Classroom · Economics
Half the flats, the same people.
Every student bids the most they would pay each week for one of six flats. The highest bids win, and every winner pays the same rent: the best bid that missed out, or the landlords' reserve if that is higher. Then three flats become short-lets and the room bids again.
- Up to 600 people
- About 19 min
- 2 acts
A practice run with fictional students. No real classroom or join code is created.
Try an answer on the phone. Lead the lesson from the screen.
On their phone
You are presenting
Setting up the room…
Lesson deck
Teach it as a ready-made lesson
Hook, how it works, the live market game and takeaways. Edit anything.
What is a flat worth to you?
A ready-to-teach lesson deck: a hook, how it works, the live market game and takeaways for the debrief.
6 slides · 1 activity
What it teaches
Students see a market price as the bid at the margin, not anyone's decision: the rent every winner pays is set by the best bid that did not win, or by the landlords' reserve when that is higher. When supply falls and the people stay the same, the same bids could only push that margin up the room's own list; with fresh bids, the room decides. The people a higher rent costs most are the ones it prices out of the market.
- Supply and demand
- Price discovery
Debrief, while the boards are still up
- 01
Who set the rent in week one? Did they get a flat?
- 02
Did your bid change when three flats went? Should it have?
- 03
Two things changed at once, the supply and the bids. How could you tell their effects apart?
- 04
Why can't any bid beat an honest one under this rule?
- 05
Who does scarcity cost most: the tenants who still pay, or the people priced out?
How it works
- 01
Add it to your library
Sign up free and pull the activity from Decka's built-in classroom catalog — one click copies it into your own library, ready to run from Decka or inside PowerPoint.
- 02
Students join by QR
Everyone scans from the projector and plays in their phone's browser. No app, no account, nothing to install.
- 03
You run the room
You move the activity phase by phase: collection closes, the boards resolve on the big screen, and the debrief happens while the results are still up.
What is the housing market game?
The room is the demand. No cards are dealt: each student decides, privately, the most a flat is worth to them each week.
The six highest bids at or above the landlords' reserve win, and every winner pays the best bid that missed out, or the reserve if that is higher. Your bid decides whether you win, not what you pay, so no bid beats an honest one.
Then three flats become short-lets and the same room bids afresh for the three that are left. The board shows what the three let for beside what the six did.
FAQ
Housing market game questions, answered
Do students get value cards?
No; the bid is their own. For dealt cards and a two-sided market, see the supply and demand game.
Why does every winner pay the same rent?
It is a uniform price: the best bid that missed out, or the reserve if that is higher.
Do students see each other's bids?
There is no bid list. The room sees each week's rent, how many bid and how many flats went, and each phone shows its own bid and result. Because the rent is the best losing bid whenever that is above the reserve, one student may recognise their own number in it.
What if there are fewer bids than flats?
If no more bids reach the reserve than there are flats, every bid at or above the reserve wins a flat, so every winner pays the reserve.
How is this different from the rent control game?
That game has cards, tenants and landlords, and a legal cap. This one moves supply and caps nothing: the rent is free above the landlords' reserve.
What can I customize?
The number of flats each week, the reserve, the bid limits, the timers and all the wording. The brief names six and three in words, so change it along with them.
How long does it take?
Two weeks of bidding; the saved default shows under the headline as "About N min", and every timer is a setting you control before you run it.
Do students need an app or an account?
No. Students scan a QR code from the projector (or open a link) and play in their phone's browser. Nothing to install and nothing to sign up for.
Does it work in PowerPoint or Google Slides?
In PowerPoint, yes: open the Decka add-in on a slide and choose the Classroom tile. Google Slides is not supported yet; there you present from Decka itself. Students play from their phones either way.
How many students can play at once?
Up to 50 participants per live activity on the free plan, 150 on Pro, and 300 on Badass.
More economics games to run live
- Closing time at the market
- You are the market
- Who really pays a tax?
- Two factories, one market, and the price you both set
- Two sellers, identical crates, and whoever is cheapest takes the lot
- One of you builds the factory first
- Send it and see what comes back
- Ten coins and nobody can stop you
- One lot, and the best loser sets the price
- Spend the neighbourhood fund
- Four boats and a bay that belongs to nobody
- Three cars on one forecourt
- Tenants and landlords
- All economics activities
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