Methodology & data sources

Where the data comes from

The stock datasets span 1990 to 2025, with company histories starting in different years. Real-estate city-price tables span 1990 to 2020. Values are stored rather than fetched live. Runs with the same data version use the same annual tables; later corrections can change them. The links below are research references, not proof that every stored value has been independently verified.

• S&P 500 annual total returns

  Research reference for calendar-year index returns. The app stores rounded annual values; a row-by-row source reconciliation is not established here.

• Gold spot prices

  Research reference for precious-metal prices. The game uses a stored annual gold-return table, not a live LBMA feed.

• Crude oil (WTI) prices

  Research reference for WTI spot prices. The game uses stored annual returns, not live commodity quotes.

• Deposit and CD interest rates

  Research reference for interest rates. The game uses stored annual savings and one-year CD rates; two- and five-year CDs add fixed spreads to the one-year rate.

• Housing-price research reference

  FHFA publishes housing-price indices. The game stores city-price tables for 1990–2020. Their row-level provenance and absolute-price anchors are not independently reconciled; game prices are not verified FHFA data or market valuations.

• Individual company share prices

  Research reference for company prices. Game returns come from an uploaded annual-return table spanning 1990–2025 with different company starting years. Its complete provider lineage and dividend treatment are not established here.

Index, commodity and rate tables contain rounded values; company-return precision varies. The stored tables and synthetic paths do not reconstruct historical trading prices to the basis point.

How annual history becomes live prices

At normal speed, one stock-game year takes 60 seconds of active time and prices update every six simulated seconds. Solo speed controls can shorten wall-clock time; solo yearly pause is optional. Multiplayer uses the shared host clock, with host pauses extending the session. To get from one annual number to a moving price, the engine builds a path between the start and end price for that year, then adds intra-year variation so the line is not a straight ramp.

Stored annual returns anchor year-end prices. The moves in between are synthetic, not historical ticks. Company availability and first-year anchoring affect the path. Your own return also depends on when you buy and sell; it is not automatically equal to the annual return in the table.

The stock game starts with $5,000 and adds $5,000 every 15 simulated seconds, four times per year. Life-event expenses can deduct cash mid-run. Game CDs use fixed term rates and a 20% early-withdrawal penalty. Savings use the stored annual rate table. These are game rules, not real financial products.

What the model simplifies

• No brokerage commissions, bid-ask spreads, or slippage.
• No taxes — no capital gains, dividend, or interest tax is applied.
• No inflation adjustment; all figures are nominal dollars.
• No separate dividend payments; dividend treatment in the uploaded company-return table is not independently established.
• Orders fill instantly at the displayed price, subject to the game's cash, holding and asset limits.
• Intra-year price movement is generated, not historical tick data.
• The asset menu is a curated subset of the market, not the whole market.

Real estate trades whole property units instantly and omits rent, mortgages, maintenance, transaction costs and taxes. These simplifications support discussion, not predictions of real performance. Calendar years can create hindsight; differing synthetic paths and life events mean a pair of runs is not proof of strategy.

Educational use disclaimer

Rise to Riches is an educational simulation using virtual money. It is not investment advice, not a brokerage, and not a prediction of future returns. Past performance — including the historical performance reproduced here — does not indicate future results. Nothing on this site should be used to make real financial decisions.