· Money Moves · Leverage
Interest Island: a free game about borrowing and leverage
Borrow to grow, or grow slowly? Pick how much to borrow for each island project and survive the bad year.
What is Interest Island?
Four island projects, your own cash and a loan offer for each. Borrow nothing, half or most: borrowing makes good years better and bad years worse. Pick the best usual year that still survives a bad one.
Interest Island is a free money game about borrowing to invest. Four island projects, your own cash and a loan offer for each.
Each plan shows what you end the year with in a usual, a good and a bad year. Borrowing makes the good years better and the bad years much worse.
At a glance
- Category
- Money Moves
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Play time
- 4–6 min
- Price
- Free, in your browser, sign-up optional
How to play
- Read
- Each plan shows the cash you end the year with in a usual, good and bad year.
- Choose
- 250 for the best plan that survives a bad year, 100 for another safe one, 0 if it can sink you.
- Three levels
- Beginner, Intermediate or Expert, picked before you play: the content and the clock change, and each level keeps its own best score.
- Coins
- Example numbers in plain fictional coins, made up for the game. Not financial advice.
Scoring
250 for the best plan that survives a bad year, 100 for another safe plan, 0 for a plan that can sink you.
Four projects per run.
What it trains
- Leverage
- How borrowing multiplies gains and losses.
- Risk
- Reading the bad case before the good one.
Strategy and tips
- Check the bad year
- A plan that ends below zero in a bad year means owing more than you have.
- Rate vs return
- Borrowing only helps when the usual return beats the loan rate.
- Best safe plan
- Pick the best usual year among the plans that survive a bad one.
Why play Interest Island?
Leverage is how a small deposit buys a big house, and how a bad year becomes a disaster. Understanding both sides helps with any loan.
Frequently asked questions
Is Interest Island free?
Yes. It is free and runs in your browser, with no download. Signing up is optional.
Is this financial advice?
No. Every number is an example in fictional coins, made up for the game. It teaches the ideas; for real decisions, look at your own situation and local rules, or ask a qualified adviser.
Are there levels?
Yes: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert. The numbers, the hints and the clock change, and each level keeps its own best score.