Sol Firme

A free game about Peru's central bank

Sol Firme

You chair the BCR. All of Peru is watching.

Every month a card arrives: the dollar climbs, Gamarra (Lima's garment district) can't stop selling, Congress summons you. You decide what to do with the interest rate, and the month goes by. Your job is to keep inflation between 1% and 3% without switching the country off.

Play now I'm a teacher

It runs in the browser, on a phone or a computer, by day or by night. No account, nothing to install, and from the second visit it works offline. Also in Spanish and Quechua.

Game screen: inflation at 2.5%, on target, jobs, credibility, this month's card and the responses with what each one does with the rate. Game screen: inflation at 2.5%, on target, jobs, credibility, this month's card and the responses with what each one does with the rate.

How to play

One card, one decision, one month

Each decision is one month at the Board. You start with the rate only; the statement arrives in month two and the dollars in month three. What you decide today reaches prices months later.

  1. This month's card arrives

    At the top: inflation against the target, jobs and your credibility; the dollar and Congress show up when they come into play. Below: what is happening in the country.

    The board with inflation on target, jobs and credibility, and this month's card: Gamarra can't stop selling. The board with inflation on target, jobs and credibility, and this month's card: Gamarra can't stop selling.

  2. Compare and choose

    Each response says what it does with the rate, and with the dollars or the statement when they are in play, and who it hurts. Tap it and it tells you why.

    A response selected, with what it does with the rate and who it helps or hurts. A response selected, with what it does with the rate and who it helps or hurts.

  3. Predict and see what happened

    Before the result you guess whether inflation went up, stayed or went down. Then you see what you expected against what happened, and with "Tell me more", why.

    January's result: inflation compared with what was expected, and the prediction sign. January's result: inflation compared with what was expected, and the prediction sign.

What you learn by playing

How a central bank really works

Target

2% inflation, between 1% and 3%

The BCRP's target, and why protecting the value of the sol helps those who have the least the most.

Rate

The policy interest rate

Rate → loans → spending → prices

The main tool, and the road it travels until it reaches your pocket.

Lag

Deciding with an eye on what's ahead

A decision takes months to reach prices. If you wait until you see the problem, you are already late.

Word

Expectations and credibility

What the BCR says moves prices too. Breaking your word has a cost, and overreacting to a jump in food prices doesn't pay.

Game modes

From five minutes to a full term

Every mode has its own music, generated in the browser: chicha, huayno, tecnocumbia and yaraví.

Tutorial

4 guided months

An advisor points out each part, and you pick the response and close the month yourself. You learn by playing.

Run the BCR

Story Mode

5 real chapters

Relive the crises that shaped the BCR with BCRPData figures, and compare your decisions with the ones the real bank made.

  • 1990Hyperinflation and the Fujishock
  • 2008The global financial crisis
  • 2017Coastal El Niño
  • 2020The pandemic and Reactiva Perú
  • 2021–23The highest inflation in 25 years

Free Mode

12 months

A full term, with a crisis halfway through. Do the job and the Board reappoints you.

Express Term

6 months

For recess or the bus ride: six quick months. It starts and ends with four quick questions, and at the end you see what you learned.

Recess

Who messed it up?

5 real cases

Real months when prices jumped. You read the month's news, question the Market Vendor, the Gas Attendant and the Fare Collector, and accuse the culprit. You have 3 lives and 5 magnifying glasses.

Who messed it up?: a real case with the month's clues and the three suspects. Who messed it up?: a real case with the month's clues and the three suspects.

Easy installments? Hold on!

6 months

Make it to payday: pick a bank card or a municipal savings bank card, decide how to pay for each craving or mishap, and whether to pay the minimum or all of it. With the real BCRP rates.

Easy installments? Hold on!: this month's craving, sneakers on sale, and the ways to pay for them. Easy installments? Hold on!: this month's craving, sneakers on sale, and the ways to pay for them.

Medals

29 achievements with Peruvian humor

Chamba es chamba
Perú es clave
Más peruano que la papa
Pepe el cambista te quiere
Con yapa
Te tienen bronca

Schools, institutes and universities

For your economics class

Sol Firme is free for students, always. It runs on each student's phone, and an express game fits in a single class.

  • At the end of the Express Term, "What you learned" compares the entry and exit quiz and gives a code for the teacher.
  • Paste your class's codes, even a whole WhatsApp chat, and see the summary. Nothing is stored or sent.
  • Chapters with real data and their sources.
  • Works offline from the second visit, can be played without the timer and with a screen reader.
  • Workshops and a teacher's guide, in the works.

Contact email coming soon

Support the game

Buy the rat a coffee

Sol Firme is free for everyone. If it helped you, your contribution pays for new chapters, better artwork and the version for schools.

Yape QR code to support Sol Firme.
Scan with Yape (Peru)

Ready to chair the BCR?

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