In Counties Work, students learn about local government by playing a county official responding to citizen requests. The objective of the game is to keep citizens happy and manage county resources responsibly. Students have to make critical determinations as they run the county, such as deciding if citizens are making sensible requests, finding which department of local government can resolve citizen requests, and analyzing whether taxes need to be raised or lowered to keep a balanced budget. Students also have to figure out what the best action is when crisis strikes.