Publisher: MECC
Platform: Apple II
Release Date: 1979
Description
From the Lemonade Stand title screen:
“Hi Welcome to Lemonsville, California!
In this small town, you are in charge of running your own lemonade stand. You can compete with as many other people as you which, but how much profit you make is up to you (the other stands’ sales will not affect your business in any way). If you make the most money, you’re the winner!!”
Game Walkthrough
Lemonade Stand first describes the scenario of running a lemonade stand in Lemonsville, CA in order to make the most money possible. The game explains how player’s decisions on the number glasses of lemonade made, the amount spent on advertising, and what how much they charge for lemonade affect their daily income. Players start with $2.00, the game then explains concepts such as expenses, profits, and the relation of sales to advertising and price.
Players are then taken to the gameplay. Each day starts with a weather report - sunny, cloudy, or hot and dry – along with a picture to represent the weather. Players then set how many glasses of lemonade they wish to make, how many advertisements they want to create, and how much each glass of lemonade will cost. The game simulates a day based on the player’s decision and gives a daily financial report, which describes income (glasses sold and price per glass), expenses (glasses made and signs made), profit, and total assets.
Playthrough
Game Objectives
- Make as much money as possible within 30 days
- Allocate funds to maximize profits each day
- Don’t waste resources
- Player with the highest assets at the end of the 30 days to win the game.
Educational Objectives
- Learn to make judicious decisions through business simulation
- Players must change their strategy of supply management, advertising, and pricing based on weather scenarios
Motivational Elements
Lemonade Stand allows players to test different asset allocation strategies in order to maximize profits. By allowing up to 30 players to play in one game, players are able to compare their strategy to others playing the game. Players can continue manipulating the number of glasses they make, the amount of money they spend on advertising, and the price they charge for lemonade until they find optimal values of each variable based on each weather scenario.
Educational Outcomes
Lemonade Stand is successful in achieving its primary educational objective, teaching players about business through making judicious decisions. The game teaches the basic elements of business strategy such as pricing and advertising. Players apply and understand conceptual knowledge as they modify their variable numbers each day, and are quickly evaluated through the daily report and the amount of profit they make.
Due to the game’s limited number of variables and scenarios, players can quickly discover the optimal variable amounts based on each scenario. Unlike later versions of the game, the Apple II version simply provided feedback through financial figures. Players did not know what they were doing wrong, and were forced to modify their variables through trial and error. Later versions displayed feedback on customer satisfaction ratings and cumulative figures to give players further analysis on how to change their daily strategies.
Additional Video
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This is a playthrough of the online version of Lemonade Stand |
Timestamps
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