A game about one working family

How to Make It
in America

Chasing the American Dream

Ask people what the American Dream means and they will tell you: a home of your own. A comfortable retirement. The freedom to choose how you live. Your kids doing better than you did.

Is it still within reach? What does it actually take?

Live twenty years of one working American family: two paychecks, kids, and the doors that open for some and not others. Most families never reach essential wealth. Play the years and see which side of that line your family lands on.

How it works
Live the stages

Four stages of one working life: the childcare years to the home stretch.

Spin for luck

Every stage holds one spin. Some years, a door opens that no paycheck could.

See where you land

Two hundred and fifty other lives play your exact choices. Find your box.

Where America Stands

One box is one household in a hundred. Read it upward: the two red blocks are the floor most families are standing on, the amber block is thin, and the green block at the top is smaller than any of them.

Essential wealth
26
$265K GATE
Emergent wealth
17
$175K GATE
Above asset poverty
43
$6K GATE
Below asset poverty
14
One box is one percent of households

26 in 100 households hold essential wealth and 17 hold emergent. 57 in 100 are under the emergent gate, and 14 of those are below the asset poverty line. Which side does your family land on?

NATIONAL FIGURES: ASPEN FSP, ESSENTIAL WEALTH, JUNE 2026, FIGURES 5 AND 6. THE GATES ARE THE COLORADO ESSENTIAL WEALTH TABLE V3.1.5, POOLED SIPP 2022 TO 2025, IN 2024 DOLLARS, FOR A FAMILY WITH CHILDREN AGED 40 TO 49. EVERY BAR IS TUNABLE.

Facilitating a room? Open a room · The session guide

BUILT ON REAL DATA: REAL WAGES, REAL RENTS, REAL ODDS. THE BENCHMARK IS REAL.