Game Helps Solve Actual Problems

It’s not “The Price is Right.”

The prize in this game is community awareness instead of cars or money. And you don’t have to come running down the aisle screaming like a banshee to play.

On Jan. 13, community members gathered at The Ridpath to play the first Spokane Game; the next one is set for fall.

City planners wanted to find a way to show citizens that even the smallest individual decisions affect everyone in the community, said City Planner Chris Hugo.

The Spokane Game was modeled after the World Game, adapted to reflect the Lilac City’s areas and statistics. Spokane County was split up into 12 neighborhoods: Far Northwest, North Growth, Northeast City, North Valley, Non-Urban, Shadle, Central City, West Valley, East Valley, Southwest Growth, South City and State Line. About 240 participants were randomly distributed in the “city” — with boundaries represented by masking tape stuck to the carpet.

Each neighborhood had been “scored” in three areas: ecology, economy and equity. These scores were converted into dollar amounts and dispersed among neighborhoods.

Patterns in poverty, housing and education costs, etc., were detailed to the neighborhood dwellers. Players got a good “mental model” of their neighborhood. In other words, they were forced to drop any preconceptions of their area, walk in and actually understand what each community was dealing with.

Players came away with a “strong visual,” said Hugo. “Before, they may have had mental knowledge (of other neighborhood’s conditions), but this gave them heart knowledge.”

So, off they went, “play money” in hand, attempting to unite the simulated city to create a sustainable future.

Citizens had to figure out how to make the best use of their neighborhood resources and were encouraged to look beyond their own sub-area, helping to improve the community as a whole. By the end of three game segments, they saw they had that ability, Hugo said.

Participants came up with several goals for bettering Spokane, which included improving education, tripling cultural diversity, providing health insurance for all, creating a vital downtown, providing affordable housing and cutting poverty in half.

Even if just one new connection is made in the community, the program has served its purpose, said Hugo. In January’s game, the Spokane Food Bank discovered additional “wealthy areas” to comb for donations.

The next Spokane Game will be more detailed and focus on only one fourth of Spokane. It will repeat until the city has been covered.

“You just don’t know what the future may hold,” said Hugo.

For more information or to participate, call 625-6787.