Four rival plumbers in Glasgow advertise on Google. Over three weeks teams choose keywords and match types (broad, phrase or exact), read the search terms report and add negative keywords, then pick an ad and a landing page just before a cold snap sends "burst pipe" searches through the roof. The winner books the most profit from jobs, after ad costs. About 15 minutes, one projector, paper and pens; or play solo against three rival advertisers.
The plumbers, searches and numbers are fictional and simplified for teaching. Which searches each match type reaches is a teaching judgement based on Google's own definitions; the game explains every assumption under "How this game simplifies reality".
Teacher's guide · Pair it with Ad Auction Live · More free classroom games in the Learning Lab · Created independently by Dr Ying Wu · © 2026 Ying Wu, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0