Wicked games changing the storyline of urban planning

•We present the concept of wicked games.•We combine the concept of wicked games with the theory of deliberative democracy.•We study the collaboration in the wicked games from the citizens’ perspective. This article addresses urban and regional planning as if a wicked game, the framework used to tackle wicked problems. The study explores the obstacles and opportunities revealed in a participatory method in wicked games called the Citizens' Jury. Citizens' Juries represent deliberative practices designed to garner the opinion of a group to serve as microcosm of the whole population affected by the issue in question. We hypothesized that deliberation encourages the creation of a collaborative playing field on which to play the wicked game and changes the storyline of the issue deliberated upon. The analysis was conducted through an evaluative orientation built on the multidimensional evaluation model. The results indicate that Citizens' Juries faced four main obstacles to including citizens in the wicked games arena. In addition, some opportunities were also found.