Pick a profession, earn a monthly salary, pay your bills, and handle life's surprises. Ricco is an online budgeting game where you practice money management without risking real money.
Ricco is a turn-based budget simulation game. You start by choosing one of eight professions, from Barista to Doctor, each with its own monthly salary ranging from $2,500 to $8,000. From that moment on, the money is yours to manage: five recurring expense categories (rent, groceries, utilities, transportation, and entertainment) take the biggest bite out of every paycheck, and what you do with the rest determines how the game plays out.
Every turn is one in-game month. You review your finances, decide how much to spend in each category, pay your bills, and deal with whatever life throws at you - a car repair, a medical bill, or a tempting dream vacation. Then you advance the month, collect your salary, and do it again, watching your decisions compound over in-game years.
Because it is a game, there are stakes a worksheet can never give you. Underspend on yourself for too long and your health and happiness drop. Overspend and you can't cover next month's bills. Get it right and you build savings, buy bonds, invest in an index fund, and work toward the goal that ends the game: a net worth of $1,000,000.
Each turn takes a few minutes, and your progress saves automatically.
Pick from 8 professions with monthly salaries from $2,500 (Artist) to $8,000 (Doctor). Your starting cash equals one month's salary.
Tune each expense across four levels, from Bare Minimum to Premium Lifestyle. Cheaper isn't free: cutting back costs health and happiness.
Rent, groceries, utilities, transportation, and entertainment come due every month. You must pay before you can move on, just like real life.
Every few months something happens: a work bonus, car trouble, a medical emergency, or a vacation offer. Each choice moves your cash, health, or happiness.
Put spare cash into an interest-earning savings account, bonds with 1, 5, or 10-year terms, or an S&P 500-style index fund that pays quarterly dividends.
Grow your net worth to $1 million to win. But keep yourself healthy and happy along the way - if either stat stays below 20 for three straight months, the game ends.
These are actual numbers from the game, not marketing math.
Start a game as a Software Developer and you earn $7,000 a month. The game sets up your five monthly expenses automatically, scaled to your salary:
| Expense | Amount |
|---|---|
| Rent | $2,100 |
| Groceries | $1,050 |
| Utilities | $700 |
| Transportation | $700 |
| Entertainment | $350 |
| Total | $4,900 |
That leaves $2,100 a month. Now the decisions start. Bump utilities and transportation up to Balanced Living ($910 each, +5 health and +5 happiness) and your total climbs to $5,320 - the exact budget shown in the screenshot above. Your monthly surplus shrinks to $1,680. Worth it? That trade-off is the whole game.
Then a life event lands: a Dream Vacation Opportunity costing $2,785, offering +15 health and +25 happiness. Accept it and your savings plan slips a month or two. Decline and you keep the cash but skip the boost. There is no right answer - only consequences you get to rehearse here instead of learning them with your own money.
Ricco is a money management game for beginners as much as a challenge for budgeting veterans. The skills transfer because the mechanics mirror how personal finance actually works.
A budget calculator shows you a plan. A budgeting game makes you live with one.
If budgeting advice has never stuck, a money management game for beginners gives you reps: the same monthly loop, month after month, until it becomes instinct.
Rehearse rent, utilities, and groceries on a realistic salary before your first lease makes it real.
Teachers use Ricco for hands-on personal finance lessons. It runs in the browser with nothing to install, and every student manages their own game.
Yes. Creating an account and playing the core game is free. An optional one-time Premium upgrade ($9.99) unlocks advanced features such as higher education levels and continued investing from Year 3 of your playthrough.
No. Ricco runs in your web browser on desktop and mobile. Your progress saves automatically, so you can stop after any month and pick up where you left off.
Ricco is built around adult financial situations: earning a salary, paying rent and utilities, handling car repairs and medical bills, and investing for the long term. It works well for adults and beginners, and it is also used by students and in classrooms.
No. Everything in the game is simulated, so you can practice budgeting without real money. Mistakes cost you in-game cash, health, or happiness - never your actual bank balance.
You win by growing your net worth (cash, savings, bonds, and index fund holdings) to $1,000,000. You lose if your health or happiness stays below 20 for three consecutive months, so you cannot simply starve your budget to the finish line.
You play at your own pace. Each turn is one in-game month, and a turn takes a few minutes: review your finances, pay expenses, resolve any life event, and advance. Progress saves automatically between sessions.
Pick a profession, get your first paycheck, and see how far your budget takes you. Free to play, right in your browser.