What would the stock market be like if you could buy and sell shares in celebrities? What if you could make a run on Madonna, or watch in horror as Tommy Lee Jones dropped through the floor? The BBC's Celebdaq may help you find out.

The Market Dymanics

In the Celebdaq market system there are, at the time of writing, 258 celebrities, though more are occasionally added at the discretion of the Celebdaq board. The order of the celebrities goes from A-list all the way through to D-list: from Catherine Zeta Jones to Jade Goody; from Eminem to David Dickinson¹. However, the market doesn't really work in the same way as the real stock market: when players buy shares in a celebrity their price goes up, and when they sell the price goes down. It's really that simple.

Each Friday morning, dividends are paid out on the stock that you hold. The dividends are calculated via a formula based on the demand for that celebrity's stock, and the amount of press coverage that they have received during the week. Therefore, when players are looking for dividend potential, they buy lots of shares in celebrities that are in the news, which causes the share price to go up, encouraging others to also buy those shares, and this high demand makes the dividend even higher.

There is a prize of £100 available each week for the player with the largest percentage increase in their personal worth. It's not a large prize, and many players simply take part for the fun of the game, and are not concerned about the prize at all.

Stepping onto the Trading Floor

Once you register to play (which is easily done with an existing BBCi account) you are given (a virtual) £10,000 to spend on celebrity shares. If you wish, you may request a portfolio to be automatically generated for you. This can be useful for first-time players as you will be presented with four of the fastest rising celebrity stocks, plus one random stock.

Otherwise, it might be wise to watch the market a little before investing. Have a look to see which stock really is the fastest rising, and buy about 500 shares in each of them. Don't just buy shares in people you like, as you may start losing some serious money that way.

Once you've gained a little confidence, it may be prudent to sell your shares in some celebrities before the market turns on them. There is the reasonably safe option of some royal shares, where you can be guaranteed at least some dividends. Or you could take the gamble on which celebrity will be big news tomorrow. Pick the right person and you stand to make a bundle.

Market Controls

Built into the game are several controls to stop one player (or a cartel) from cornering the market. Once you have made a £1,000,000, you automatically lose it and start again with the original amount of £10,000 you started with², and on the players' chart a little wad of cash is placed after your name to indicate that you are indeed a millionaire. Once you reach £5,000,000, you get a sexy red car after your name. These icons continue up in scale until they reach Bill Gates (awarded at the princely sum of one billion pounds).

There are also mechanisms in place to prevent price-fixing. On the 26 November 2002, Patsy Kensit was suspended from the market after her share price ballooned to a highly inflated £4,000. All players that had their assets in Ms Kensit found them frozen while illegal trading activities were investigated. Thankfully, Patsy survived this suspension and in now floating at a more reasonable figure.

Watching the Market

Following the launch of BBC Three, a television show on Celebdaq was produced. It is presented by former Wall Street analyst Paddy O'Connell, and treats the game with the seriousness it obviously deserves³. The show gives a weekly run-down of the best and worst trading shares, as well as the highest dividends of the week. Various market analysts and pundits give their reading of the state of the Celebdaq market, and tips for investing in the coming week. Celebrity players, and celebs that merely feature in the game, often appear on the show and pronounce their pearls of wisdom. Besides the three weekend shows there is a regular daily Celebdaq feature in Liquid News.

A Few Random Statistics

• The game started in July 2002 (the first in-game news story dates from the 17 July).

• At the time of writing there are 60351 accounts in the game (though players can have multiple accounts, so this may be a misleading figure).

• Also at the time of writing, the richest player is Big Rod with in excess of seven hundred million pounds. But he's still some way off getting a Bill Gates icon.

• The first de-listing from Celebdaq was Pope John Paul II, who was removed from the game on 10 February, 2003. Famous he may be, but celebrity he is not.

• Read about the Patsy Kensit incident.

• Find out all about how to play Celebdaq.

• If you're interested in other trading games there is the music based Popex and the movie actor based Hollywood Stock Exchange.

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¹ While many of the celebrities in the market are world-famous, several are very British-centric. If you don't know who Jade Goody or David Dickinson are, consider yourself, in this Researcher's opinion, highly blessed.
² This is referred to as 'kneecapping'.
³ Not very much at all.