Game time. Entrepreneurs educate by gamifying the law

• Pages: 9-10

Opening

Statements

EDITED BY LIANE JACKSON

LIANE.JACKSON@AMERICANBAR.ORG

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN DEÕMAR PHOTOGRAPHY

“GAMIFICATION IS A VERY

IMPORTANT ELEMEN T IN MODERN

ACADEMIC THOUGHT, SPECIFICALLY

RELATED TO THE LEGAL INDUSTRY.”

—APRIL PREYAR

JULY-AUGUST 2019 ABA JOURNAL || 9

GAME TIME

ENTREPRENEURS EDUCATE BY GAMIFYING THE LAW

CHICAGO CRIMINAL DEFENS E ATTORNEY April Preyar

is making sure youth a re game to learn about the law.

Preyar has been on a mi ssion to educate teens about

what to do—and what not to do—during encounter s with

police. And she hopes the board ga me she developed, Trials

& Triumph , will help keep kids out of jail. The idea for the

game evolved after v ideos of Preyar giving tips on how to

interact with l aw enforcement went viral on Facebook.

“Once I saw the response to that , I realized I had an obli-

gation because this wa sn’t something that people were

taught in school,” says Preyar, co-ow ner and partner at

Shiller Preyar L aw O ces .

Trials & Triumph features 54 real-li fe scenarios to which

players respond as they navigate t he board, guided by a

set of rules applied to police encounter s: Don’t run, reach,

resist or “run your mouth.” Do request a law yer, refuse all

DUI tests and refu se consent to search. Preyar believes an

interactive approach to le arning about criminal justice i s

more e ec tive than a lecture.

“Instead of preachi ng at them from in front of the room

and saying this is what a n armed robbery is and this is

what happens if you and your friends c ommit this crime or

that crime, they ca n actually see it,” Preyar says.

Preyar launched an Indiegog o campaign to help fi nance

the venture and has sold hundreds of ga mes so far.

But Trials & Triumph isn’t the only law game in town.

In April, Japan-based Capc om Co. re-released its classic