Classroom business game
For your class: five people, one desk each, run Lemonade Street quarter by quarter for four years against three rivals that play to win.
A simple, vivid market for a class to play in teams. This one opens as Lemonade Street: A class runs rival drinks stands in teams, competing for the same town's customers. Rename it, reprice it, or describe the market you want and let Nova rewrite it to fit.
What a steady team ends up with
Played steadily for all four years — quality first, then growth, a fair share of the bank spent each year — a steady team ends with 5.6% of the market, finishing #5 of 5, on $94k of revenue in the last year.
The team starts from nothing:$60k in the bank and no customers yet.
People who play it well do better, and a bad plan runs out of money.
Revenue in the last year: $94k
Profit in the last year: $10k
Customers at the end: 772
Share of the market: From nothing to 5.6%
Where it finishes: #5 of 5
Years and decisions: 4 years, quarterly
What you'll decide each quarter
Each quarter you set what a drink costs, how many customers you can serve and who is on shift, what you spend on being known in the neighbourhood, and when to open in another neighbourhood.
Each decision shows on a forecast before you file it, and every period resolves against the rivals and the economy.
Who your customers are
Food lives on its customers. A new place gets tried because it is new; whether those people come back next quarter is what decides the second year.
12,000 customers in all, across your town, the next town over, the villages around, the county town and out by the ring road.
Weekday regulars: Locals and workers who come back every week if it is quick and fairly priced. About 5,400 of them, worth $108 a year each.
Treat-yourself crowd: People who come for something good and will pay for it. About 3,000 of them, worth $180 a year each.
Families: Bigger orders, early tables, and a long memory for a bad visit. About 2,160 of them, worth $144 a year each.
Tourists and passers-by: Here once, chosen on a review or the sign outside. About 1,440 of them, worth $48 a year each.
Who you're up against
Three rivals are already in it, and they play to win: they cut prices, spend on marketing and answer what you do. Most of the market is theirs on day one.
The place everyone already goes: The biggest, and slow to change — it has stopped listening to its smaller customers. Holds about 26% of the market.
The chain on the high street: Wins on price and little else; its customers leave the moment somebody is better. Holds about 22% of the market.
The new place with the queue: Clever and quick, but stretched thin and hard to get hold of. Holds about 10% of the market.
How it works
Free until you start: building and previewing cost nothing, and starting is $10, once.
Build it — free: Press build and you get your own copy of this market: four kinds of customer, three rivals and five neighbourhoods.
Make it yours: Change any number, describe the market you want in a sentence or two and let Nova fill it in, or upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history to fit it to your real figures.
Preview — free: See what a steady team ends up with, and every warning worth reading, before you pay anything.
Start — $10: Pay once to start, your seat included; everyone else at the table is $1 a seat. Then run it quarter by quarter for four years.
Also for
school · classroom · teacher · lesson · pupils · enterprise · business studies
How much does the classroom business game cost?
Building and previewing are free: make your own copy of this market, change anything in it and see what a steady team ends up with without paying. Starting the simulation is $10, once, and your own seat is included; everyone else at the table is $1 a seat.
Can I change the market for my class?
Yes. Every number can be changed — the customers and what they pay, the rivals, the neighbourhoods, the costs and the starting cash. Or describe the market you want in a sentence or two and Nova, SparkTower's AI, fills every section in for one Nova action. To play a real company's numbers, upload its profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history and the simulation is fitted to them.
Is it a fair contest for a class?
It is tuned to be one: played steadily, a team should end with between 3% and 35% of the market — enough to be a real business, not so much that one ordinary plan walks away with it. This one's preview comes to about 5.6%. Teams that read the market well do better.
Can my class play it together?
Yes — it is set up for a table of five, one desk each: chief executive, marketing, finance, product and operations. Starting it gives you a link to invite the other four, and every quarter their decisions land together. A bigger group starts one simulation per table of five.
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