Polish anti communist board game

[PhoenixAsh]

http://thenews.pl/national/artykul147620_poland-issues-communist-monopoly-board-game.html



The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) is to release an educational board game called “Queue”, aimed at ‘raising awareness’ among the young of what everyday life in communist Poland was like.

Each player gets a list of ten goods which they must buy. They learn, however, that getting desired products, such as shoes, toilet paper, coffee or furniture, is not an easy task - just as it was in the dark days of communism.

Players have to queue for everything they buy, but could find, as they get closer to the front of the line, that the shop has run out of stock, or another player had obtained priority to buy a certain product.

The game, to be released in February, reflected everyday life for millions of Poles before 1989.

Access to goods is limited and game cards either help or make it more difficult for players to purchase them.

“The game not only makes players understand shopping in Poland under communism,” Karol Madaj from the Institute of National Remembrance told Polish Radio.

“Players learn what it feels like to queue for hours, to lose their turn because someone jumped the queue, or to arrive too late at a shop only to learn that certain products sold out,” he added.

The game will be accompanied by documentaries about shopping in communist Poland and a booklet about the communist command economy. As many as 3,000 copies of the game will be released but more could follow.

Earlier, IPN released a war board game called “303” about the Battle of Britain and the Polish 303 Polish Fighter Squadron and it is currently working on a game called “Conspiracy” about Polish underground organizations during World War II. (mg/pg)





see also: http://www.revleft.com/vb/wtf-pools-spel-t148838/index.html?t=148838&highlight=polish+game





So basically...this is what we are up against ;-)

[graymouser]

You could make one for capitalism: you can have all the crap you want, but you don't make enough per turn to actually buy anything, and anything you manage to buy, you work such long hours you don't get to enjoy it. Also, if you go into debt to buy something, you can never make enough to actually get out. Finally, at random points in the game you can lose your job and have a low chance of actually getting a new one. Such wonderful options!

[L.A.P.]

You could make one for capitalism: you can have all the crap you want, but you don't make enough per turn to actually buy anything, and anything you manage to buy, you work such long hours you don't get to enjoy it. Also, if you go into debt to buy something, you can never make enough to actually get out. Finally, at random points in the game you can lose your job and have a low chance of actually getting a new one. Such wonderful options!

That's absolutely ridiculous, don't you know? The game of Monopoly is what fully represents capitalism because every one gets to be a rich tycoon in real life.:rolleyes:

I'm surprised that there wasn't a part of the game where people get randomly shot by the KGB so if that's what life was like in Socialist Poland then it doesn't sound that bad. "OH NO! THE SHOP RAN OUT OF MILK AND THIS GUY CUT IN LINE!" as if that doesn't happen in capitalism.

[Bud Struggle]

I don't remember having ever seen a queue in Communist Poland. They were there aplenty in the Soviet Union though. FWIW: Communism in Poland was much easier than that of it's neighbors to the East and West.

[Ocean Seal]

Lets make some chance cards for capitalism. Or Monopoly for proletarians.

Positive
Start a small business-will fail within 10 turns. Pay 200 to the bank after 10 turns.
You get a job as a wage slave. Collect minimum wage 7-(3 TAX)=4.
Your union is dismantled. Divide your wage in two.
Government cuts welfare stamps. Hooray now lazy people can't collect. Lose one turn begging for food.
Foreclosure, you've lost your house. Lose all properties
Your job was sent overseas. Collect 1000 if player is bourgeois, lose wage if player is proletarian.
Negative
Revolution Occurred. All proletarians gain healthcare, a decent wage, housing, and education. Bourgeoisie lose means of production.

[#FF0000]

it is a good thing there aren't lines for things like groceries or checks or any goods or services in capitalism and america

seriously i don't understand the whole "OH NO QUEUES" nonsense.

[Comrade Gwydion]

“Players learn what it feels like to queue for hours, to lose their turn because someone jumped the queue, or to arrive too late at a shop only to learn that certain products sold out,” he added.

On a sidenote, this sounds like the most boring game ever.

[La Comédie Noire]

Okay, that is the most boring board game I've ever heard of, who the hell would play that for entertainment.

Think about it, you play a game where you stand in line.

[PhoenixAsh]

I want one...just for the novelty value...

[Kotze]

If only this would make some leftists who are against a labour-voucher payment system for consumption rethink their position.
You could make one for capitalismMonopoly is that game. Playing it starts exciting, but soon everybody knows how it will end, yet everybody continues and it gets duller and duller. It isn't a game devoid of any strategy, but those who obsess over these bits miss the big picture: When you simulate a game of Monopoly where every player acts in a completely random fashion, you still end up with a very uneven distribution of success.

Monopoly has political origins in the Georgist movement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landlord%27s_Game).
On a sidenote, this sounds like the most boring game ever.Don't say that, it only helps their case.

[Die Neue Zeit]

There needs to be a Monopoly equivalent for Finance and the Mass Media.

[Pretty Flaco]

I want a mercantilist board game. I could tariff tea and make the colonists angry, what what.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

it is a good thing there aren't lines for things like groceries or checks or any goods or services in capitalism and america

seriously i don't understand the whole "OH NO QUEUES" nonsense.
I know right :rolleyes:.

Isn't this what EVERY Black Friday is like only a thousand times worse? You camp outside a store overnight in the freezing cold, when the doors open up a poor employee is trampled to death, you can barely maneuver in the store, when you get to what you want there are a thousand people going for the same thing and there are like 1,000 people going for 100 of something so chances are you won't get it. And if you do get it you then have to wait forever in line, literally people have been in stores for whole days on Black Fridays. Then chances are some jackass will rob you when you walk outside with your nice PS3(That has parts in it from conflict ridden parts of Africa) and sometimes people die getting robbed. Capitalism is horrible let's make a board game.

[Lt. Ferret]

one holiday with great savings is equal to standing in line for 8 hours to pay exorbitant prices on basic foodstuffs?

you just made the best case for capitalism ever.

[#FF0000]

Where did the infamous image of the "COMMUNIST QUEUE" come from?

[Jack]

Where did the infamous image of the "COMMUNIST QUEUE" come from?

Perestroika

[#FF0000]

Perestroika

Is that so? I'll have to look into it.

[Kotze]

standing in line for 8 hours to pay exorbitant prices on basic foodstuffsAccording to supply and demand long queues are caused by prices being too low.

Class Struggle by Bertell Ollman (1978) (http://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman/game_rules.php) seems to be pretty meh (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1510/class-struggle). That site has thousands of board games in its database, so maybe we'll find some better educational games about politics/economics there.

[Lt. Ferret]

theyre also indicative of supplies being too low. or long wait times in order to get goods or services. which is inefficient.

[PhoenixAsh]

theyre also indicative of supplies being too low. or long wait times in order to get goods or services. which is inefficient.


Something we have here with our cable companies. 45 minutes in the helpline :crying:

And when I finally got to the front desk for my iphone 4...it was all sold out.
:crying:

*******

But on a serious side note.... making fun of the stupidity of it doesn't negate the fact that this is what is actually still going on. Communism is still being branded and the cold war is far from over. Institutions like this deploy these initiatives to prolong the negeative feelings attached to communism to keep workers from joining such parties and effectively organize resistance.

[Bud Struggle]

Where did the infamous image of the "COMMUNIST QUEUE" come from?

The Great Communicator himself.

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