Chem Cash.
Reward. Engage. Motivate.
A complete points-based incentive system that makes learning more rewarding — for you and your students.
Why teachers choose Chem Cash
Instant
Real-time updates
Balance changes the moment a teacher posts — no refresh needed
Full
Classroom economy
Jobs, investments, campaigns, and a store — a complete point-based economy in one app
Easy
Setup in minutes
Add a roster, set your rules, and your class economy is live — no IT, no training needed
Total
Customization
Every feature is configurable — toggle it on, set the price, and make it fit your class
The Classroom Economy
An economy they can see and touch.
Students earn points, watch them grow, and spend them on things they actually want.
Points & Rewards
Every point
tells a story.
Post bonuses and fines in seconds. Import assignment scores from your grade book. Every transaction appears instantly on each student's dashboard.
- Award bonus points for outstanding work
- Post fines for late or missing items
- Import grades from a Canvas or Infinite Campus CSV export
- Custom score converters map any raw score to points
Class Store
A store they'll
actually want to visit.
Build a virtual marketplace stocked with anything your students value. They earn, they shop, you approve. It's an economy they can see and touch.
- Create any product — homework passes, candy, privileges
- Students browse, add to cart, and check out with points
- One-click teacher approval for every order
- Real-time order queue — no paper slips needed
Investments
The market,
minus the risk.
A full stock-market simulation built right in. Students invest their hard-earned points in real companies, ride the ups and downs of live prices, and learn how markets work — with zero real-world money on the line.
- Trade real-world stock tickers using class points — never real money
- Live prices and interactive charts powered by real market data
- Watch portfolio value, gains, and losses update in real time
- Teachers choose which tickers are tradeable and set optional fees
Classroom Jobs
Post recurring jobs that pay a salary in points. Students apply, you hire, and payouts run automatically every week or month.
Prime Memberships
Let students subscribe with points to unlock perks like store discounts and bonus rewards. Prime and Prime Plus tiers included.
Gradebook Import
Export a grade CSV from Canvas or Infinite Campus, import it, and let custom score converters handle the math — points awarded automatically.
Economy Dashboard
See spending breakdowns and balance distributions across all your courses at a glance.
Engagement & Competition
Make learning the main event.
Games, live game shows, and goal-driven quests that keep students coming back.
Educational Games
Learning disguised
as fun.
Five game types let students reinforce chemistry concepts while earning points — play solo, team up in cooperative mode, or wager points in head-to-head challenges. Live leaderboards keep the energy high.
Chem Clash
A game show
where everyone wins points.
Run a live, high-energy review session. Split the class into teams or go individual. Award points on the fly as students answer — the big-screen leaderboard updates in real time and every point lands in their Chem Cash balance when the round ends.
- Head-to-head quiz show with live buzz-in scoring
- Individual or team mode — you choose the format
- Teacher awards or deducts points with a single tap
- Live leaderboard updates on every student's device in real time
Missions & Campaigns
Goals worth
chasing.
Give students something to work toward. Missions turn games into multi-step quests with bronze, silver, and gold tiers and stacking bonuses. Campaigns pool the whole class’s points toward a shared reward — complete with a progress bar and a contributor leaderboard.
- Missions chain game challenges into multi-step quests
- Stack completion, tier, and early-bird bonuses for big payouts
- Campaigns rally the whole class toward a shared point goal
- Live progress bars and contributor leaderboards keep momentum high
Jukebox & Song Requests
Their requests,
your playlist.
Connect Spotify and turn song requests into an earning goal. Students spend points to queue their picks, and approved tracks sync automatically to a playlist you control — so the music stays appropriate and the class stays motivated.
- Students spend points to request songs — you approve, reject, or auto-queue
- Approved requests sync straight to a Spotify playlist you control
- The Jukebox display shows now-playing, upcoming requests, and the live queue
- Skip tracks, reorder the queue, or lock requests — all from the dashboard
Everyday Tools
Everything else you need.
The day-to-day classroom utilities that round out Chem Cash — from the first bell to the last.
Digital Hall Pass
Timed passes with a fullscreen countdown display. Optionally charge students points to request one. Track who's out in real time and keep a full log.
Random Picker & Groups
Call on a student at random from the dashboard, or shuffle your whole class into balanced groups in one click — then drag to fine-tune. Goodbye, popsicle sticks.
Seating Charts
Pull up your seating chart and award bonuses or post fines right from a student's seat. Select a whole table to reward — or fine — the group in one tap.
Student Profiles
Pull up any student to see their balance, transaction history, jobs, missions, and investments at a glance — then award or adjust points on the spot.
"I built Chem Cash because I wanted my students to feel like they were working toward something real — and because I wanted to spend less time on logistics and more time on teaching."
Doc May
High School Chemistry Teacher
Hi! I'm Joseph May, a high school chemistry teacher from Las Vegas. While I love teaching chemistry, I also love programming for the web, so why not combine the two.
Chem Cash is a points-based rewards system I use in my classroom. The idea for this site came from a colleague who was inspired by one of his own high school science teachers.
Students earn points in two ways: (1) through payouts based on their assessment scores and (2) with bonus points earned for anything I deem worthy of reward such as winning in-class competitions or going above and beyond to help me or a fellow student.
These points can be used to “purchase” goods such as school supplies, electronics, and anything I can find for cheap or get for free.
However, the hottest-selling item is song requests. During work time in my class I play music for my students. Each class period has its own playlist and students can only add songs to the playlist by spending their Chem Cash points.
What started as a way to manage the logistics behind my own classroom has grown into a complete platform that runs an entire class economy — the same one I rely on with my students every day. If you'd like to bring Chem Cash to your classroom, I'd love to hear from you.
Chem Cash is a modern, real-time web app built end to end on a fully typed stack — a React front end, a Convex backend for live data, and Clerk for secure sign-in, all shipped on Vercel.
React
React Router
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS
Convex
Clerk
Vite
Vercel
Built with a little help
I build alongside AI pair-programming tools — they help me ship faster and keep the codebase clean.
Claude Code
AI pair programmer
VS Code
Code editor
GitHub Copilot
In-editor AI
Ready to transform
your classroom?
Bring the all-in-one classroom economy to your room. Chem Cash is invite-only for now — request an invite and we’ll help get you set up.
Works on any device · Live in minutes · Nothing to install