Just because Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have locked up their presidential nominations doesn’t mean mobile gamers can’t have some fun with the 2016 presidential election. The new Urthworx game, Candidate Crunch, lets players save (or not) candidates Bernie Sanders, Trump and Clinton. But there’s a lot more going on with this title, which is the brainchild of former entertainment lawyer Michael Fox. Fox explains why mobile gaming is ripe for raising money and awareness for causes and charities in this exclusive interview.

Candidate Crunch

Why did you decide to leave the world of entertainment law?

I actually never wanted to be in it!  I went to law school to be a human rights lawyer, but when I discovered that the law often has little to do with humans (much less their rights), I realized law was not the career for me. I started writing screenplays (often in lieu of going to class) and knew that storytelling was the path I wanted to pursue. But I stuck it out and graduated. Then, during my first year as an entertainment lawyer, I had a fateful encounter with a homeless man that changed my life. That led me to start a nonprofit where I produced an innovative benefit event for the homeless headlined by Kanye West and Common. That was my first foray into what we call “impact entertainment”—the fusion of entertainment and social impact.

What opportunities has mobile gaming opened up for raising awareness and money for good causes?

The former head of public policy at Facebook (Adam Conner) said “Gaming is the single-most underutilized tool for advancing the common good.” We very much believe that to be the case. We’re still figuring out the best ways to do it, but our first app NBA Escape (which is still in soft launch) raises awareness about fitness and nutrition through a trivia feature and, when players hit certain milestones, donations get triggered. Urthworx commits to donating 10 percent of its revenues to various causes.

Why did you decide to focus on voting and the election?

We had been working on a game called Celebrity Crush, where crazy things fell from the sky and you have to save the celebrities and raise money for their favorite causes. When we saw what was happening in the election and how high the stakes are for the future of the country, we transformed the game into Candidate Crunch. This is really an experiment to see if you can use a mobile game to drive participation in the election. So far, we’re seeing pretty high engagement in the civic elements of the app. Out of the first 85,000 downloads, more than 5,000 people have accessed the voter registration tools.

Who did you work with to develop this game and how involved were you with the creative process?

The game was built entirely in-house. We have a fantastic team who came from Gameloft, one of the top game developers in the world. Previously, our guys were the core team on Spider-Man Unlimited and The Oregon Trail. I’m the producer/creative director and am involved in developing all areas of the game.

How does Candidate Crunch encourage people to vote?

The app has a feature called Election Central, which is powered by Rock the Vote. It has everything you need for the election (online voter registration, a polling place locator, deadline reminders and more). Throughout the game, there are fun trivia sequences featuring interesting election-related facts and quotes from great American leaders along with cool and informative, shareable graphics.

Candidate Crunch

What are the challenges of getting a game like Candidate Crunch out into the world with such a crowded mobile market?

Where do we start?!? It’s a very competitive landscape. Right now there are a ton of “do terrible things to Donald Trump” games. Because Urthworx is focused on “impact entertainment” it has enabled us to secure great partners like the NBA (for our previous project NBA Escape) and Rock the Vote and DoSomething.org for Candidate Crunch. Having partners like that can help break through the clutter from both a promotional and reputational standpoint.

How has the non-stop election coverage helped your game?

We just released on June 2nd, so we have to wait and see about the effect.

Why is this election year especially important for people to get out and vote?

I think it’s important that people vote in every election. Personally, I would love it if voting were mandatory as it is in 32 other countries. As a country and a planet, we are at a crossroads and the Democrats and Republicans have some important distinctions with respect to some important issues.

What have you learned from previous digital endeavors like Baracky and The Empire Strikes Barack that you applied to this latest project?

Our motto is “pop culture with a purpose.” Back in ’08, when I created those viral videos for Obama, we were able to reach people who weren’t traditionally involved in the political process by conveying important information by re-mixing iconic movies like Rocky and The Empire Strikes Back. Using entertainment for social impact, when done correctly, can be very powerful.

What has the early reaction been to your game and who’s playing it?

So far the reaction has been largely positive with the vast majority of our ratings being five-stars.  However, we do get a bunch of one-stars because so-and-so hates Trump or Hillary (which doesn’t have much to do with the game). The comments in the app stores run the gamut from political rants to people who really like the civic engagement elements to people who just think it’s a fun silly game.

As for demographics, we aren’t able to get information about all users from the app stores, but from the information we do have, more than half are under 35 with the majority being between 19 and 25. The gender split is 75/25 (male/female).

Given your experience with this project, how open are you to exploring mobile games in the future for your causes?

Urthworx is committed to using mobile entertainment as a medium for social impact. Casual games can be a difficult market and you’re constantly having to build a new audience with each new game. Going forward, we are primarily focused on developing an interactive storytelling system that will allow us to deliver engaging entertainment on an on-going basis—think an interactive TV show.