Farm Blitz
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A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Farm Blitz is about as addictive as Web-based financial-literacy games get. Developed by the Boston-based non-profit Doorways to Dreams Fund, the game joins the casual match-3 mechanics of a Bejeweled or Candy Crush Saga with the engaging simplicity of sims like FarmVille. Well-suited for early teens (and many adults), Farm Blitz bakes up a nearly perfect combination of puzzles: on one hand, a playful matching game to get the farm's vegetables in a row, and on the other, a challenge to line up solvent finances. Most players making it through one or two rounds likely will work hard to beat the game and might even come to understand compound interest as a result.
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What's it about?
FARM BLITZ begins with an origin story from an animated on-screen narrator, Kyra. Players have inherited a farm (along with its preexisting debt) and are challenged to manage both its crops and its finances, building a net worth that wins \"Farm God\" status (everyone starts out as an \"Agricultural Novice\"). There are two key game spaces: a grid of crops where the mindless but addictive matching game happens, and a separate dashboard where players manage earnings and debt by moving their money around. Players who can't maintain a balance generally suffer one of two fates. The overzealous farmer buys up more seeds than he can afford, causing debt bunnies to pile up in a pen near the fields (and on their balance sheet), or the nervous Ned saves religiously and draws things out for way too long (even if he ultimately wins the game). The only way to win the farm free and clear is to pay down debt, transfer cash into assets, and use fiscal stability to stave off catastrophe (mostly weather-related) and your creditors.
Is it any good?
Players who approach Farm Blitz with reasonable expectations for a free financial-literacy game will be thrilled to find solid graphics, an engaging narrative, and smart interplay between catchy mechanics and well-supported learning objectives. Even the game's villains are cleverly tied in. As players tend the farm, bunny rabbits slowly populate a pen next to the crop. Each one represents debt that acquires interest over time. When too many rabbits crowd the pen, they begin digging holes and gobbling up the crop. Who knew bunnies could feel so evil?
In-game supports are generally well done, mixing mouseover tips for financial terms like net worth with narrated guide-on-the-side interjections at well-timed intervals, though important information occasionally moves by at a speed that's a bit too fast to process. A few details are unclear, like why players need a loan each time they buy seeds, but any shortcuts in the narrative are made up for with clear messaging when it's most necessary.
Talk to your kids about ...
Parents and children can discuss debt. How does borrowing money pose a long-term threat to a person's finances? What is responsible borrowing and what is irresponsible?
Talk about interest and how it applies to both savings and debt.
Discuss how relevant concepts in the game relate to current events.
Game details
- Platforms: Mac, Windows
- Subjects: Social Studies: the economy
Math: money - Skills: Responsibility & Ethics: fiscal responsibility, making wise decisions
Thinking & Reasoning: decision-making, problem solving - Price: Free
- Pricing structure: Free
- Available online? Available online
- Release date: June 1, 2010
- Genre: Simulation
- ESRB rating: NR
For kids who love keeping tabs on money
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