Congrats JV - 118.5 points and first place in yesterday's challenge! 🥇

I replayed your run on the server (only 7 inputs!) and it turned out to be a proper exploit. You found a bug I hadn't seen. Here's how it works:

1. Run a permanent deficit on a gold standard. Low taxes (income 18 %, corporate 0 %, VAT 10 % → 0 %), spending 22 %. That's a deficit of 8–15 % of GDP a year for 15 years, with debt climbing from 56 % to 138 %. Voters loved it: approval stayed between 75 and 88 %.
2. Let the peg break, then re-peg right away. The deficit drains your gold reserves until the peg breaks. Here's the bug: switching back to gold refilled the reserves to the starting amount for free and pegged the currency again at today's rate. So the currency never really crashed, and since wealth is measured in gold, you stayed rich. Your peg broke four times (months 134, 155, 169 and 182), and you re-pegged after the first three.
3. A final sprint in the last 6 months. Spending went up to 46 %, paid for with corporate tax at 60 % and VAT at 23 %. Spending boosts the economy immediately, while the tax damage only shows up later, and by then the game is over.

Bonus: the state went bankrupt in the very last month. The debt was cut from 138 % to 76 %, and you didn't have to deal with any of the consequences.

How much each part was worth (I replayed variants of your inputs):

• full run: 118.5
• without re-pegging: 25.9
• without the final sprint: 41.6

Fair play: it's all within the rules, and finding holes like this is exactly why I run these challenges. The fix is coming: re-pegging will only use the gold you actually have left, and investors will price in deficit paths rather than just the current debt level.

I will try to upgrade the simulation and will launch a new challenge next weekend. Probably with a longer duration and bigger prize pool (1st-3rd)

Thanks for playing, and keep breaking it! ⚡

Screenshot of lightning transaction to @JV:

Stupid me didn't create an Invoice, so you have to believe I sent it :(