We're thrilled to share NGPF's Arcade Game Shady Sam's Slick Wheels won Best Non-Profit Project for School-Age Education at the 2026 Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards (MAIAs), selected from a field of 35 entries in its category.

Dubbed "the Oscars of Financial Literacy," the MAIAs are the first global awards dedicated to celebrating the best work being done to help people around the world understand money.

Why Shady Sam?

If you haven't played it yet, Shady Sam puts the player in the role of a loan shark whose goal is to squeeze as much profit as possible out of desperate borrowers using the same shady tactics (confusing interest rates, hidden fees, ballooning terms) real predatory lenders deploy.

By making players think like a lender, Shady Sam teaches them to spot these tactics in the real world.

Created by McKinney for NGPF, the game is consistently among the most played of the 12 games in the NGPF Arcade. 

MAIA - A Global Movement to Help People Understand Money Better

Shady Sam is one of 17 MAIA winners finalists selected among entries submitted from 41 countries spanning Kenya to Canada, Australia to El Salvador.

This year's winners include programs helping self-employed workers in Kenya access pensions, a Texas A&M project teaching financial skills to incarcerated women, a documentary on social-media-driven speculation, and an AI-powered money coach in the UK.

We want to thank the MAIAs' 23-person judging panel for the care they put into evaluating this year's record-breaking pool of entries, and we want to congratulate every fellow finalist, runner-up, and entrant. The work you're doing matters.

See the full list of 2026 winners.

And if you want to try your hand at being the bad guy (for a good cause), play Shady Sam at shadysam.com. Teachers can use the reflection worksheet to spark further discussion with students.

About the Author

Hannah Rael

As NGPF's Marketing Communications Manager, Hannah (she/her) helps spread the word about NGPF's mission to improve the financial lives of the next generation of Americans.

More posts by Hannah