There was a new game in town Sunday on the National Mall.

Alongside the old standards of dodgeball and soccer, it looked like any other sport: players in gym shorts and brightly-colored t-shirts making diving catches and fast passes, jawing good-naturedly with referees and gathering in team huddles to talk strategy.

But the day’s play-by-play announcer quickly made clear this was no typical team sport: “Treasury’s going to deficit-spend in this budget session.”

This was Budgetball, a new game developed by the National Academy of Public Administration and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. The goal is to raise awareness about the federal debt. And a few months after its inception, the game had its D.C. debut on Sunday with the “Budgetball on the Mall” tournament, featuring competitors from Treasury Department, the House Budget Committee and the White House Office of Management and Budget. Also playing were teams from local think tanks, as well as two college teams that earned a trip to Washington by winning Budgetball tournaments at their schools.

“From the federal government’s perspective, one of the great challenges we face as a nation is restoring and preserving fiscal responsibility. Part of that effort includes engaging American citizens about the issues and options involved,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement read before the games began. “This is why I support initiatives like Budgetball, which seek to broaden public awareness of the need for responsible financial behavior in our private and public lives.”

David Walker, the former comptroller general who is now president and CEO of the Peterson Foundation, said that Budgetball was a fun way to teach people financial strategies.

“You get physical and financial fitness,” Walker said. “Lord knows, we need more of both.”

Budgetball takes cues from Ultimate Frisbee, as players use quick passes to reach the end-zone and score points. But points can also be accumulated through smart management of “Budgetbucks.”

Teams can spend their bucks on “Powerups” – advantages such as an extra offensive or defensive player – or they can earn bucks by taking on “Sacrifices,” handicaps such as wearing a pair of oven mitts, or balancing on one foot whenever the player has the ball.

Angela Kuck, a player for the House Budget Committee’s “Budget Hawks” team, found the game a fun way to demonstrate the principles of fiscal health.

“The idea is not to have a deficit,” said Kuck, the committee’s Republican communications director. “If you spend your money on feel-good things, like an extra player, you get in the hole.”

Still, for all their financial know-how, teams from the House Budget Committee, the Treasury and OMB fell short against the teams from University of Miami and Arkansas’s Philander Smith University. The college teams battled it out in a close final match, with University of Miami ultimately talking top tournament honors.

The Miami players were secretive about their strategy—”take your sacrifices early” was all that one player revealed before his teammates cut him off. But it didn’t hurt that the team was comprised of flag football players and a track and field runner.

As Walker said, when asked to describe the ideal team, “You want at least one person who can add and think strategy. Then, you probably want five athletes.”