Parsimony: The Game of Money Management

A game about saving money to deposit at your local credit union.

Components: four pawns, one die, four Ledger sheets (laminated heavy cardboard), one large game board, play money.

Each player starts with $1.00 in their deposit box; the game is a race to make it to the end of the 37-space track to deposit whatever money they have at the Credit Union. Boxes on the track give minor rewards and penalties of 10 or 16 cents on the way there, so the 50 cent bonus for being the first is substantial. However, players must carefully record their debits and credits in wax crayon on the erasable Ledger Sheet each turn as the 50 cent penalty for having incorrect books is also substantial.

Parsimony- a well-named game every child could enjoy: sitting quietly, taking turns, making correct notes, and hanging on to small sums of money like grim death in order to hand it over to a bank at the end of the game.