Budgetball tournament on the National Mall. College students vs. the White House and Congressional Budget Office staffers.
Budgetball is a sport that combines physical play with fiscal strategy, designed with Area/Code, PETLab researchers, and the National Academy of Public Administration for the Pete Peterson Foundation. The game was designed to generate awareness about the federal among college students. The design team decided to create an intercollegiate sport, culminating in a final tournament between college teams and Congressional Budget Officers and White House Staff, which was played annually on the National Mall in Washington D.C. between 2009 and 2010.
Download the Budgetball handbook and materials
College Students vs. Congress
Budgetball was designed to generate awareness about the federal among college students. The design team decided to create an intercollegiate sport, culminating in a final tournament between college teams and Congressional Budget Officers and White House Staff. It was played between 2009 and 2010 on the National Mall in Washington D.C. .
Both years, college students defeated Congressional and White House teams.
A Physical and Fiscal Game
The gameplay mixes fast-paced movement on the field, as teams attempt to get their ball into the end zone. In between the intense 8-minute quarters on the field, the gameplay shifts to fiscal strategy, as teams get 3-minutes to choose to spend Budget Bucks on Powerups that give teams advantages, like “Gain another Defensive Player” or to earn Budget Bucks back by choosing from a variety of Sacrifices which make it harder to score, such as “Wear Oven Mitts.” Between quarters, interest accrues. The team with the most points scored - and a (fairly) balanced budget - wins.
Design Context
How do you make a game about the federal debt enticing to college students? We knew from the start we needed the game to look fun to recruit players. In the beginning of the process we created over 10 prototypes ranging from tabletop simulation to online multiplayer videogames. But after our first playtest, we quickly realized that a fun and goofy sport had the ability to not only draw in new players, it created spectatorship and buzz - a perfect way to garner attention from our core audience and the media.
Inclusive and fun.
We also wanted it to be accessible to athletes and non-athletes. In order to encourage safe play among a variety of athletic skills, we modeled the gameplay on Ultimate Frisbee: there’s no running with the ball, rather players catch it, freeze, and pass it to another player.
Press:
“The Miami players were secretive about their strategy— “take your sacrifices early” was all that one player revealed before his teammates cut him off”
“The Hill plays Budgetball”, Politico
“Rock and roll blared, the hot sun blazed, spectators chugged water and Gatorade, and a big sign announced ‘Budgetball on the Mall: The Nation Gets Fiscal.’”
“A Rousing Game of Budgetball”, Government Executive
“Peterson’s Deficit “Budgetball”: The Fountainhead Meets Death Race 2000”
Headline, Huffington Post
Needless to say, the author of the last article - which is the best/worst headline anything I’ve done has garnered so far - didn’t play the game. Politically, we decided against making debt seem “good” or “bad” in the game, or trying to convey some kind of a moral message. In fact, debt skewed towards good, since it felt GREAT to go into debt, and let you do more things.