HOW TO PLAY THE GAME

There are two ways to play the game: a simple version that challenges you to cut major categories of spending and/or eliminate tax loopholes, or a longer version with sub-categories of spending.

We suggest that you do the simulations first without knowing their budgets. You may be surprised that cutting certain programs yield little revenue. This makes the simulation a bit more challenging since it tests whether your perception of where money goes in the budget matches the reality.

A graph will be produced showing the distribution of spending and tax expenditures in the main categories.

Just remember: increasing any category, whether a spending or a revenue category, will increase the deficit, while cutting any category will decrease the deficit.