New Giraffe Board Stock Market Challenge

[Wolf Larsen]

There is a new stock market game at Investopedia.com that we can play in. Rules are very similar to the original game, but options trading has been turned on. I also lowered commissions as these days commissions are much lower than they used to be.


The game name is "Giraffe Board 2 Electric Boogaloo".

Trading starts on Monday July 1. I had to set the game end at less than 365 days, but will see if I can edit it later, there is no reason to end it at a year.


@hajario

Could you please sticky this somewhere? WhatJim suggested this forum for it.

[teela brown]

Thanks, Wolf! I just went and registered. Wow, the stock simulator looks all slicked-up and modernized since I last saw it. I hope we get some folks interested in playing.

[JackieLikesVariety]

anybody care to explain how it works? if, for example, you were explaining it to someone who doesn't know the stock market OR gaming?

thank you!

[teela brown]

Wolf will know best how to explain it, but until he gets here, I'll give it a go.

We played this years ago, and it was pretty simple. Investopedia has a section called "stock simulator", and people form groups who compete against each other within the game. The game that we played gave each player $100,000 in fake money to invest. The game works just like a real brokerage account, you just work the buttons to buy fake stock with your fake money. The fake stock isn't faux companies made up for the game, it shows as KO for Coke or WMT for Walmart, etc.

Then you sit back and watch your stock take a nosedive or appreciate in value and get absurdly invested (hah) in how your fake portfolio is faring. I think I remember that you could look at the holdings of the other players' portfolios and see how well or badly their choices were doing.

Lessee if I remember anything else from back then. ISTR that you can't buy mutual funds, nor could you invest more than X percent in any one stock. However, it has been awhile and I may be wrong. Also, this revamped game may have revised the rules since we last played.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by JackieLikesVariety

anybody care to explain how it works? if, for example, you were explaining it to someone who doesn't know the stock market OR gaming?

thank you!

So there is a stock market simulator at investopedia.com It is free and you can create an account there. It has an interface that is pretty similar to what you see at a real brokerage website. It uses slightly delayed real stock market data. You can buy shares, sell them, short them or buy and sell options. You have $100,000 in play money to start with. If you make good buys and sells, your net worth there goes up. If you make bad buys and sells, it goes down. You get charged some money each time you buy or sell, this is called the commission.

The new game name is "Giraffe Board 2 Electric Boogaloo" and if you search for "Giraffe" in the join a game screen we will come up.

The ability to trade starts on Monday July 1. Hopefully we can keep this game going for years. The last game was fun, but investopedia kept deleting member accounts for no reason. Hopefully they have this fixed. I talked to customer support there (I worked for a company owned by the same parent company and used the internal pathway) and they claimed it wasn't happening but it seems have stopped.

So if you want to play, create an account, join the game and make some trades.

When Wolfette was about 10, I created another game and she and I played for a few years. It taught her a lot about money and investing. I still use investopedia to test ideas to see if they work or not. A good rule is if you can't make money with an idea in the game, you really can't make money with it in real life.

[What Exit?]

I believe I've joined and I'm trying to join the specific game.
It looks like I'm in.

[Wolf Larsen]

Sweet! I made it an open game so if anybody sees it and wants to play they are welcome.

Investopedia has done one thing I don't understand. They used to start a new game each year with the year in the name. But the last one is from 2021 and they seem to have backed off from having large games with many players. The top player in the 2021 game has a net worth in it of over $3 billion, so I hope they went off and became a professional.

If anybody wants more explanation of how to join Investopedia, join the game or make trades I would be delighted to help.

[Die Capacitrix]

I am terrified of stock markets, trading, etc.

So much so that I am not doing enough for maximizing my retirement planning.

So I think this will be a good opportunity for me to learn. And give me something else to do besides mindless scrolling.

Joined up.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by Die Capacitrix

I am terrified of stock markets, trading, etc.

So much so that I am not doing enough for maximizing my retirement planning.

So I think this will be a good opportunity for me to learn. And give me something else to do besides mindless scrolling.

Joined up.

Awesome! Paper trading is a cheap way to learn a lot and demystify what being in the market means.

[What Exit?]

So what is the goal? Risk for fast growth to have the most or slow and steady for early retirement?

[teela brown]

I lined up a few trades to go through as soon as the markets open in half an hour.

I'm in a cautious mode, because the market has been soaring lately and I'm wondering if it's due for a downturn. So I mostly picked some defensive stocks. I can't remember - when these companies pay dividends IRL, will our portfolios show that?

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

So what is the goal? Risk for fast growth to have the most or slow and steady for early retirement?

That's a temperament question more than anything. I'm going for growth, but nothing going for the meme stocks as I have no idea what happens if someone posts a picture of a horse instead of a dog. So no crazy risk, but definitely not all blue chips.

Originally Posted by teela brown

So I mostly picked some defensive stocks. I can't remember - when these companies pay dividends IRL, will our portfolios show that?

The dividends do show up in your account although I think they are a day or so late.


I've made my first trades and will make more. The leaderboard should be working tomorrow.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

That's a temperament question more than anything. I'm going for growth, but nothing going for the meme stocks as I have no idea what happens if someone posts a picture of a horse instead of a dog. So no crazy risk, but definitely not all blue chips.

The dividends do show up in your account although I think they are a day or so late.


I've made my first trades and will make more. The leaderboard should be working tomorrow.

I've made trades to use up almost all of the $100k. A mix of conservative and stocks I expect to rise that pay dividends. Pretty much what I was doing 10 years ago IRL.

Now I am prepping for full retirement and moving out of anything risky month by month.

[Wolf Larsen]

I'm going to see if Giraffe wants to play

@Giraffe

We have a new game going!

[teela brown]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

. . . The leaderboard should be working tomorrow.

That's the place where it states "Current Rank. Your rank will update daily starting tomorrow", right? If so, so far it hasn't kicked in yet. Maybe it needs more like a week of data to digest before it gets going?

[Wolf Larsen]

Weirdly the leader board wasn't updating on the other game I'm in, but updated last night. Hopefully the one in our games starts updating. If it doesn't on Monday, I'll ping the help desk.

[What Exit?]

So I now have an overall Rank but I can't figure out how to see just the Giraffers.
From the Games Tab the leaderboard is still blank.
The My Games shows Giraffe Board 2 Electric Boogaloo but very little else.

Will we be able to see how we're doing compared to each other?

[Wolf Larsen]

They seems to be having problems with the ranking and leader board. I also have found the simulator is down part of the time. I'll reach out to the support email on Friday.

[Giraffe]

I just tried to sign up and it never sent me an email.

[teela brown]

Hey, now I can see the rankings and leaderboard. I'm unsure of the identity of a couple of people there. So far I only recognize What Exit?. Huh, I'm third out of five right now.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

I've made trades to use up almost all of the $100k. A mix of conservative and stocks I expect to rise that pay dividends. Pretty much what I was doing 10 years ago IRL.

Now I am prepping for full retirement and moving out of anything risky month by month.

I looked at your trade history and it doesn't show any trades at all. You might want to login in and check.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by teela brown

Hey, now I can see the rankings and leaderboard. I'm unsure of the identity of a couple of people there. So far I only recognize What Exit?. Huh, I'm third out of five right now.

1. is me
2. is capacitrix who has posted in this thread
3. is you
4. is metal-years who posts here
5. is whatjim, with seemingly no trades.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

I just tried to sign up and it never sent me an email.

What name did you use? Was it the same as last game?

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

I looked at your trade history and it doesn't show any trades at all. You might want to login in and check.

It seems to have reset me. I had a good week too. Sad.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

It seems to have reset me. I had a good week too. Sad.

I'll poke the support staff.

[Wolf Larsen]

Support staff has been poked.

[Die Capacitrix]

On my initial trades, I didn't account for the possibility that I wouldn't have quite enough money, so my last buy didn't go in until 4 days. Oops.

Nice to see the leaderboard is working.

[Metal Years]

Hey, I tried to post this earlier but I guess I messed it up.

Thanks for putting this together, Wolf.

Can anyone tell me how to see when I bought something and for how much? Both on this game and on a real investment site, such as Schwab or Robin Hood. Thanks.

Cheers

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by Metal Years

Hey, I tried to post this earlier but I guess I messed it up.

Thanks for putting this together, Wolf.

Can anyone tell me how to see when I bought something and for how much? Both on this game and on a real investment site, such as Schwab or Robin Hood. Thanks.

Cheers

On investopedia, there is the white box that says Holdings on it. The fifth column (starting at the left) is the purchase price. At the bottom of the white box is a blue box labeled "TRADE HISTORY". If you click on it up get a list (most recent first) of your transaction. The date is the left column and price per share is the fifth column.

On Schwab and Robinhood, I can't help you, I've never had an account at either.

[Giraffe]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

What name did you use? Was it the same as last game?

Sorry, I never got that far. I tried to log in, it said I had to reset my password, then it never sent me an email. Just did it again, same result.

Given that it took me five days to get back to this, I'm guessing my participation will be minimal even if I do figure out how to login.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by Giraffe

Sorry, I never got that far. I tried to log in, it said I had to reset my password, then it never sent me an email. Just did it again, same result.

Given that it took me five days to get back to this, I'm guessing my participation will be minimal even if I do figure out how to login.

My guess would be that you signed up with a different email address and it is sending it to the old address.


We have a new #1 in the standings, capacitrix has surged ahead. I'm #2 and Teela is #3, Metal Years #4 and What Jim #5.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

My guess would be that you signed up with a different email address and it is sending it to the old address.


We have a new #1 in the standings, capacitrix has surged ahead. I'm #2 and Teela is #3, Metal Years #4 and What Jim #5.

Apparently I am at $105,650.34 but not as part of Giraffe.
Not sure if this can be seen: Doesn't seem like it.
https://www.investopedia.com/simulator/portfolio

I doubt they can merge me in so probably not worth worrying about.
I sent them a message.

My player rank is 537,551 apparently.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

Apparently I am at $105,650.34 but not as part of Giraffe.
Not sure if this can be seen: Doesn't seem like it.
https://www.investopedia.com/simulator/portfolio

I doubt they can merge me in so probably not worth worrying about.
I sent them a message.

That link takes you to the portfolio of whoever is logged in. My guess is that you are in two games. On the portfolio page, look at the white box that is top right. What does it say?

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

That link takes you to the portfolio of whoever is logged in. My guess is that you are in two games. On the portfolio page, look at the white box that is top right. What does it say?

I seem to be in a general pool. Just Investopedia Trading Game.



I don't think there is a way to fix this, sorry.

[Wolf Larsen]

Bummer, those trades did really well. If you click on the white box on the top right, does it also show the Giraffe Board 2 Electric Boogaloo game?

[What Exit?]

It does. But that has me in there with no trades.

[Wolf Larsen]

Big drop in the market and it has rearranged things. Capacitrix is first, Teela second, WhatJim 3rd, metal years 4th and me last.

[What Exit?]

My total as of now is $107,449.32

Anyway to see all the players?

Don't count my account under Giraffe, I'm not using it and no investments have been made.

Can you boot that and delete it? I can't figure out how.

[Wolf Larsen]

Originally Posted by What Exit?

My total as of now is $107,449.32

Anyway to see all the players?

Don't count my account under Giraffe, I'm not using it and no investments have been made.

Can you boot that and delete it? I can't figure out how.

According to their documentation, neither you nor I can remove you from the giraffe board game. They say that functionality is coming soon, but the doc is 3 years old. I'll use your entry in the never ending game for standings, so currently you are number 1.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

According to their documentation, neither you nor I can remove you from the giraffe board game. They say that functionality is coming soon, but the doc is 3 years old. I'll use your entry in the never ending game for standings, so currently you are number 1.

OK, cool

[Wolf Larsen]

I'll publish standings for the week once things have settled after market close.

[Wolf Larsen]

WhatJim, let me know your total after things settle tonight and I'll publish the stats. I'm not in that game and can't see what how you've done. But you're certainly in the lead.

[What Exit?]

I haven't been watching it, but I had a crash a burn this week thanks to Ford.
Current Total: $96,513.02, I'll try to check later.

ETA: Hopefully settled, finished at: $96,601.14

[Wolf Larsen]

Standings after three weeks and a big market downdraft:

1. Teela $100,309.53
2. Metal Years $99,056.51
3. capacitrix $97,998.91
4. WhatJim $96,601.14
5. Wolf $93,744.31

[Wolf Larsen]

I'll do a special Black Monday wrap up tonight, expecting to be more than 10% down today.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

I'll do a special Black Monday wrap up tonight, expecting to be more than 10% down today.

It will be a brutal day it appears.

[hajario]

Originally Posted by Wolf Larsen

I'll do a special Black Monday wrap up tonight, expecting to be more than 10% down today.

I think that’s a bit of an overreaction.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by hajario

I think that’s a bit of an overreaction.

S&P is down 4% current, NASDAQ is down 6% as the big tech stocks took a beating. We'll see what things look like around 1pm Eastern.

[teela brown]

Warren Buffett dumped over half of his Apple stock two days ago. Did he have foreknowledge of today's general stock market plunge? Or did he trigger it by such a huge profit-taking?

I can't look at my Schwab portfolio at the moment, because all the panickers are clogging it up right now.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by teela brown

Warren Buffett dumped over half of his Apple stock two days ago. Did he have foreknowledge of today's general stock market plunge? Or did he trigger it by such a huge profit-taking?

I can't look at my Schwab portfolio at the moment, because all the panickers are clogging it up right now.

I'm personally down just under 2% at the moment. Which is beating the big 3 indexes.

Dow 38,935.42 day's change -801.83 Down -2.02%
NASDAQ 16,301.00 day's change -475.16 Down-2.83%
S&P 500 5,221.75 day's change -124.81 Down-2.33%

Every single stock I have is down right now. That is a rarity. People are really stupid sheep selling stocks not affected by today's events.