I am fond of the concept of games that you can play to teach you useful skills.  I feel that some of my academic skills when I was younger were enhanced by playing educational games.  I’d like to see more (and better implemented) games that teach skills for kids AND adults.

Here is one such game.

PC Building Simulator

It can be found on steam here

This simulator has you playing as a person (you never see them) who has recently been handed their uncle’s failing PC repair shop.  You have to take the failing business and make it work, which is mostly a matter of cleaning, repairing, and upgrading computers to the specifications of your customers.

This simulator teaches you about how to repair and upgrade computers, with the computers and their components being digital recreations of real-world parts.  It goes through the panels you have to remove, wires that have to be connected, part compatibility, etc.

It also makes you learn some about the business side of things.  Making sure you balance how urgent orders are versus how much shipping is.  Completing orders in the right order so that you get paid enough to be able to get upgrades and pay for the parts to upgrade the next computers (since you only get paid upon delivery).

It’s not a thrilling game, but it can be relaxing and educational.  So far I’ve never built a PC from scratch, and I’m glad I’m going through this simulator first.  I’ve already learned simple things from it that can be the difference between whether my next computer is a powerful machine or destroying itself from poor heat management.

The only gripe I have is that it doesn’t show or say anything about anti-static precautions, but I guess it got overlooked since that would be difficult to show on the screen.  Don’t forget to ground yourself to the case before working on computer components!

Otherwise, give this simulator a try!  Between the simulator (and due diligence with research) you might be able to save the money you would have paid someone to build your next computer.