Several years ago, I played on the game site Hollywood Stock Exchange. At some point, I lost interest and stopped, and this has been long enough ago that my account no longer exists. But something made me think about the game today, and I just went and signed back up.

Hollywood Stock Exchange is a surprisingly-complex stock market simulation, except that you’re buying and selling imaginary shares in upcoming movies and TV shows, movie stars and even (this is a new addition since I last played) American Idol contestants.

Movies become available for purchase early in their development process. At some point, each of your imaginary securities cashes out based on its actual box office performance (or, in the case of new TV shows, on how many weeks it survives during its first season). In between the time a stock is released and the time it cashes out, of course, the price is driven by supply and demand, just as in the real stock market. You are trying to outguess the other players by snatching up stocks or bonds or funds in which they have no confidence (meaning you can buy them cheaply right now) but which will eventually increase in value. You have to try to buy low and sell high.

The simulation is surprisingly detailed. There are stock funds, various graphs and statistics, derivatives and what have you.

It costs nothing to play, and they start you out with 2 million in imaginary money to begin investing.

Let me know if you already play or if you’d like to; you can start a league and compare your performance with that of the other members.