The idea of teaching through gameplay is nothing new, but the idea of teaching kids about real estate by sitting them down in front of a computer and putting a joystick in their hands - well that's pretty new. The good news is that the teenagers of this world no longer have to spend four or more years in school to get an education in finance and real estate. In fact, if they're up for the challenge, their only homework is going to be video games.

Playing Games for Fun and Profit

Though simply playing a game isn't going to make you rich, with the right teacher, real world opportunities and of course - with the right game - you can learn a great deal about what it means to buy and sell property, flip it, rent it, develop it, network and even hob-nob with the mayor. Most of these lessons are missing from the traditional school curriculum so if you can introduce them at home in a fun and interesting way, children will benefit. Read on for a quick overview of what you can find in stores and online:

Build-A-Lot: The Build-A-Lot series lets players build and improve eight different neighborhoods in an effort to build their own real estate empire. With an emphasis on real estate development, this PC game revolves almost exclusively around the buying, building and selling of houses. Players can flip them or rent them, upgrade them, build parks in strategic locations, or schmooze with the mayor and woo movie stars. Players can choose from career or casual modes for game play. Touted as being both easy and challenging, Build-a-lot is a suitable introduction to real estate development for children and teens.

Sim City: This award-winning simulation game, first released in 1989, challenges players to build and maintain their own city. While Sim City isn't strictly a real estate game, playing it will introduce players to real estate-related concepts and land use issues. Arguably responsible for releasing a rash of upstart urban planners on the modern world, it has also spawned an entire generation of Sim games that are strangely addictive. Available on a number of platforms. Warning: Don't start playing this unless you have a few days to spare.

Mansion Impossible: For a real quick introduction to the rapidly changing nature of the real estate market, Mansion Impossible is a good bet. This free flash game will appeal to young children, or work as a primer for anyone getting started. Also a Facebook application, this elementary flash game lets users buy and sell homes as the prices rise and fall. Introduces a few basic concepts and is a good time for about 10 minutes. Warning: Once you get the basic concept, the thrill wears off fast.

Real Estate Tycoon: Donald Trump's real estate game comes in a variety of formats. You can play it at your kitchen table, on your PC, and on your cell phone. Lets players act as developers, building condos and malls all over the world in order to become the definitive alpha real estate tycoon. Warning: Try it yourself, but reviews for this game are lukewarm citing poor gameplay and lack of depth as weaknesses.

Monopoly: The old analog standby, this is one of the world's best-loved real estate and property trading games. Though there are digital versions out there, the board version is superior as it introduces players to face-to-face negotiations that mimic the deal-making that goes down when real property is bought and sold. The Wikipedia entry for the game suggests it may even introduce budding Realtors to the value of reputation building: "offering relatively fair deals to other players can end up helping the player making the offer by giving him or her a reputation as an honest trader..."

Second Life: Second life is this decade's virtual real estate phenomenon. This online world-building game has an active virtual real estate market and has even developed its own real life economy. The lines between the game's virtual economy and the real one are frequently blurred, in fact, with people selling virtual land and services in exchange for real cash. Many second life users actually make a living this way. Warning: This game is only available to users 18 and over and while you may get an education in real estate by playing this game, like the name implies, you'll have to come up with the time to live a "second life" in order to do it.

UpDown.com: While it's not a real estate game, this free online game is a perfect forum for learning about making wise financial investments. Up Down lets players buy and sell real stocks in real time. Want to learn about the bigger picture? Buy a little Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at just the right time, build and diversify your portfolio, see how real world events impact the money markets.

Capitalism II: Used to teach students at the Harvard Business School, this PC game is worth a look if you want a fun way to learn the ins and outs of the business world. Though not a real estate game per se, it's been called an "MBA in a box", and that certainly can't hurt.