Most people agree that stock is an indispensable part of
capitalism. In the game, the stock market lets you do most things
that are allowed in a real stock market. Apart from common stock
buying and selling, you can tender offers, issue new shares, pay
dividends, and set up takeovers and mergers.

In this game, the following hot keys are available:

[Esc]              - Display the instructional game menu.
[Back Space] - Go back one instructional step.

pos : 249, 103
openmenu : 3, 5
First, you need a basic understanding of stock. Let's begin with
the corporate detail report.

runmenu : 3, 5

pos : 299, 109, 372, 119
mouse : left single
The corporate detail report has more than a dozen sections, each
with a different topic. Click here to open the "Stock"
section.

pos : 226, 196
The stock report has two sections. The first section lists the
shareholders of the corporation and shows their shares in a
pie chart.

pos : 234, 337
The second section of the stock report displays the stocks that
the current corporation owns. Note that a corporation can own the
stocks of other corporations.

pos : 300, 44, 362, 55
mouse : left single
While this report is useful, it doesn't show the most basic
information about a stock, such as the stock price. This
information is shown in the "Overview" section. Click here.

pos : 353, 253
The stock overview section contains information about the
corporation's stock. The terms are explained one by one.

pos : 321, 278
This is the current stock price of the corporation, which is
determined by the market.

pos : 321, 291
The equity per share is calculated by dividing the amount of the
shareholders' equity in the corporation by the total number of
outstanding shares of the corporation.

pos : 321, 305
The earnings per share is determined by dividing the amount of
the corporation's annual operating profit by the total number of
outstanding shares of the corporation.

pos : 451, 276
The Price/Earning ratio is calculated by dividing the stock
price by the earnings per share.

pos : 451, 292
The dividend yield is a percentage calculated by dividing the
dividend by the stock price. Dividends are the distribution of a
company's earnings to stockholders.

pos : 451, 307
The total return to shareholders is a percentage calculated by
dividing the total amount of return on one share over the past
365 days by the stock price. The return includes the dividend
received and profit gained from the rise of the stock price.

pos : 540, 292
This graph shows the stock price of a corporation over the past
30 months.

pos : 354, 435, 419, 445
mouse : left single
As its name "report" implies, it only shows information. To
invest in stocks, go to the "Stock Market" either by selecting
"Stock Market" in the "Action" column of the game menu or, more
conveniently, by clicking here.

pos : 48, 356, 264, 368
mouse : left single
In the game, you can buy stocks in person or via a corporation
that is under your control. Now click here to enable your
corporation to invest in stocks.

pos : 198, 126
Move your focus to the upper left section of the window,
which has a stock browser showing all stocks available in the
market.

pos : 258, 65
You can see the percentage of stock that your corporation owns by
looking at the "Owned%" column.

pos : 320, 65
The "Stock Value" column lists the total value of stock owned by
your corporation.

pos : 120, 90, 171, 103
mouse : left single
Click here to highlight a stock.

pos : 198, 241
Once a stock is selected, the shareholders of the stock are
listed here.

pos : 493, 110
In addition, you find the details about the highlighted stock in
this area. The terms used here were introduced in the corporate
detail report.

pos : 486, 226
Below the area is a graph showing the stock price over a specific
period which can be past 30 days, past 30 months, or past 30
years. Select the period by clicking any of the three buttons
below the graph.

pos : 446, 328
Now it's time to buy some stocks. This formula shows the amount
of cash your corporation needs to pay for the stock, which is
calculated by multiplying the total no. of outstanding stocks by
the percentage of stock to buy and finally multiplying the result
by the stock price.

pos : 372, 330, 378, 340
You can set the percentage of stock you want to buy. When a stock
is highlighted, this percentage is automatically set to the
maximum percentage you can buy. Note that the maximum percentage
of stock you can buy from or sell to the public shareholders each
time is 5%, a limit that the public shareholders can accept each
time.

pos : 557, 335, 581, 349
mouse : left single
Click here to buy the stock from the public shareholders.

pos : 265, 103
Once the transaction is complete, the data here is updated,
showing the percentage of stock your corporation owns now.

pos : 200, 240
Your corporation is also included as one of the shareholders in
the shareholder list.

Besides buying stocks of other corporation, your corporation can
also buy back its own stock. The shares bought are taken out of
circulation, therefore shrinking the number of outstanding
shares. This can have a positive effect on earnings per share,
which in turn can have a positive effect on the stock price.

pos : 172, 58, 217, 71
mouse : left single
To have your corporation buy back its own stock, first click here
to select your corporation's stock.

pos : 557, 335, 581, 349
mouse : left single
Now, click here to buy back 5% of the stock.

pos : 471, 68
Note that the total number of outstanding shares of your
corporation is reduced.

pos : 235, 235
Due to reduction of the total number of shares, the ownership
percentage of the existing shareholders increases. This action
can strengthen the ownership of existing shareholders in the
corporation and reduce the risk of a hostile takeover.

Note that when you buy or sell stocks, the transactions are
always made with the public shareholders. If all shares of the
stock that you want are in the hands of non-public shareholders,
you may have to make a tender offer to the shareholders.

pos : 561, 327
A tender offer is an offer to buy shares of a corporation, usually
at a price in excess of market. You may find a button labeled
"Offer" here if a tender offer is necessary.

Besides tender offers, takeovers and mergers are also possible in
Capitalism. You can take over a corporation if you own more
than 50% of its stock. A merger is allowed if you own more
than 75% of a corporation's stock. However, we are not going to
describe these actions in details here as we don't want to
overwhelm you with too many details. Read the manual if you want
to know more about them.

pos : 228, 429, 245, 442
mouse : left single
Next, we'll introduce you to some other common stock actions.
Click the "Ok" button to close the window.

pos : 341, 58
openmenu : 4, 2
Call up the financial action window in the game menu.

runmenu : 4, 2

pos : 181, 78, 267, 87
mouse : left single
One of the actions you can take here is issuing new shares of
your corporation. Click here.

A corporation can raise funds by issuing new shares. When new
shares are issued, they are offered to public shareholders
and the cash received from the buyers contributes to the
operating capital of the corporation.

pos : 379, 148
When your corporation issues new shares, you must make two
decisions. First, you must decide the issuing price, which cannot
be higher than the current stock price. Nobody will be interested
in the new shares if they're priced higher than the market price.

pos : 352, 133
Secondly, decide the number of new shares to be issued.

pos : 336, 174
There is a limit on the number of new shares you can issue. You
can expect a higher limit if your corporation showed promising
results in the past year. You can often have a higher limit if
you decrease the issuing price to make it more attractive to
buyers. Another factor which affects the limit is the frequency
at which new shares are issued. You cannot issue new shares too
frequently, otherwise the market won't have enough time to digest
the new shares.

pos : 371, 217
After you decide the number of new shares and the issuing price,
the expected amount of money your corporation will receive after
issuing new shares is shown here.

pos : 154, 235, 224, 246
mouse : left single
If you are satisfied with the gross receipts, click the "Issue
Now" button.

pos : 254, 16
That's right. The receipts have been added to your
corporation's cash account.

When an investor buys shares of a corporation, the investor
probably expects a reasonable return in the future. That
return usually includes the dividend paid by corporation and the
profit gained from the rise of the stock price.

pos : 144, 90, 273, 100
mouse : left single
Because of this, you must consider the dividend-paying policy
of your corporation seriously.

Click here to go to the dividend menu.

Some corporation try to pay a reasonable dividend each year
to please the shareholders. However, it is not uncommon to
find corporations that pay only modest dividends or even none to
maintain an upward trend on its stock price. These corporations
actually reinvest their earnings back into the business, which
promises better returns in the future.

pos : 369, 133
In the game, you can set a dividend payout ratio and let your
corporation pay dividends based on this ratio each year
automatically. Under this policy, the dividend per share is
calculated by multiplying the earnings per share by the dividend
payout ratio.

pos : 231, 228
If you want to pay dividends this way, you must press this
button, which authorizes dividends to be paid each year without
your approval.

pos : 368, 146
If you want to change the dividend payout ratio, you should first
set the new ratio here.

pos : 210, 173
Then click this button to confirm the change.

pos : 391, 230
If you want to approve the dividend, you can select the "Ask
Dividend Payout" option. After that, at the end of each year, you
see a window which lets you decide the exact amount of dividend
to be paid for the year.

pos : 304, 397, 319, 410
mouse : left single
Now it's time to leave here, click on the "Ok" button to close
the window.

This lesson is now complete. Now spend some time in this game to
practice your stock trading skill. If you need some hints, press
[ESC] and select "Hints" in the menu.

When you are done with the stock market and you have gone through
all the instructional games, you are ready to play a real game.
Press [ESC] and select "Quit" to go back to the main menu.

In the main menu, you can select "Start a New Game" for a new
game or "Play a Scenario" for a scenario game. In a scenario
game, you must achieve a specific set of goals in a given amount
of time to win the game.

As a beginner, if you want to play a new game, we recommend you
to set the difficulty level to "Very Easy". If you want to try a
scenario, we recommend you to start with the "Entrepreneurial
Spirit". Good Luck.
