Fed up with wild districts, Texas siblings create gerrymandering board game

A trio of Austin siblings, Louis, Josh and Rebecca Lafair, are launching a board game to educate others about gerrymandering.

See the most gerrymandered districts in Texas. A trio of Austin siblings, Louis, Josh and Rebecca Lafair, are launching a board game to educate others about gerrymandering.

See the most gerrymandered districts in Texas. Photo: Lafair Family Photo: Lafair Family Image 1 of / 57 Caption Close Fed up with wild districts, Texas siblings create gerrymandering board game 1 / 57 Back to Gallery

A trio of Austin siblings are launching a board game to educate others, especially lawmakers, about gerrymandering.

Josh, 17, and his 23-year-old twin siblings Louis and Rebecca Lafair grew up in one of the most gerrymandered districts in the Lone Star State.

Stretching from Austin to North Houston, Texas' oddly-shaped 10th congressional district was enough to get the Lafairs to combine their passion: board games and dislike for voter packing.

"We wanted to start a conversation about a topic that isn't discussed enough," said Josh, one of the young creators of "Mapmaker."

Photo: Lafair Family Louis, Josh and Rebecca Lafair.

From first draft to final product, Josh said bringing Mapmaker to life took about a year. During that time, he said he and his siblings stayed glued to gerrymandering news, including last month's Supreme Court decision to have Texas redraw only one of the political boundaries being challenged.

"That was actually a big deal for us," Josh said. "It didn't go so well."

BY THE NUMBERS: Ranking Texas' most gerrymandered districts

In order to play the game, four players— represented by Red Elephants, Blue Donkeys, Yellow Porcupines or Green Leaves— must either craft their opponent's votes into a single district or spread them across multiple districts.

Sounds fun right? Only as a board game, Josh said.

"[Real] gerrymandering is not a game," he said. "Elected officials should not be choosing their voters."

To drive home the point, Josh said the Lafairs would be sending their game to Supreme Court justices, state legislators and other politicians.

A drawing of Supreme Court justices playing "Mapmaker."

Mapmaker will launch on Kickstarter to seek $15,000.

Fernando.ramirez@chron.com

Twitter.com/fernramirez93