Spend Elon Musk’s Money: Why It Gets Harder to Visualize Wealth

Some items are carried over from Spend Bill Gates’ Money, while others are different. The goal this time was to offer more concrete ways for people to visualize extreme wealth.

Why the Options Include the Las Vegas Sphere and an Aircraft Carrier

“Honestly, it’s hard to think of items,” the creator explained. “Once you reach $100 million, there’s only so much you can buy on the market. So there’s the Las Vegas Sphere and the aircraft carrier.”

After a certain point, even buying thousands of expensive items becomes difficult to understand. “Okay, I can buy 1,000 more tanks, but what do I get out of it?” they said. “Part of the fun of this work is its futility. At some point, what more does a person need?”

Surely, buying 1,000 monster trucks would make a difference—and still leave $999.65 million to spend.

How Do You Visualize a Trillion Dollars?

One idea was to make the user spend $1 trillion, removing the full amount as they made purchases. In practice, however, displaying a trillion-dollar bill on a webpage would be difficult.

Another concept focused on something more abstract: once the spending reaches $1 trillion, users could be buying electricity, companies and influence. But that approach is harder for most people to visualize than something concrete, such as buying a million racehorses.

The Technical Challenge of Rendering Millions of Items

Initially, the plan was to create every item on the site as a 3D model. But attempting to render a million monster trucks on a laptop caused it to freeze.

To solve the problem, the creators used technical tricks to produce the appearance of a 3D effect without actually rendering a full 3D model for every item.

What the Game Reveals About Prices and Wealth

The interactive experience is not only about Elon Musk. It also shows how the prices of everyday goods have changed over time.

In the original Spend Bill Gates’ Money, a Big Mac cost $2. Now it costs $6. Items with a direct real-world comparison can therefore highlight how prices have increased.