Nest

Divide every paycheck among needs, wants and savings, watch your city rise floor by floor, and keep an emergency fund deep enough to survive the next shock.

How to play

Each round you receive income and must allocate every dollar across categories of needs, wants and savings using sliders. Your choices build a skyline — funded categories grow taller — while savings form the emergency fund. After you allocate, a weather event lands: a boost, an unexpected expense, or worse. Cover a needs shock or go bankrupt. Last all the rounds and grow the most valuable city.

• Split the full paycheck across every category each round
• Savings become the emergency fund that absorbs expense shocks
• An uncovered needs shock ends the run
• Higher city value at the end means a better score

Controls

• Desktop: drag the category sliders, or hit Auto-balance, then Allocate & advance.
• Phone & tablet: drag the sliders and tap the buttons — touch friendly.

Game modes

• Daily: one shared seeded run per day
• Practice: endless fresh runs

Tips & strategy

• Fund needs first — an unmet needs expense is the only thing that can instantly bankrupt you
• Keep building savings even in calm rounds; the emergency fund is what carries you through storms
• Don't starve wants entirely, but treat them as the flexible line you trim when money is tight

What you'll learn

Nest teaches the personal-finance basics of needs, wants and savings, building healthy money habits.

• Skills: personal finance, budgeting, needs vs wants, saving
• Best for: roughly grades 5–10 (ages 10–16)
• For parents & teachers: the foundations of budgeting and saving.

About Nest

Nest is an original free browser game about personal-finance economics — the needs / wants / savings split and the value of an emergency fund — wrapped in a city-builder. Made in-house for PlayPendium.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium — no download, no install. Browse all games →