Zindangi plans to teach financial skills though social game

Players of social games like Restaurant City and Hotel City might fancy themselves savvy financial geniuses already. But those looking to learn more about financial decisions in the real world might be better off waiting for an ambitious, educational social gaming project from startup Zindagi.

Billed as "Farmville meets Mint.com" on their web site, Zindagi's current project promises to teach students about entrepreneurship through a platform "that combines some of the best aspects of social gaming, such as incentive structures, social networking, and competition, with hands-on money management experience." It's that "hands-on" part that has us really excited about this idea. Players in Zindagi's game will master budgeting and saving skills using their own money, and be rewarded with real financial rewards through their efforts.

"The concept is really simple: Instead of trying to make games more life-like, Zindagi makes use of the fact that real life is already one big game," Zindagi co-founder Jason Young said in an interview with ReadWriteStart. And that kind of real-world financial experience for students is more important than ever, given a recent survey showing that 95% of new high school graduates are financially illiterate.

Zindagi is still looking for $25,000 in funding through its Kickstarter page, and we really hope they succeed in finding it, if for no other reason than because we really need some incentive to balance our checkbooks, and their game seems like the best chance of that happening any time soon.