Here’s An Idea – Gerrymandering: The Board Game
Originally published in Jacob All Trades Newsletter April 2018.
Redistricting is tough to do fairly and when the people or parties in power draw new district lines in an unfair way to favor a particular political party, that’s called gerrymandering. Gerrymandering can also be done to favor the incumbents of both parties over competitive elections. It limits the voice of voters (most typically people of color) in an election and is totally shady.
As easy as it is to talk about how messed up gerrymandering is, it’s much harder to understand the ins-and-outs and to do anything about it. That’s why someone should make a board game about it.
In order to remap a district, you need to have control of the state legislature. Even then, you need consensus from a majority of the legislature, your party boss, the courts, voter’s rights groups, etc. Hmmm…. carving out sections of a map to influence the desired outcome while brokering deals with allies and enemies while pushing your own secret agenda… it kind of sounds like a combination of Risk and Secret Hitler.
A gerrymandering board game would combine the bluffing and beautiful design of Secret Hitler, the negotiation of Chinatown, and the area control component of Risk or Inis.
I did a little Googling and uncovered a web-based game put out by USC’s Annenberg School. It’s a wonky (run-and-gun construction-wise and detailed policy-wise) little flash game where you try to achieve specific objectives while redistricting fake states. That said, I’ve gotten totally sucked into it. So, if a rudimentary version of the game can be this fun, imagine what a beautifully designed, competitive, team-based Gerrymandering board game could be.
