PULTEVENT
Virtual investment game: 7 ways to let the audience spend 100 coins
Two hundred engineers at an internal innovation day, eight team ideas on the wall, and a problem the organisers have had every year: a show of hands always picks the idea from the biggest department. This year each person has 100 'labcoins' on their phone. Some put the lot into one idea. Most split it three or four ways. The winning project turns out to be the one nobody would have put their hand up for in public, but almost everyone gave twenty-five coins to.
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Giving people a budget changes how they vote. A single vote says 'this one'. A hundred coins say 'mostly this, some of that, a little of the other'. You find out not just what the favourite is, but how strongly people feel, and which second choices have broad support. It also feels like a game, which a ballot never does.
The Investor mechanic sits in the Forum interactive section of PULTEVENT. Attendees join from their phones by QR code or link, in the browser, no app and no registration. They see project cards and distribute their capital; the big screen shows the totals growing live. The organiser runs the round from a laptop. The server does the counting, so every phone and the laptop need internet.
7 ways to use a virtual investment round
1 Internal innovation day
Teams present ideas from a hackathon or an intrapreneurship programme. Employees invest their coins, and the top three get time and budget to build a prototype.
How to run it. Name the currency after the company or the programme. It turns the round into a small ritual people talk about next year.
Spreading coins protects small teams from the pure headcount effect of a simple vote.
2 Roadmap prioritisation
Product or customer conference: the audience gets coins to spend on candidate features. The result shows not only the favourite but how intensely customers want each item.
How to run it. Describe each feature in one sentence on the card, from the customer's point of view, not in internal jargon.
Product managers leave with a weighted wish list from real users instead of a pile of feedback forms.
3 Community or city projects
A public forum on urban development: residents distribute a virtual budget among park, cycle lane, library and playground proposals. The screen shows the split live.
How to run it. Add a picture to every card. Residents react to a sketch of a playground far more than to a line of text.
It turns an abstract budget discussion into a choice everyone in the room can make in two minutes.
4 People's choice award
At an awards evening the jury picks the official winners, and the audience invests coins in the nominees for a separate people's choice prize.
How to run it. Close the round before the jury results are announced, so the two don't influence each other.
Guests feel part of the ceremony instead of watching envelopes being opened for an hour.
5 CSR or charity allocation
The company has decided to support several causes and lets employees shape the split. Each person invests coins in the charities presented on stage.
How to run it. Be clear up front about how the coin totals translate into the real decision. Vague promises backfire here.
Staff get a direct say in where the company's giving goes, which is the point of the exercise.
6 Business simulation at a training event
Participants of a management programme act as an investment committee, allocating capital between case companies after a short brief on each.
How to run it. Allow leftover capital and ask afterwards who held back and why. That discussion is often the best part of the session.
It shows how a group thinks about risk, not only which case it prefers.
7 Conference track planning
At the closing session attendees invest coins in topics for next year's programme. The organiser leaves with a ranked list backed by real interest.
How to run it. Show the ranking on screen at the very end and thank the room. People like to see their input land.
Programme planning starts from what the audience asked for, not what last year's committee guessed.
Your own currency
100 coins by default. Change the amount and the name: points, labcoins, forum coins, whatever fits your event.
Quick buttons
Minus and plus, plus quick +10, +25 and +50. A running counter shows capital, invested and remaining.
No overspending
Nobody can invest more than they have. The phone shows a clear message with the amount still available.
Winner by total
Projects are ranked by the sum of coins invested. The number of investors is shown for reference.
What attendees do on the phone
Each person sees the project cards: a name, a short description and a picture. Under each card there are minus and plus buttons and quick +10, +25 and +50. A counter at the top shows Capital, Invested and Remaining. Trying to invest more than you have produces a message like 'Not enough coins. Available: 25'.
People can put everything into one project, split it, or keep a remainder if the organiser allows that. Before sending, a summary lists every investment and the total, with a Confirm button. Until the round closes, investments can be changed; once it closes, they are fixed.
The Investor Live screen
On the projector or LED wall each project has a bar with its coin total. The bars grow smoothly as money comes in, and the ranking rearranges itself when one project overtakes another. It is surprisingly gripping to watch, especially in the last minute before the round closes.
Rules worth deciding in advance
How many coins, and what the currency is called. Whether people must spend everything or may keep a remainder. How long the round is open. What happens in a tie. Whether the investor count matters to anyone, since the winner is decided by total coins and the count is only for reference. Write the answers down and read them out before opening the round; arguments afterwards are much harder to settle.
Where rounds usually go wrong
The organiser forgets to close the round, so a late investor changes the result during the prize-giving. Project cards go up without pictures, and the three with pictures win. Nobody explains the quick buttons, so people tap plus one a hundred times. The stage screen is checked for the first time when the doors open. Each of these takes two minutes to prevent in rehearsal.
One phone, one wallet
Every phone gets one capital, and the server blocks attempts to get a second one. If the signal drops, the attendee returns to the same round with their allocations intact. It works in the usual browser on iOS and Android. Phones and the control laptop need internet throughout, since the counting happens on the server.
Try it with your own project list
In the free 72-hour demo, with no card required, you can build the project cards, rename the currency and invest from a couple of phones to see the Investor Live screen move. The paid options are a monthly plan or a one-off payment for lifetime access to the full platform. Current pricing is on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who hosts forums, industry conferences and corporate events, and has run over 500 events since 2014: best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He built it for his own stages first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run a virtual investment game at an event
- 1
Set the starting capital and name the currency in the Investor settings.
- 2
Add a card for each project with a name, a one-line description and a picture.
- 3
Decide whether leftover coins are allowed and how long the round stays open.
- 4
Show the QR code and explain the quick buttons and the Confirm step.
- 5
Open the round and put the Investor Live screen on the projector.
- 6
Close the round, announce the ranking by total coins and export the results.
FAQ
Can we change the number of coins and their name?
Can an attendee put everything into one project?
Can people change their mind?
How is the winner decided?
Can someone get a second wallet by reopening the link?
Is there an app to install?
See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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