Article – A few kilometers east of downtown Kingston, Ontario, in a modest studio space overlooking Collins Bay, a small team of game developers is celebrating an unexpected international triumph. Last week, Bucket Drum Games received the prestigious Innovation in Democratic Engagement Award at the Global Game Impact Summit in Helsinki for their creation “Consensus: The People’s Power.”
I visited the studio on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, where the five-person development team was still processing their win. The space feels lived-in – whiteboards covered with flowcharts, desks cluttered with figurines and coffee mugs, and a corner dedicated to playtesting where visitors can try early builds of their games.
“We never set out to make a ‘democracy game’ specifically,” explains Sanjay Mehra, creative director and co-founder of Bucket Drum Games. “We wanted to create something that captured the messy, beautiful process of people figuring out how to live together. The democratic themes emerged naturally.”
“Consensus” places players in charge of a fictional community facing environmental, social, and economic challenges. Unlike typical strategy games where players hold absolute power, success in “Consensus” depends on building coalitions, finding compromise, and genuinely listening to diverse community voices – mechanics that mirror real democratic processes.
The game’s reception has surprised even its creators. What began as a passion project has now been adopted by civics teachers across Canada and is being piloted in community engagement programs in several municipalities including Kingston and Guelph.
Dr. Emma Westbrook, professor of digital media at Queen’s University, has been studying the impact of “Consensus” in educational settings. “What’s remarkable about this game is how it avoids both cynicism and naive optimism about democracy,” she told me. “Players experience firsthand how difficult consensus-building can be, but also how rewarding. The emotional investment changes how they think about participation.”
The development of “Consensus” wasn’t without challenges. The team at Bucket Drum spent three years refining the game’s core mechanics, scrapping entire systems when they felt the gameplay reinforced problematic power dynamics or oversimplified complex social issues.
“There was a version where players could just throw money at problems to make them go away,” laughs Aisha Chowdhury, the lead programmer. “We realized that was exactly the opposite of what we were trying to convey. Democratic solutions require more than just resources – they need dialogue, understanding, and sometimes difficult trade-offs.”
The studio worked extensively with political scientists, community organizers, and local government officials to ensure their game mechanics reflected real-world challenges in governance. They also conducted regular playtesting sessions with diverse groups, including high school students, seniors, and newcomers to Canada.
Data from Elections Canada shows declining voter turnout among young Canadians, with only 54% of eligible voters aged 18-24 participating in the 2021 federal election. Research from the Samara Centre for Democracy suggests this decline isn’t due to apathy but rather disconnection from traditional political processes – precisely the gap Bucket Drum Games hopes to address.
“Traditional civic education often focuses on structures and rules,” explains Diana Tomaszewski, educational content designer at Bucket Drum. “We wanted players to feel the human side of democracy – the tensions, the relationships, the moments of breakthrough when people with different perspectives find common ground.”
The game has resonated internationally at a time when democratic institutions face mounting challenges worldwide. The award jury in Helsinki specifically cited the game’s “nuanced approach to democratic principles” and its ability to “foster empathy for diverse stakeholders in civic decision-making.”
Kingston Mayor Sarah Goldstein, who attended a community event featuring the game last month, expressed pride in the local studio’s achievement. “This demonstrates how our creative industries are contributing not just economically but to important social conversations,” she said. “Their success shows how Kingston is fostering innovation that matters.”
Back at the studio, the team is already looking ahead. They’re developing a mobile version and educational resources to accompany the game. A planned expansion will introduce scenarios based on real-world democratic innovations from different countries.
As I prepare to leave, studio co-founder Mehra reflects on the unexpected journey. “When we started Bucket Drum, we just wanted to make games that mattered. The recognition is wonderful, but what really moves us are the stories from players – the teacher who saw disengaged students suddenly debating policy options, or the community group that used our game to work through a difficult local issue.”
In an era where both technology and democracy are rapidly evolving, this small Kingston studio has found a meaningful intersection between the two – proving that games can do more than entertain; they can help us practice the challenging, essential work of building consensus in diverse communities.
