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SimAdult
Simulating Adulthood
What does it actually take to build a life as a young adult?
SimAdult is an interactive life simulation game for classrooms, youth programs, and workshops. Players make real-world choices with limited money, time, and energy, face unexpected life events, and discover what happens when the life they want meets the resources they actually have.
Download on the App Store
Free to play. No account required.
WHAT IS SIMADULT?
Young adulthood is full of competing pressures. Should you take the extra shift or finish your degree? Spend the weekend resting or show up for a friend? Save money or invest in your health? There is rarely enough of everything to go around.
SimAdult turns those trade-offs into a game.
Each player begins with a randomly assigned character, a different life story, and a unique starting point across six areas of life. Some characters start with financial stability but little free time. Others have strong relationships but limited income. No two starting points are the same, just like in real life.
Over five rounds, players decide where to invest their limited resources and live with the results. Along the way, unexpected Wild Cards can open new opportunities or throw plans completely off course.
At the end, players compare the lives they built and talk about the choices, circumstances, and surprises that shaped them.
There is no single correct path and no perfect definition of success.
THE SIX AREAS OF LIFE
Every character's life is made up of six areas. Where you invest shapes who you become.
Career
Build skills, earn promotions, and grow your income. Work can create stability, but it often comes at the cost of time and energy.
Education
Continue learning, earn qualifications, and open future opportunities. Education is an investment that may pay off later, sometimes with debt attached.
Health
Take care of your physical and emotional wellbeing. Neglect it, and everything else gets harder.
Social Life
Build friendships and stay connected. Relationships take time and energy, but they also support you when life gets difficult.
Romantic Life
Explore dating and relationships, and decide how much of your life to invest in partnership.
Spirituality and Community
Find meaning, purpose, and belonging through faith, values, service, or community involvement.
THREE LIMITED RESOURCES
Every choice in SimAdult costs something.
Money is limited.
Time is limited.
Emotional energy is limited.
Investing in one area of life means having less to give to another. Players quickly learn that managing these three resources together, not just money alone, is the real challenge of adulthood.
WILD CARDS: LIFE RARELY GOES ACCORDING TO PLAN
Each round introduces a Wild Card, an unexpected event that can change a player's circumstances in an instant.
A promotion might improve your finances while increasing your stress.
An illness can derail carefully made plans.
A financial windfall can give you breathing room.
A friend in crisis may need the time and energy you planned to spend somewhere else.
Wild Cards reflect a simple truth: no matter how well we plan, life brings surprises. How players adapt to them is often where the best conversations begin.
HOW TO PLAY
1. Choose your mode
Play on a single device by passing one phone between players, or host a multiplayer game where friends join from their own devices using an invite code.
2. Meet your character
Each player receives a character with a unique life story and starting resources.
3. Gather income
At the start of each round, players collect income based on their current circumstances.
4. Draw a Wild Card
An unexpected life event shakes things up. Some are good news. Some are not.
5. Invest in your life
Decide how to spend your money, time, and energy across career, education, health, social life, romantic life, and spirituality or community.
6. Check the leaderboard
See how everyone's lives are developing after each round.
7. Repeat for five rounds
Each round brings new decisions and new surprises.
8. Compare your lives
After the final round, view the final rankings and Life Insights that reflect on how each player's choices played out.
GAME MODES
Single Device
Perfect for small groups and classrooms with limited devices. Players pass one phone around and take turns making their decisions.
Multiplayer
One player hosts a lobby and shares a 6-character invite code. Other players join from their own phones and play together in real time.
Games support 1 to 5 players.
WHAT PLAYERS PRACTICE
Financial decision-making
Balancing income, expenses, and investments with limited money.
Time and energy management
Recognizing that time and emotional energy are resources too, and that they run out.
Strategic thinking
Making decisions within constraints and weighing short-term gains against long-term outcomes.
Adaptability
Responding to unexpected events and adjusting plans when life changes.
Reflection and discussion
Talking honestly with others about priorities, values, and what success really means.
BUILT FOR EDUCATORS AND FACILITATORS
SimAdult was designed for meaningful group play in workshops, classrooms, youth programs, and community settings.
Easy to run
No accounts, no sign-ups, and no complicated setup. Open the app and start playing.
Works with limited devices
Single Device mode lets a whole group play on one phone.
Fits into a session
Five rounds keep games focused, leaving time for discussion afterward.
Sparks real conversation
Every game naturally opens discussion about the realities of early adulthood, including:
Career and work
Education and student debt
Physical and emotional health
Friendships and social connection
Dating and relationships
Spirituality and community
Financial pressure
Time, stress, and competing priorities
Suggested discussion questions after a game:
What did success look like for your character?
Which Wild Card affected you the most, and how did you respond?
Where did you choose to invest, and what did you have to give up?
How much did your starting point shape where you ended up?
What would you do differently if you played again?
Interested in using SimAdult in your program or workshop? Contact us to learn more.
THE GOAL ISN'T TO WIN
The leaderboard tells you who finished ahead, but that is not really the point.
SimAdult is about discovering what happens when the life you want meets the resources, circumstances, opportunities, and surprises you actually have. Two players can make the same choices and end up in very different places. One player can fall behind on paper and still build a life they feel good about.
The real value of the game is in the conversation it starts.
WHO IT'S FOR
Young adults navigating the transition to independence
Teens preparing for life after school
Educators and teachers
Youth workers and program facilitators
Community organizations and workshop leaders
SimAdult is an educational game. It contains no gambling, no real-money transactions, and no mature content. The "Adult" in SimAdult refers to adulthood and life skills.
LANGUAGES
Available in English and Spanish.
ABOUT
SimAdult is developed by The Changemaker Initiative / Storychanger to help young adults explore the real trade-offs of early adulthood through meaningful group play.
GET IN TOUCH
Support: https://www.storychanger.org/support
Privacy Policy: https://www.storychanger.org/privacy-policy
Download SimAdult on the App Store