The ReDistricting Game (no, really, it’s a game)
As I’ve noted elsewhere, I’m a bit of a political junkie, and one of the great political spectacles is the national redistricting that occurs every 10 years — after the Federal Census — and sometimes more often than that.
So it has been fascinating to run across The ReDistricting Game, a browser-based Flash game that gives you the role of a political consultant involved in redistricting. You have to redraw political boundaries to meet certain goals and criteria, while stilling getting your plan (a) through the legislature, (b) signed by the governor, and (c) approved by the courts (or, at least, not thrown out).
Eyes glazing over? Actually, it’s fun and fascinating. And while the caricatures seem to be a bit more kind to the Left than to the Right, it does drive home the real challenges in redistricting. Plus it shows that gerrymandering can be fun.
Hat tip to Play This Thing! via Greg Costigan’s blog. ..bruce..
Category: 2008 Election, Games, Main, US Politics
About the Author (Author Profile)
Webster is Principal and Founder at Bruce F. Webster & Associates, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at Brigham Young University. He works with organizations to help them with troubled or failed information technology (IT) projects. He has also worked in several dozen legal cases as a consultant and as a testifying expert, both in the United States and Japan. He can be reached at bwebster@bfwa.com, or you can follow him on Twitter as @bfwebster.Subscribe
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