Collective action / A decision game
The Square
A shared reform.
A private decision.
Twenty citizens want the same reform. Will enough of them act? Play Citizen B1 in four rehearsals of a collective decision, forecast the other nineteen citizens, and weigh personal payoffs against a shared goal. Compare local communication, a national coordination proposal, and participant-only incentives. Each reveal exposes pivotality and the programmed intervention effect with conditions held fixed. Explain the mechanisms in a printable or downloadable reasoning record. Created by Yoav Duman.
Created by Yoav Duman · edition 2026-10-10.1
Choose under uncertainty
Twenty citizens. Twelve JOIN votes needed. A shared benefit and a personal cost.
Listen locally
Choose a district conversation. Decide what it reveals about national turnout.
Coordinate nationally
Propose district targets, read the replies, and distinguish commitments from ballots.
Change an incentive
Compare support, a participant-only benefit, a purpose message, or the base arrangement.
Twenty citizens. One threshold.
You control B1. The other nineteen citizens are simulated. Forecast their turnout before each ballot, then use the fixed comparisons to explain what changed.
Recorded ballots and their settings stay fixed; your explanations can be revised. Check the save status in the game. Download a backup before moving device, file, or website. Open the game on its own.
For instructors
A score starts the discussion.
Use the student’s alternative-ballot comparison to identify pivotality. Use the same-round intervention comparison to separate programmed communication, coordination, and incentive effects from the model’s round variation.
The participation rule is visible after every reveal. Its scripted tendencies illustrate mechanisms; they do not predict real political behavior. Assess the student’s explanation and its limits.
Assign, discuss, submit
Plan about 45–55 minutes including discussion and export. Assign solo play or a pair discussing one shared decision record. The PDF or text report is for submission; the JSON backup restores progress. Nothing is submitted automatically.