Meet PokéTax, an online game that helps you file taxes
What's the story
In an innovative fusion of gaming and finance, PokeTax, developed by 24-year-old Pryce Adade-Yebesi and his team at Open Ledger, is transforming the tax filing experience.
The platform provides a unique way of preparing taxes by turning it into a series of Pokemon-style boss battles.
It was released just in time for the April filing deadline in the US and is available as a free-to-use online game.
Game mechanics
PokeTax: A gaming twist to tax preparation
Unlike traditional tax software, which asks users to manually enter income, credits, and deductions, PokeTax provides an interactive gaming experience.
Players battle against "Tax Trainers" who ask tax-related questions like "How much did you receive from pensions and annuities?" or "How much did you receive in unemployment compensation?"
Each answer takes the player further into the game.
Game features
AI assistant and rewards in PokeTax
PokeTax features an AI assistant that collates player responses into a finalized return for review and filing.
As you play the game, you can also collect deductions in the form of sparkling "Gym Badges."
The game is still in beta, but has already garnered more than 5,000 users.
However, Open Ledger has not revealed how many of them have actually filed their returns using the game.
Creation
Development process and inspiration behind Pocketax
Adade-Yebesi and his six-person team built PokeTax over three weekends, mostly after hours.
"We've got a core accounting company to run here, we can't play Pokemon all the time," Adade-Yebesi said.
The game's visual engine was borrowed from Pokemon Showdown, an open-source fan project started by developer Zarel in 2011.
Open Ledger hopes to open-source PokeTax so others can repurpose its underlying mechanics in new verticals like healthcare or science education.