YNAB is quickly becoming one of my favorite games. It is a real-time augmented-reality resource management simulator. Every time you earn money in real life, you get the same amount of resources to manage in the game. You decide which pools you want to allocate them to, based on the things you have to spend your own money on, the things you would like to spend your money on, and ultimately the things you would like to save your money for later. Those pools are depleted throughout the game by various costs to your kingdom that reflect your real life spending and bills.

There is a companion mobile app, allowing you to continue playing the game anywhere you go. Stopped for lunch? Use the mobile app to enter how much you spent for lunch, and see immediate effects to your gameplay. Did you allocate enough resources to your "Dining" pool? If not, you will have to reduce one of your other pools to free up enough resources to cover the difference. You can even check your resource allocation from the mobile app to help decide if you really want to make that purchase, or if it will negatively impact the game too much.

YNAB's playing field is randomly generated on start up, based on your actual debts and account balances, so the game is unique to each player, and no two games are exactly the same. While every game is different, there is a high probability that your kingdom will start out with some degree of debt. Your quest is to reduce that debt as quickly as possible, inch far enough ahead that your incoming resources are being allocated to pools for future months, and restore harmony to the land by setting aside small, manageable portions of each resource-gathering period to cover big dips into resource pools that you know (or sometimes don't know) are coming months from now.

This is a game that could take months or years to play, but it is one of the most rewarding gaming experiences I have ever had. My kingdom started out well over 6,000 units in the red. Figuring out how to split my resources took a week or two to get right, but the beauty of this game design is that you can reassign your resources from pool to pool, so there is flexibility built-in if you find you need to change how you're doing something. After a couple of months (and thanks in large part to a resource gathering period that included my tax refund), that amount has nearly been cut in half. Based on my estimates, I think I will comfortably have my kingdom out of debt within half a year.

Even though it seems like the game would end there, the open world design makes it infinitely playable. Gameplay at that point is generally the same, but your quest changes to raising your kingdom's value as high as you can, while continuing to manage the costs incurred within your kingdom. Having eliminated your kingdom's starting loss, you find yourself with a lot more resources to allocate, and you can start applying those towards some of the various DLC packs, like Dream Vacation, New Car, and Early Retirement.

The graphics are quite nice, well out-classing games like Microsoft Excel 2013: GOTY Edition. Co-op gameplay is possible if you are married or sharing expenses with a significant other. Community support is extensive, with many players offering gameplay strategies, and detailed video and text walkthrus from the developer. This is one game that can literally make your life better.

YNAB is quickly becoming one of my favorite games. It is a real-time augmented-reality resource management simulator. Every time you earn money in real life, you get the same amount of resources to manage in the game. You decide which pools you want to allocate them to, based on the things you have to spend your own money on, the things you would like to spend your money on, and ultimately the things you would like to save your money for later. Those pools are depleted throughout the game by various costs to your kingdom that reflect your real life spending and bills. There is a companion mobile app, allowing you to continue playing the game anywhere you go. Stopped for lunch? Use the mobile app to enter how much you spent for lunch, and see immediate effects to your gameplay. Did you allocate enough resources to your "Dining" pool? If not, you will have to reduce one of your other pools to free up enough resources to cover the difference. You can even check your resource allocation from the mobile app to help decide if you really want to make that purchase, or if it will negatively impact the game too much. YNAB's playing field is randomly generated on start up, based on your actual debts and account balances, so the game is unique to each player, and no two games are exactly the same. While every game is different, there is a high probability that your kingdom will start out with some degree of debt. Your quest is to reduce that debt as quickly as possible, inch far enough ahead that your incoming resources are being allocated to pools for future months, and restore harmony to the land by setting aside small, manageable portions of each resource-gathering period to cover big dips into resource pools that you know (or sometimes don't know) are coming months from now. This is a game that could take months or years to play, but it is one of the most rewarding gaming experiences I have ever had. My kingdom started out well over 6,000 units in the red. Figuring out how to split my resources took a week or two to get right, but the beauty of this game design is that you can reassign your resources from pool to pool, so there is flexibility built-in if you find you need to change how you're doing something. After a couple of months (and thanks in large part to a resource gathering period that included my tax refund), that amount has nearly been cut in half. Based on my estimates, I think I will comfortably have my kingdom out of debt within half a year. Even though it seems like the game would end there, the open world design makes it infinitely playable. Gameplay at that point is generally the same, but your quest changes to raising your kingdom's value as high as you can, while continuing to manage the costs incurred within your kingdom. Having eliminated your kingdom's starting loss, you find yourself with a lot more resources to allocate, and you can start applying those towards some of the various DLC packs, like Dream Vacation, New Car, and Early Retirement. The graphics are quite nice, well out-classing games like Microsoft Excel 2013: GOTY Edition. Co-op gameplay is possible if you are married or sharing expenses with a significant other. Community support is extensive, with many players offering gameplay strategies, and detailed video and text walkthrus from the developer. This is one game that can literally make your life better.