Last September, I set a goal for myself: to find a game for every standard I teach. In other words, to gamify the entire school year.

While 6th graders can’t vote—and they often feel that participating in civic life is something only their parents can do—games put them in the driver’s seat. They help kids become personally invested in civic engagement through role play, practice, and active skill-building. Games can be experienced individually or in groups and integrated into homework checks. They’re a natural tool for virtual learning. Simply put: games are amazing!

The games I’ve discovered on iCivics have been go-tos in my class. They often come with supporting slides or PDFs which make the experience even more accessible; for example, students with slow internet speeds can turn to a worksheet. For my students struggling with reading or speaking English, I’m always impressed by how the games pull them in: it’s like a magic trick that captures their interest. After each game, I use prompts to encourage the students to reflect on what they’ve learned—and they write their hearts out every time.

Recently, as part of the Civic Star Challenge, my students played People’s Pie. The challenge: create and balance the budget for the entire country. From managing tax rates to setting the retirement age, the students had to weigh a variety of competing needs. I was so impressed as I watched them puzzle through really complex decisions. They were deeply invested. They grappled with the reality that some citizens were unhappy with the choices they made. Several students ran out of money and had to weigh the cost-benefit of taking on debt. Many kids came to the similar conclusion: if you want to do what’s best for the country, you’ll have to reckon with some difficult tradeoffs.

Oftentimes, the outcome of these games is not winning. And the students are OK with that. They understand that compromise is a vital part of a functioning democracy. In that way, the soft skill of accepting discomfort may be one of the most valuable byproducts of gameplay: it gets students ready to join the world and continue tackling challenges there.