📒 How to play Ledger Rush
You keep the books for Bunn & Dallah, a new Dubai coffee chain, and race to post every entry fast and right.
Your goal
Pick the correct journal entry for each card, quickly, so your statements match the real books. Then audit a rival team's quarter-end books, flag their errors and fix three key adjustments. Clean books that balance with positive cash also lift your Resilience.
You run one bookkeeping team. Every team posts the same cards. In the audit round, each human team checks another team's quarter-end postings while a different team checks yours.
Join in 30 seconds
- Scan the QR code on the big screen with your phone camera, or open the game page and type the 4-letter code.
- Type your first name. No app, no account.
- Join a team or create one and name it. Your teammates get a role each. In individual mode you run your own bookkeeping team.
- If your phone locks or the page reloads, open it again: you return to the same seat.
Team roles
- Lead
- Chairs the team and submits the final decision. If the Lead's phone dies, any teammate can take over. In this game: Split the cards, then check each other's picks before you submit.
- Analyst
- Owns the numbers and the team's prediction for the round. In this game: Ask of every card: what did we receive, what did we give up?
- Treasurer
- Watches the budget and costs before the team commits. In this game: Track cash: only entries that touch the bank move the Cash line.
- Risk and ethics officer
- Flags harms and pushes back before the team commits. In this game: Watch for amounts that differ between debit and credit: they break the balance sheet.
- Voice
- Talks to other teams and presents the team's story at the debrief. In this game: In the audit, explain each flag in one sentence an owner would understand.
The three rounds
Each round you predict your own result, make your decisions within about 7 minutes, and then the model reveals what happened. An event card lands between rounds.
- 1
Month 1–2 · Daily transactions
Twelve transaction cards for the first two months. Score is 70 times your share correct plus up to 30 speed points, which fade over 420 seconds from the round start.
Watch for: Your profit against the correct books, whether your balance sheet balances, and the room's most missed entries.
- 2
Quarter end · Adjusting entries
Your first statements appear. Post ten adjusting entries, plus any card the event added. Scoring is the same 70 accuracy and 30 speed as round 1.
Watch for: How each adjustment moved profit, and whether your balance sheet still balances. Your round-2 postings are what a rival will audit.
- 3
Audit · Check a rival's books
You see another team's round-2 postings, or a training ledger if there is no other human team. Flag errors, fix three key entries, and post any breaking-news card. Speed does not count.
Watch for: Errors found, false flags and errors missed. Also check how many errors your own auditor found in your books.
Your decisions
What each control on your phone does, and how to think about it.
| Daily transaction cards | Round 1 only (12 cards) | Each card is one event, from the owner's AED 250,000 to the first utilities bill. Your choice is posted to your ledger and builds your statements. A blank card is not posted and counts as wrong. Ask what the business received and what it gave up. Watch for options where the debit and credit amounts differ: they break the balance sheet. |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter-end adjusting entries | Round 2 only (10 cards) | Accruals, prepaid rent used up, gift cards redeemed, depreciation, a stock count, a collection, month-3 sales and a loan repayment. Some cards offer No entry this quarter as a choice. Use the Facts for quarter-end panel and do the arithmetic. Ask which period each cost or revenue belongs to, not when cash moved. |
| Event transaction cards | Round 2, only if an event card added one | If the event card after round 1 adds a transaction (VAT sale, early invoice, short-term loan, gift-card promotion or repair), it joins the round-2 list and scores like any other card. Re-read the event card. It tells you the accounting question: VAT owed, the right period, a liability, unearned revenue, or expense versus asset. |
| Flag the audited team's wrong entries | Round 3 only | Tick every posting that is wrong in account or amount; a blank posting counts as wrong. Each correct flag adds 10 points, each false flag costs 10, and each error you miss costs 4. Only flag what you can explain. A false flag costs as much as a correct flag earns, so guessing does not pay. |
| Correct entry for: Rent used up | Round 3 only | Choose the correct quarter-end entry for the prepaid rent that has been used. A correct fix adds 10 points and lifts Resilience. Work out how many of the six prepaid months have passed and what share of AED 60,000 that is. |
| Correct entry for: Gift cards redeemed | Round 3 only | Choose the correct entry for gift cards customers have now used. A correct fix adds 10 points. Ask what happens to the liability you recorded when the cards were sold, once the coffee is served. |
| Correct entry for: Depreciation | Round 3 only | Choose the correct one-quarter depreciation entry on the AED 84,000 espresso machines. A correct fix adds 10 points. Straight-line, five years, no residual: find one year's charge, then one quarter of it. Check which account holds the build-up. |
| New transaction (breaking news) | Round 3, only if an event card added one | If the event after round 2 adds a transaction, it appears in the audit form. Posting it correctly adds 8 points and it goes into your final books. Treat it like a round-1 card. Do not let the audit rush you into skipping it. |
What you see on your phone
- How to play (round 1)
- A short reminder: pick one entry per card, a blank card is not posted, and scoring is 70 for accuracy and 30 for speed.
- Your books so far
- From round 2, an income statement and balance sheet built only from the entries you chose. Check whether assets equal liabilities plus equity, and whether cash is positive.
- Facts for quarter-end
- Round 2 only: the rent, machine, loan and gift-card facts you need for the adjusting entries, plus whether you are VAT-registered yet.
- Quarter-end postings by the team you audit
- Round 3 only: a numbered table of the rival's round-2 postings. Work through it line by line before you flag.
How you are scored
Every game in the library uses the same scoreboard. Your round result is your Points (pts); the leaderboard adds resilience and trust.
Performance is your total Points over the rounds, scaled from the lowest to the highest in the room. Before each round you also predict “Your score this round”: land close and earn up to 10 bonus points; miss by the whole amount and earn none. The facilitator may change the weights before the game starts.
Tips
- Split the cards across the team, then swap and check. One wrong account can move profit by tens of thousands of dirhams.
- Speed is only 30 points; accuracy is 70. Do not submit early if anyone on the team is unsure.
- Before choosing, ask: did cash really move? Many cards offer a cash version of an entry that is really on credit or an accrual.
- When an option shows different amounts on the debit and credit sides, be suspicious: your balance sheet will not balance.
- For adjusting entries, ask which period the revenue was earned or the cost was used, not when money changed hands.
- In the audit, read each posting against the event, then decide. Flag only what you could explain to the owner.
Common mistakes
- Leaving cards blank to save time. A blank card is not posted, counts as wrong, and can push your books out of line.
- Recording gift cards as sales revenue when they are sold. The cash is in, but the coffee is still owed, so it is a liability.
- Flagging everything in the audit. Each false flag costs 10 points and 3 Trust, exactly cancelling a correct find.
A worked example
Team Accrual gets 10 of 12 round-1 cards right and submits after 210 seconds. Accuracy gives 70 × 10/12 = 58.3 points and speed gives 30 × (420 − 210)/420 = 15 points, so 73.3 in total. One miss was booking the catering job as cash, so their cash line is overstated by AED 14,000. Their profit still matches, because the revenue account was right.
Shocks that can hit
The facilitator draws one event card before rounds 2 and 3. It changes the market from that round on.
- 5% VAT applies. Sales passed the registration threshold. From now on 5% VAT must be split out of every sale and owed to the tax authority.
- Cut-off trap. A supplier invoice has arrived early for goods that belong to next quarter. Record it in the right period.
- Cash shortfall. The owner paid AED 300,000 for a second kiosk fit-out from the bank account. A short-term loan is needed to keep cash positive.
- Gift-card promotion. Marketing runs a gift-card promotion before a public holiday. Cash comes in now; most of it is not yet earned.
- Espresso machine breaks. A machine fails during the morning rush. Is the repair an expense or an asset?
The model behind the game
Double-entry ledger to financial statements. Every entry you pick is posted to the ledger, and your income statement and balance sheet are built from it. A wrong account moves profit or the balance sheet; a wrong amount breaks the equation.
- Journal entry
- A record of one event with at least one debit and one credit of equal total.
- Debit and credit
- The two sides of every entry. Debits raise assets and expenses; credits raise liabilities, equity and revenue.
- Adjusting entry
- A quarter-end entry that puts revenue and costs in the period they belong to, even if no cash moved.
- Accrual
- Recording an expense or revenue that has happened but is not yet paid or received, such as unpaid salaries.
- Unearned revenue
- Cash received for goods or services not yet delivered, such as unused gift cards. It is a liability.
- Depreciation
- Spreading the cost of a long-lived asset, such as an espresso machine, over the periods that use it.
- Accounting equation
- Assets = Liabilities + Equity. If your books do not satisfy it, a debit and credit did not match.
- Capitalise versus expense
- Costs that create or extend a long-term asset go on the balance sheet; routine costs go straight to expenses.
For facilitators 3 rounds · about 50 minutes
Set-up
- Team mode with 3–4 per team works best: members split the cards and check each other.
- Keep the default 7 minutes. Speed points fade over a fixed 420 seconds from the round start, whatever timer you set.
- Have at least two human teams so the audit is real; otherwise teams audit a training ledger with planted errors.
- Bots fill to 3 teams. Bots never earn speed points, so humans who work fast can beat them.
- Before round 1, remind the room that a blank card counts as wrong and statements are built only from their picks.
Modes
- Team
- The best mode for this game. Teams split the cards and cross-check, and each human team audits another in round 3.
- Individual
- Each student keeps their own books. It is a strong test of individual skill, but slower; consider 8–9 minutes and accept fewer speed points.
- Hybrid
- Each student posts their own books and the team score is the average. Encourage teammates to discuss the hardest cards before submitting.
Run sheet
| Before class | Open the facilitator console on the projector laptop, choose the mode in Setup, and check the QR shows. |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Students scan and join. Read the situation aloud while teams form. Point out the roles on their phones. |
| 5–14 min | Round 1: 7 minutes to decide and predict, then Reveal. Read the headline and one surprising line from a team. |
| Between rounds | Draw or choose the event card. Give teams 30 seconds to read it before opening the next round. |
| 14–23 min | Round 2, then Reveal. |
| 25–34 min | Round 3, then Final results: podium, awards and the score chart. |
| Last 12 min | Debrief with the questions below, then open reflections (4 minutes). Download the CSV. |
What usually happens
- Teams racing for speed points and dropping accuracy. Show the 70/30 split again after round 1.
- The Most missed entries table: gift cards, catering on credit and the depreciation amount are good teaching moments.
- Balance sheets that do not balance. Ask the team which option had different debit and credit amounts.
- In the audit, teams who flag almost everything. Point to the false-flag cost on their results screen.
- Event cards, such as VAT or the repair, that reopen a concept the room thought it had settled.
Debrief questions
- Which single error in the room moved profit the most, and why that one?
- Why are gift cards a liability when they are sold, and when do they become revenue?
- What did the auditors catch that the bookkeepers missed? What does that say about controls?
Follow-up probes
- Which card did your team argue about most, and what settled it?
- Your profit and the correct profit differed. Which single entry explains most of the gap?
- Why is depreciation not a cash expense, and where does it show on the balance sheet?
- If you had to choose between fast books and right books for a bank loan application, which matters more and why?
- What internal control would have caught the errors your auditor found?
- How did it feel to be audited while you were auditing? What does that say about independence?
Reflection and evidence
Pick one adjusting entry from quarter end and explain it in plain words to the owner of Bunn & Dallah, who is not an accountant. Say what would be wrong in her statements without it.
Students write 80–120 words on their phones. The Data tab exports every decision, result, prediction and reflection as one CSV for grading.
Console controls
- Pause, extend or set the timer; step back a round
- Draw, choose or write the event card
- Move players, make a Lead, add computer players
- Award or fine with a reason that appears on phones
- Message every screen; hide names; spotlight a team
- Keys: P projector mode, Q join QR