Patent Document ID: 8209250
Application ID: 11125442
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for conducting a multi-round interactive financial simulation involving a plurality of participants, wherein each participant is assigned and makes decisions for a separate fictitious company, the method comprising: for each round of the multi-round interactive financial simulation: transmitting, by each participant, to a computer system, one or more company strategy decisions for the fictitious company of the participant from a finite list of company strategy decision options presented to each participant by the computer system, wherein the participants have an allotted time to make the one or more company strategy decisions for the fictitious company of the participant, and if a participant does not transmit the one or more company strategy decisions to the computer system within the allotted time, the computer system deems the participant's one or more company strategy decisions to be no changes in company strategy for the fictitious company of the participant, wherein each participant is provided prior to transmitting the one or more company strategy decisions background information for the multi-round interactive financial simulation, wherein the background information comprises information about the fictitious company of the participant and an initial set of conditions for the fictitious company of the participant, wherein the initial set of conditions are the same for each participant, and wherein the initial set of conditions comprise an initial share price for the fictitious company of the participant, an initial credit rating for the fictitious company of the participant, an initial market capitalization for the fictitious company of the participant, and initial funding requirements for the fictitious company of the participant; displaying, on a display in communication with the computer system, at least one news story to each of the participants simultaneously; determining, by the computer system, a new share price and a new credit rating for each company based on factors that comprise a fluctuating market index and the one or more company strategy decisions of the participants, wherein fluctuations of the fluctuating market index are related to the at least one new story, wherein the new share price and new credit rating for each company are determined by the computer system using a financial model that assigns one or more scores to the participants based on the one or more company strategy decisions of the participants; and displaying, on the display, the new share price for each of the fictitious companies, wherein a winner of the multi-round interactive financial simulation is the participant whose fictitious company has the greatest share price following a final round of the multi-round interactive financial simulation.