How to play PerilDash

You run an insurance company. Three rivals run theirs. Ten rounds, one risk each round. The richest company at the end wins.

A round, step by step

  1. A risk lands on your desk. The headline names the risk the way an underwriter would — the line of business and the peril: Property — factory fire & explosion, Marine hull — LNG carrier, Liability — hotel guests. Beneath it, who wants cover and what they own (“a timber mill · Fremantle”, “a regional airline, 13 aircraft”), then what the policy would pay for. Sixty lines of business, from phone theft to a satellite launch; no two risks are the same.
  2. The pitch. What the policyholders pay for each policy and how many policies are offered, how often a claim comes, and the most one claim can cost. One line says how many policies’ premium, after expenses, it takes to pay for one total loss — set that against how often claims come and the price reads rich or thin. Not interested? Pass, for nothing.
  3. Pick a stance. Three answers, one tap. Careful takes a quarter of your capital at the quoted price. Balanced takes the whole book at the quoted price and reinsures it — as much of it as the cover will hold. Bold takes the whole book, or the most you are allowed, 10% under the quote, with no cover.
  4. What it earns, what it can cost. PREMIUM YOU KEEP is the premium after the quarter that goes on expenses and, for Balanced, after the cover. It is yours whatever happens next. IF ALL GOES WRONG is what the round costs you if everything you took claims in full. The card’s claim odds guess how likely that is — but only guess. How big claims tend to be is something you learn from experience.
  5. The market places it. The rivals are quoting too, and the cheapest quote in the market is filled first; equal prices share in proportion to what each asked for. Undercut and you win more of the book; quote at the going rate and you may be cut back, or shut out.
  6. Reinsurance. Balanced’s cover pays the claims above your retention — 5% of your capital. It costs a share of the premium, and only on the share you win: shut out, it costs nothing. A line too big to cover at that price is cut to the part that can be; where even the smallest line is too big, your retention rises instead.
  7. Quote — or decline. Passing and declining are free, but the office costs $100 every round whether you write or not, and a quarter of every premium goes on expenses. You have thirty seconds; at zero the risk is declined for you.
  8. The result. Premium in, claims out, expenses — the net; then where you stand against the three rivals, and what every underwriter in the market did with that risk. Tap through at your own pace.

Winning, and losing

Capital below zero and the company is bust — the match ends there with a written report. Otherwise it runs ten rounds, and the report says how you did against the field. Your first match is five rounds — a practice match, never ranked.

The leaderboard ranks your best completed match. Sign in with Google to be ranked; play as a guest if you’d rather not. A match can be resigned, but it counts at the capital you leave with — except the practice match, which never counts.

What the game is really about

Insurance is a bet on how often things go wrong and how badly. The premium is the price of that bet. Quote too high and the market takes the business from you; too low and the claims will. The skill is in reading a risk, pricing it a shade better than three rivals, and taking a line you can survive.

Play PerilDash

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