open trading. Pick a trading window (one to ten minutes). Three to five minutes per round is usually right. You can add a minute or close trading early if everyone has finished.
3. Reveal the results. When trading closes, reveal the year's news and new prices. The leaderboard updates at once, and the News and Markets tabs show every story and a chart for each stock.
4. Repeat for each year, then reveal the podium at the end.

The rules, explained

Everyone starts with $10,000 in cash.

• Buying means you think a stock will rise. You can't spend more cash than you have.
• Short selling means selling shares you don't own, betting that the price will fall. If it falls, you buy the shares back cheaper and keep the difference. If it rises, you lose money, and there's no limit to how high a price can go. To keep things fair, your short positions can't be worth more than your whole account.
• Bankruptcy: if a company goes bankrupt, its stock goes to $0. Owners lose everything they put in, and short sellers gain the full price they sold at.
• Taxes: when you sell for a profit, you pay tax on the gain. Shares held through fewer than two years of results pay a 30% short-term rate; shares held two years or more pay 15%. Profits on shorts always count as short-term. Losses aren't taxed: they're saved and lower the tax on your next gains.
• The leaderboard ranks players by after-tax value: what they would keep if they sold everything right now. That means a player who trades constantly can be ahead before tax and behind after it.

The tax rule mirrors the real idea behind short-term and long-term capital gains rates, simplified so that it fits in a game. It's often the moment students realize that holding a good investment can beat chasing every move.

Questions for afterwards

• Which company got the most hype? Did its price match its results in the end?
• Did the winning team trade a lot or a little? How much did taxes cost the most active traders?
• Who shorted a stock that kept rising? What does that say about the risk of short selling?
• Would spreading your money across several companies have helped or hurt you this game?
• What news made you change your mind, and was it a fact or a rumor?

Playing on your own

You don't need a class to play. The Daily Challenge is a new market every day, the same for everyone: five quick rounds, read the rumors, trade, and try to beat the index. Share your score and keep a streak going. It's also a good way for a teacher to learn the game before hosting it.

Good to know

• It runs in any modern browser, on phones, tablets and laptops. Players don't need an account.
• Join and host from the game page. The game version and edition are shown under the host controls.
• All companies, prices and news in the AI Hype edition are made up. The Decades edition is based on real market history, with the names changed.
• It's a teaching game, not financial advice.

Open Hype Cycle Exchange →