A free commercial real estate simulation for your classroom

Why use a game

Students can memorize that value equals NOI divided by the cap rate. It sticks when they lease up a half-empty building, watch its value jump, and pull the gain out with a refinance. CRE Tycoon is a free commercial real estate simulation built around exactly those mechanics, by a working commercial real estate professional.

• Free, with no ads or purchases. Nothing to buy, for you or for students.
• No accounts. Students open play.cretycoon.com and play. No email or personal data is needed.
• Any device. Laptops, Chromebooks and phones, in the browser.
• Short sessions. A month takes a minute or two, so a class can play a year or more of game time.
• A comparable score. Every career starts with $100,000 and ends with a net worth, so results can be compared and discussed.

Lesson plan: your first year in commercial real estate

45 minutes · Intro real estate, personal finance or business classes · Print this lesson plan

Before class (5 minutes, teacher)

Play the first month yourself so you know the screens. Have students open play.cretycoon.com on any device.

1. Set the scene (5 minutes)

Commercial real estate is property bought for its income: offices, shops, warehouses and apartment buildings. Its value comes from what it earns, not from what it cost to build. Write two formulas on the board:

Value = annual NOI ÷ cap rate
DSCR = annual NOI ÷ annual loan payments

2. Play: broker first (10 minutes)

Students start a new career and name themselves and their firm. The first month is guided. They prospect for clients, match a buyer to a building, and close a deal for a commission. Ask: where does a broker's money come from, and why does the commission depend on the price?

3. Play: buy a building (10 minutes)

With commission in hand, each student opens a building on the Market tab and reads its deal sheet: asking price, occupancy, the cap rate, and the monthly cash flow at different down payments. The bank lends up to 65% and wants a DSCR of at least 1.20. Ask: why did the bank refuse some deals? What would make it say yes?

4. Play on (10 minutes)

Students end months, run business plans, buy upgrades and answer escrow problems. Plan steps and some upgrades cost actions as well as cash, so each month is a choice of where to spend a few actions. A building that is leased up and has been owned for 6 months can be refinanced for cash. Have them note their net worth at the end.

5. Debrief (5 minutes)

• Who has the highest net worth? What did they do differently?
• Why is a half-empty building priced above what its income supports today?
• If interest rates rise, what happens to cap rates, values, and the bank's coverage test?
• Why might an investor refinance instead of selling? (Hint: taxes. In the game a sale pays up to 4% in costs and capital-gains tax that falls to 0% after 5 years; refinance cash is a loan, not income.)

Going further

• Homework: play to the end of year three and write one paragraph on the best and worst decision of the career.
• Calculators: check the game's numbers by hand with the cap rate calculator and DSCR calculator.
• Reading: What is a cap rate?, NOI explained, cash-out refinancing.
• Critique the model: the simulation page lists what the game simplifies. Ask students what real life adds.

What it isn't

CRE Tycoon is a game, not a substitute for a financial model or a licensing course. Loans follow a few fixed rules, taxes follow one simple schedule, and individual leases are abstracted. That makes it a good first exposure and a good discussion starter. For a graded, instructor-run underwriting course, a professional training simulation goes deeper; see training simulations.

Using it with a class? Tell us

Use the HulaGames contact page to tell us you teach and how it went. Teacher feedback decides what we build next.

Questions

Is there a free commercial real estate simulation for students?

CRE Tycoon is free in any browser, on school laptops, Chromebooks and phones, with no download, no ads and no account. Each student plays their own 120-month career.

Do students need to sign up?

No. A career saves in the browser it is played in. Signing in is optional and only puts a score on the public leaderboard.

What does it teach?

How net operating income and cap rates set value, why lenders test debt service coverage, how leasing up and refinancing build equity, what selling costs and taxes take, and why timing the market cycle matters.