Game Economy Audit Worksheet: Faucets & Sinks
This worksheet helps you map every currency faucet (source) and sink (destination) in a game's economy onto one table, making inflation and stockpiling problems visible at a glance. For the full model behind faucets and sinks, see the game economy design guide; if you'd rather have someone else run the audit against your live data, you can book a free consultation.
Currency inflation rarely announces itself — it shows up quietly as rising prices, players sitting on huge stockpiles, or a once-exciting reward starting to feel worthless. The fastest way to catch it early is to list every single faucet and sink in the game side by side and see whether they're actually balanced. This worksheet is the same tool used in a full checklist & worksheet review, condensed into something you can fill out yourself in under an hour.
Before You Start
- List every distinct currency type in the game (soft currency, premium currency, event tokens, crafting materials treated as currency, etc.)
- List every way each currency is earned — quests, dailies, PvP, selling items, offline generation, ads, real-money purchase
- List every way each currency is spent — gear, cosmetics, repairs, upgrades, entry fees, taxes, conversions to other currencies
- Pull your best estimate of frequency for each faucet and sink (per session, per day, or per week)
- Note which faucets and sinks are new since your last audit, since those are the most likely source of a new imbalance
- Have your current average player balance on hand, if you track it — it's the single best sanity check against this table
Faucet & Sink Worksheet
Add one row per faucet or sink. Don't worry about getting every number perfect on the first pass — the goal is to see the whole economy on one page.
| Faucet or Sink | Currency Type | Source / Destination | Frequency (session/day/week) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Illustrative example A row might read: Faucet | Soft Coin | Daily quest completion | 3 per session | "Average reward increased 20% in last patch — check against sink side." Filling in a note like this for every row is what makes the imbalance visible once the table is complete.
Inflation Warning Signs to Check
- Average player currency balance is trending upward release over release, not holding steady
- Players are stockpiling currency instead of spending it, even when new items are available
- Prices on existing items have climbed but no new sinks or content have been added to justify it
- A recent content update added a new faucet without an equivalent new sink
- Top-spending players have visibly more currency than they can plausibly spend before the next update
- Support or community channels mention that a currency "doesn't matter anymore" or feels trivial to earn
If two or more of these show up alongside a faucet/sink table that's clearly lopsided, that's a strong signal to trim a faucet, add a sink, or both — ideally before the next content release rather than after.
FAQ: Game Economy Audits
What is a faucet and sink in game economy design?
A faucet is any place currency enters the game — quest rewards, daily logins, selling items. A sink is any place currency leaves — purchases, repairs, taxes, or crafting costs. A healthy economy keeps these roughly balanced over time; when faucets consistently outpace sinks, currency piles up and inflation follows.
How often should I run this audit?
Run it once before launch to catch obvious imbalances, then again after any content update that adds a new reward source or removes a spending option. Live games with frequent events benefit from a lighter version of this audit every few weeks.
What if I don't have exact numbers for how much currency a faucet produces?
Estimate using your best guess at play patterns — for example, 'average player completes 3 quests per session, each rewarding 50 coins.' The worksheet is meant to surface obvious mismatches, not produce a perfectly precise model. You can refine the numbers once you have real telemetry.
Does this worksheet work for games with multiple currencies?
Yes — fill out a separate row (or a separate copy of the table) for each currency type, since a soft currency and a premium currency usually need to be balanced independently. Cross-currency conversions, like buying soft currency with premium currency, should be logged as both a sink for one and a faucet for the other.