Every week, another card reaches maturity. Build 26 weekly maturity points in a row, and you have created a repeating stream of available cash.
This is the whole rulebook. It takes about four minutes to read, and you'll know exactly what you're building and why each color on the board matters.
Same board, same rules, same colors. The only difference is whether the bills are real.
Zero paperwork. Buy bills with a click, then smack the big red PUSH button to jump a whole week forward and watch your cards mature. Blow up a strategy, rewind, try a different one. Nothing here costs a cent and nothing touches a real account — it's a flight simulator for your money.
Already have a TreasuryDirect.gov account? Then you're holding the good controller. You buy the actual bills over there, paste each confirmation in here, and the board tracks every rung, renewal and payout for you. The six steps below get you from zero to your first real bill.
No TreasuryDirect account? No problem. Sign up here and start playing in the sandbox today — you never have to open one. Plenty of players learn the whole game on a Testing ladder first and only go live once the strategy clicks.
Twenty-six rungs in a row, each one holding at least your Basis — the amount of principal you want reaching maturity each week. Reinvest it to keep the ladder running, or stop reinvestment when you want the money returned to your linked bank. Get all 26 lit up and the ladder is complete. Do it in under 104 weeks and you've beaten the Two-Year Challenge.
Your first job isn't the whole ladder, though. It's the 4-Week Shield — the next four weeks, funded. Protect those, then build outward.
This is the TreasuryDirect path. You do the money part on the official government site; you paste each confirmation back here so the board can track it. Tick them off as you go — the checkmarks live in this browser, so you can close the tab and come back.
Head to treasurydirect.gov → Open a New Account → Individual. It's the U.S. Treasury's own site — you're buying straight from the source, no broker skimming the middle. Have ready:
You'll get an account number (looks like A-123-456-789) and pick a password. Stash both somewhere safe — this game never asks for them and couldn't use them if you tried.
Sign in → ManageDirect → Manage my Linked Bank Accounts. Add each checking or savings account you'll play from and give each a short nickname (Bank1, Bank2).
Money is drawn from the linked bank when the bill is issued. At maturity, TreasuryDirect either returns the proceeds to that bank or applies them toward a reinvestment, depending on the instructions you selected there. Link more than one and you can choose which account funds each purchase.
🔒 When you paste into the game later, only the nickname and last 4 digits survive. Full routing and account numbers are automatically removed and are never stored in the game database.
This used to be a step where you'd paste TreasuryDirect's Upcoming Auctions schedule in by hand. Not anymore — the board generates real auction and issue dates for every term itself, automatically, indefinitely into the future.
Scheduling and your Strategy already know exactly which real dates a bill can land on — nothing to do here.
BuyDirect → Bills. Start short: a 4-week bill is the front plank of your Shield and the fastest way to see the machine work.
Submit, and TreasuryDirect hands you a Purchase Requested confirmation with a Confirmation # like IAAAA. That little code is the bill's name for the rest of the game.
Copy the confirmation text — the whole block is fine, the parser sorts it out — open Import here and paste.
You get a preview before anything saves: what it detected, bank numbers already scrubbed, and a term picker if it couldn't tell. Hit Confirm import and your bill appears as a card in Planning. That's your first card on the table.
As the auction runs and the bill is issued, paste the newer TreasuryDirect text with the same Confirmation #. The game recognizes it and updates that same card — price, rate, maturity date — instead of spawning a duplicate.
You're live. From here it's a rhythm, and it takes about five minutes a week:
Then watch the rungs light up. Twenty-six in a row and the ladder is complete — beat week 104 and you've won the Two-Year Challenge.
Sign up free and start on a Testing ladder — no TreasuryDirect account, no money, no risk. Learn the board, find a strategy you trust, and go live whenever you're ready.
Educational tracker and strategy game — not investment advice. Treasury rates change at every auction and are never guaranteed. Your progress checkmarks are saved only in this browser.