The President
Every policy has two halves: what you do, and who pays. The bond market grades the second one.
The brief
You have just won an election and inherited a deficit. For the next ten years every decision you take has two halves — what the state does, and who pays for it — and it is the second half that decides whether you leave the country better than you found it. Borrow for a road that raises output for forty years and the debt ratio falls. Borrow for a giveaway that is spent in a quarter and it does not, though nothing on the screen tells you which is which at the moment you choose. On the wall is the bond market: the rate it charges you is not yours to set, it is computed from your debt and your credibility, and it comes out of next year's budget as interest. Lose that confidence and the interest bill starts eating the programmes, which forces more borrowing, which raises the rate. There is also an election, and it arrives at the worst possible time, and buying it is the most expensive thing you can do.
How you play it
Choose the policy, then choose how to fund it — borrow, tax or cut. The debt-and-yield chart reprices your credibility live, and the interest bill comes out of next year's budget.
The job: President — Running a country's finances: deciding what the state does, who pays for it, and how much of the bill gets handed to whoever governs in ten years.
What a president actually decides →What you're judged on
Every decision is marked to market server-side. These are the meters that move — run one to zero and the simulation ends there.
What it tests
No trivia — the simulation only asks what the chair actually has to know.
Where you learn this
This one is the arcade's own boss — it isn't the finale of a single game, it's what the whole arcade has been teaching. Liquidity, leverage, bank runs, systemic risk and moral hazard all arrive in the same sixty-two hours, and nothing gates it: sit down now, get overrun, and go find out why.
Browse the courses →Other chairs
The Weekend
Sixty-two hours to Tokyo's open. You cannot save everyone — and one of them you cannot lose.
The Structurer
Every note is a bond plus options. Pick the wrong shape and the client finds out at maturity.
The First Year
Twelve months on your own. No perfect month — only wiser and poorer ones.
The Newsroom
One shift on the data desk. Every story is a stats trap in disguise.
Mission Control
No options to pick — do the math, key in the number, bring them home.
The Policy Chair
You are the central bank. One rate, every quarter, a whole economy on the line.
The CFO's Chair
You run the firm's capital. Ten board meetings, one question every time: where does the cash go?
The Pit
You run the book. The tape moves, the Greeks bite, margin is real. Survive the session.
Your Own Worst Enemy
The market can't hurt you. You can. Ten moments, one enemy — the one making the decisions.
The Desk
Run a derivatives desk for one week — it does not stay calm.
Rotation Day
Ten desks, one stack of cards each. Sort them right — and never, ever misfile ethics.
The Expert Witness
Ten regression tables enter evidence. The significant one is usually the trap.
The War Room
The VaR says you're fine. The tail says otherwise. Ten audits — read which one is lying.