It’s the end of the month and I have bills due: a car payment, rent. If I can’t pay off those balances today, I’ll incur late fees. I also need to get my kids new clothes and shoes; everything they have is worn out. I must hustle to complete every errand.

This sounds like the agenda of a busy person in the world. But this is not the real world. It’s a simulation, and a large component of a reentry program at Danville Correctional Center in Illinois. It’s been dubbed the Game of Lyfe by folks here in DCC.

In the Game of Lyfe, each player is tasked with accounting for their finances: paying monthly bills, providing for children (represented by the player’s real-life number of kids), completing the duties of their business, and using their remaining finances to invest and build wealth.

These mock situations are especially useful to people on the verge of being released from prison. The simulation teaches them necessary skills for life on the outside. That’s why a reentry wing in DCC has been dedicated to the program for people with a year or less left on their sentence.

Through realistic scenarios, the Game of Lyfe teaches a range of skills, from basic employment and budgeting to how money from taxes is distributed. Everything in the reentry program — groups, meetings and the simulation itself — is done on the wing where the participants and coaches live.

When an inmate arrives on the reentry wing, they find an orientation manual with the simulation guidelines in their assigned cell. In the next day or so, the new participant meets with their designated coach. They are shown how to use their personal account to make purchases and receive a “stimulus check” to cover initial basic needs, like groceries and rent.

From there, a “division manager” sets the individual up with a job, preceded by an interview process to help simulate the real-world process. Participants receive a small sign advertising their business, along with a ledger book to record sales and cards that represent products they sell. The game begins on Sunday. Players interact with one another, make transactions and learn about keeping records for their businesses.

Each participant must go to other players to obtain regular life necessities like homes, vehicles, life insurance, electricity and more. Each business is run by an individual inmate. Inmates learn to communicate and practice common courtesies, such as keeping the noise level down as groups are occurring throughout the day.

The stakes here are so much higher than board games like Cashflow, Monopoly, and The Game of Life. There’s a certain level of maturity required to master the simulation because it contains realistic scenarios that hold serious consequences.

“This concept is, in all respects, not a game,” Jose “Pepe” Alvidrez said. Alvidrez is an inmate, one of two game coordinators, and the creator of the simulation.

“This is very real to us,” Alvidrez said.

There are guys here who have never been employed, and with help from this simulation they’ll leave here knowing how to pay basic bills, budget and invest their money, buy and sell products, and complete both personal and business ledgers.

The idea was far from an overnight revelation. It started in 2020, when Alvidrez, a former mortgage financier, was in a life-skills program called “Building Block.” The program introduced positive habits that inmates could employ in society. Someone in the program asked him if he would be interested in heading a financial literacy seminar, and he agreed.

The original plan was to do four sessions of the seminar, but it went so well that it kept going and growing. Alvidrez started thinking about using props to help the learning process. As these ideas propagated, the discussion shifted to adapting the seminar into a simulation.

Creation of the simulation progressed with the formulation of different businesses, such as gas stations and clothing stores, and a complex color-coded city. Within the city, where the player lives affects how much they pay for necessities, such as gas, mimicking a real city.

The warden at the time liked the idea, and approved a graphic designer in the industry at DCC to manufacture materials for the simulation. This was the green light Alvidrez had been waiting for.

The simulation features a multi-tiered hierarchy of responsibilities. In work, for example, each promotion requires more tasks. There are also a slew of structured real-world extras like the stock market, investment bonds and even house-flipping.

Failing to do your required work or perform personal duties results in penalties called curveballs. Each player also has a “lyfescore,” which is the game’s version of a credit score and affects down payments and the interest rates on loans.

A week in real life represents a month in the simulation because of the limited time participants have before their release. Thursday is payday and each person has a ledger to keep track of their personal finances. All of the money that the 50-plus participants receive funnels through the 48 jobs in the game, and all assets and material items that are bought and sold through these businesses have cards with item numbers on them.

After COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, the reentry program’s curriculum expanded. It was moved to the designated wing with two-man cells that now house only one inmate each.

“This gives each member time to think, work and plan for their future without distractions,” Alvidrez says.

Two years later, the simulation evolved into Lyfe 2.0. There are now over 150 ledger books for the simulation, dedicated to different businesses and transactions like paychecks. There are 60 instruction manuals for different jobs and the general rules of Lyfe. All of these tools, including laminated cards, are high-quality, colorful and impressively designed, with each card featuring detailed graphics.

Around the simulation, the reentry program grew. There are more mandatory groups, including a Wellness Recovery Action Plan group and a four-man tutoring team including me to help guys with learning and homework (for school and within the game).

Financial literacy remains a staple of reentry planning that goes beyond the simulation. Inmate and reentry coach Robert J. Mueller Jr., a former chemistry and physics teacher of 21 years, teaches the financial literacy group.

Through Mueller’s instruction, I learned techniques for financial success. It’s not just the participants learning. “I didn’t grow up the same way a lot of these guys did,” Mueller said. As a coach, he has been involved in WRAP groups and has learned from challenges that other inmates have faced.

Mueller had much to say about the Game of Lyfe.

“This game forces people to get a preview of what they are going to face upon release,” he said. “It is an ever-evolving project that changes and grows as new participants come in and bring new ideas and perspectives with them. It’s so much like real life.”

When asked about the future of the simulation, Alvidrez is hopeful.

“I believe financial literacy is the key to success,” he said. Short term, he aims to translate the game into a digital app that can be installed on prison tablets statewide. His long-term vision includes creating a curriculum to be used in schools nationwide.

“I believe every child should experience this tool to learn,” he said.