Budget Builders

Budget Builders is a board game designed to educate people of all ages about participatory budgeting (PB) through hands-on play. It was created in partnership with the Black Brilliance Project, in anticipation of their role in helping the City of Seattle distribute millions of dollars in public funding through the participatory budgeting processes. Budget Builders provides a creative solution to the lack of awareness surrounding PB in Seattle and aims to increase civic literacy and promote engagement with this new public forum.

During the game, players are challenged to discuss and debate city-related projects, vote on which projects they would like to see implemented, answer trivia questions to earn points, and increase their budgets by earning more funding. Budget Builders aims to educate members of the Seattle community about participatory budgeting through a fun and engaging activity that guides players through the various stages of the process. The board contains a total of 4 different “resource votes” that challenge players to have discussions and debates about real world topics such as public transportation, renewable energy sources, food insecurity, and affordable housing.