Competitive dynamics under oligopoly pricing
A handful of firms sell into the same market. Each one decides how much to produce without knowing what the others will choose — and the market price responds to everyone's combined decision at once. Students don't just learn that competition erodes margins; they watch it happen to their own numbers, round after round, and have to decide how to respond.
The simulation is built so you can teach the same underlying tension in several different configurations, without switching tools:
- Substitute vs. complement pricing. Configure whether a firm's price is hurt more by its own output or by rivals' — the difference between commodity-style substitute competition and markets where rivals' output can actually help you.
- Visible vs. invisible output. Toggle whether results are revealed to students in real time or held back until you choose to reveal them — isolating how much of competitive behavior depends on watching what rivals just did.
- Single vs. multi-market competition. Run one market, or several at once with the same teams holding different competitive positions in each — so a team that's dominant in one market may be squeezed in another.
The Lithium Rush
Each team runs a lithium mine, selling directly to EV battery manufacturers who set the demand side of the market. Every round, teams decide how many tons to mine; price falls as total supply across all mines rises — mirroring the real oversupply cycles that have hit the actual lithium market in recent years.
Teams see their own results build up round by round: tons mined, price received, profit, and running totals — with a live leaderboard once results are revealed.
