Fined Out: The Game
A new narrative video game designed to show the devastating impact of excessive fines and fees on working poor families across the country, and how we can choose to change this unjust system.
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Based on real stories, the game allows players to navigate through different scenarios as diverse characters to understand how easily a single ticket or fine can spiral into job loss, eviction, incarceration, and a lifelong cycle of debt and poverty.
As the player inhabits different perspectives—from impacted community members, to legal advocates, to judges—they gain insight into the impossible choices working poor people face everyday, and how even seemingly small shifts from those in power can have a huge impact. The goal of the game is to build solidarity, foster engagement, and spur action on this pressing and systemic issue that affects millions of families across the country.
The game is a core part of Fined Out, a multimedia project that exposes how unjust fines and fees punish poverty to raise revenue—and how communities are fighting back against a system designed to keep them paying.
Partners:
In this browser-based point-and-click game, players will choose from multiple storylines featuring diverse protagonists from different geographies, who become ensnared in a pervasive web of fines and fees for minor infractions that wreak havoc on them and their families. From a loving father who faces thousands of dollars in fines and fees for a decade-old traffic ticket, to a working-class vet in danger of losing his home because of an overgrown lawn, players feel the pressure of a system designed to extract the most from those who have the least. Along the way, they encounter people in power—law enforcement, officials, judges—who have the power to help or harm them. Each decision the player makes tangibly alters the direction of the protagonist’s story, showing the stark difference between punitive and restorative approaches in our real-world legal and court systems.
The protagonists and storylines are based on extensive research and interviews with community members, experts, advocates, and judges, some of whom are featured in the short documentaries we produced in Michigan and New Mexico, where fines and fees have deeply impacted individuals and communities for generations.
Audience and Impact
Judges and Court Personnel
This game offers an opportunity to deepen understanding of how court processes disproportionately impact low-income individuals. It can be incorporated into professional development sessions or judicial trainings to surface systemic blind spots and encourage more informed, discretionary practices.
Policymakers and advocacy groups
For legislators, city officials, and justice advocates, the game provides a vivid narrative framework for understanding the real-world impact of current policies. It can be used to anchor public briefings, hearings, or advocacy campaigns that aim to reform municipal fine and fee structures.
Law and Public Policy Students
Ideal for classrooms, clinics, and campus workshops, the game allows students to explore the mechanics and injustices of the legal system through an interactive lens. Ideally, the game inspires solutions that law advocates can use in navigating legal systems with their clients.
Community
Organizations
Organizers and grassroots groups can use the game to engage their base, educate communities about the dangers of fines and fees, and mobilize action. Whether during team meetings, town halls or community engagement, the game sparks meaningful conversations about justice and reform.