You’ll need
- Pens or pencils
- Scissors
- Calculator or phone
- Budget sheets (one set of three per pair)
- Resource cards
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There’s also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
- Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help
Planning and setting up this activity
- Print and cut out all the Job and Action cards. On the back of the Job cards, write “Job card,” and on the back of the Action cards, write “Action card.”
- Place all the cards face down on a table or surface that everyone can see and reach. Only the words “Job card” and “Action card” should be visible.
- Print out one budget sheet per pair.
- Print and cut out the happiness points tokens.
- During this activity, be aware that some sensitive topics may come up, for example, benefits. If you need support with these topics, you can find more information in the
- Benefits Guide.
Aim of the activity
Budget Battle is a fast-paced card game where players generate a salary, manage monthly expenses, and make strategic decisions to live within their budget. Players will face different expenses such as rent, food, transport, bills, savings, and unexpected costs. The goal is to manage your finances wisely, avoid running out of money, and accumulate the most cash by the end of the game.
How to Manage Money
- Simple Financial Records
- Financial Paperwork
Budgeting
- Becoming a Critical Consumer
- Making Financial Decisions
Playing the game
- Split everyone into pairs and give each pair a budget sheet and a pen or pencil.
- Explain that each pair will have a job card for three rounds and will choose action cards that may affect the amount of money they have at the end of each round. Some action cards may also include happiness points, which are designed to encourage discussion about spending or saving and how this affects monthly finances.
- Ask each pair to pick up one job card. Explain that they will keep this job throughout the game.
- Ask everyone to fill out the details from their job card into all the sections on the left-hand side of their budget sheet.
- When everyone is ready, each pair should pick up their first action card and enter the details in the “Action 1” section under Round 1. Repeat this with the next two action cards, filling in the “Action 2” and “Action 3” sections.
- Once this is completed, ask each pair to work together to fill out the final details on the right-hand side of the Round 1 card. The figure they calculate will be their final savings for round one.
- While everyone is working out their budgets, place the action cards back on the table or surface and mix them up.
- To start the next round, each pair should add their monthly salary from their job card to their remaining money total from the previous round. They should write this total in the “Money now in bank” section of the next round card.
- Repeat steps 5–8 to complete rounds two and three.
- After all three rounds are finished, bring everyone together to discuss their experiences. Discuss:
- How much money they saved
- Whether they were able to do everything they wanted on the action cards
- Any happiness tokens they earned and how this affected their choices
- You could also explore questions such as: Was having more money but fewer happiness points a better choice, or is there a balance between money and happiness? This can help young people reflect on making financial decisions alongside personal wellbeing.
Reflection
In this activity, you had to manage monthly expenses, and make strategic decisions, to live within your budget. You practised important real-world skills, including budgeting, decision-making, problem-solving, taking responsibility and forward-thinking.
Whether you ended up with loads of money or barely made it through, there’s something to learn from how you handled your budget. Use these prompts to help you reflect on your decisions and think about how this game connects to real-life money skills.
- How did you decide what to spend money on and what to save? What influenced your choices?
- Did you find it easy or difficult to stay within your budget? Why?
- If you played again, is there anything you'd do differently?
- Did you feel any pressure during the game? How did that affect your decisions?
- How do you think this game is similar to real life? How is it different?
Managing money in real life can feel stressful, but with practice, it gets easier. The choices you make with money - like saving, spending wisely, or preparing for the unexpected - can make a big difference.
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
- Sharp objects
Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
- To make this harder, young people could do this individually.
- To make this easier, you could play fewer rounds or remove some of the action cards.
Make it accessible
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
