The Game of Rent

The Game of Rent is a board game-style teaching tool designed by Kelsey Oesmann, AIA, to help communities engage in more productive conversations about affordable housing. The game began in 2017 as part of Nashville’s PARK(ing) Day, an event to activate public parking spaces through pop-up “parklets.” Through several iterations, prototypes, and focus groups over two years, the Game of Rent has evolved to capture the complexity of housing challenges in cities all across the country. The game leverages local data for average salaries, neighborhood-specific rents, child care costs, student loan debt, and other factors to ground discussions about housing in reality. Each player is randomly assigned a new identity that includes an occupation, family members, and other life circumstances, including eviction records, physical disabilities, or promotions. Based on their situation, players are challenged to find an apartment they can afford—and access—as close to their job as possible. The game has been featured in workshops at AIA national and state conferences and played by over 500 people, including students, housing advocates, designers, developers, and elected officials. In 2019, a successful Kickstarter campaign helped scale the project, making customized editions of the Game of Rent available in 25 American cities.