A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
How better to teach children about the failed ideology of communism than with a board game?
A Polish research institute has developed a board game to teach young people about life under Communism. In the game, which is inspired by Monopoly, players must wait in endless lines at stores for scarce goods. For added realism, they have to put up with people cutting in line and products running out -- unless they have a "colleague in the government" card.
There are no glamorous avenues for sale, nor can players erect hotels, charge rent or make pots of money. In fact, a new Polish board game inspired by the classic Monopoly is all about communism rather than capitalism.
The goal of the game, which will officially be launched on Feb. 5, is to show how hard and frustrating it was for an average person to simply do their shopping under the Communist regime in Poland. The game has been developed by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a Warsaw-based research institute that commemorates the suffering of the Polish people during the Nazi and Communist eras.
(hat tip to Josh Riddle)
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Dec '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
God save the Poles! What a hilariously fantastic idea. I hope my family likes board games because all 5 of my siblings are getting their own copy.
Dec '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Bummer; my Polish sucks and the kids have a hard enough time with English, so I guess we'll have to wait for our evening of family enjoyment.
Jun '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
This sounds like a brilliant idea.
Maybe we could create a US version for teens that shows what dating was like before kids were trying to emulate Snookie and Skins and BET and "friends with benefits." Mystery Date for the year 2011.
Aug '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Given that Monopoly was originally designed by Elizabeth Magie to teach the evils of land ownership and the value of a "Landlord's Tax" to mitigate the effects, I find it refreshing to find a game that teaches the evils of Communism.
I wouldn't worry about not having an English version of the game. The fact that the Spiegel is writing about the game raises the likelihood of an English version. There are many excellent Polish board games that have been brought to our shores -- Neuroshima Hex among them.
I just hope they don't white wash the English version of the game as they did with Puerto Rico -- "colonists" indeed.
Jun '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
A board game that is long, frustrating and boring? It'll never fly, Orville.
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Marvelous!
May '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Europeans do have different aesthetics than Americans. Judging by the video games I've played, they have much more patience and less demand for polish (honing the gameplay to its finest elements and working out the bugs). "Tedious" is how I'd summarize the ones I've played.
It's a brilliant idea. But implementation is everything. I wish them luck.
Jun '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
The best board game of all time is called Origins of World War II. It was designed by a teacher as a classroom project and was picked up and published by Avalon Hill. It's only six turns long and can be played in an hour. Five players: Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Britain, France and the US. Lots of strategy, shifting alliances, and not overly dependent for the outcome on dice. Beats Risk by a country mile. Won't destroy friendships and marriages like Diplomacy.
Aug '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Some would argue that "Long and Boring" are what define the American boardgame. Eurogames tend to be quick and exciting. Compare a game of Memoir '44 to a game of Axis and Allies to a game of Squad Leader and you'll see what I mean.
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Just before Christmas, I wrote a post about my favorite games. The interesting part about the conversation wasn't my post, but rather all of the member recommendations for excellent board games. Since that conversation, I've acquired Dominion, which is my new favorite game. Absolutely addicting.
Edited on January 22, 2011 at 1:05amAug '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Bohnanza is the most addictive game of all time, and if you don't own Mr. Jack you must go out and buy it now.
Dec '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Actually, if they make it an online javascript game, it'll be a much better idea.
Jan '11
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
I wonder how well today's elementary school kids would do with a 60s edition of "Go to the Head of the Class"?
May '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Does it have community chest cards that include invasion by Germany, or colonisation by Russia?
I am buying a copy for my niece so she can learn what really happens when Green/Socialist/Watermelon types get into power.
May '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
In Communist Poland, Go passes you!
May '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
This reminds me of a very simple game concept I made in response to a friend's design challenge. The challenge was to "design a game that deals with a social issue that personally troubles you." So I came up with a game called Faces:
The earlier the correct shot, the more points. As the game progresses, more and more faces form on the screen. Shoot all the images before they become clear. But shoot a full revealed face and the game ends!
It was interesting to hear my liberal designer friends draw a wide variety of interpretations.
Sep '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Funny!
Until we get the US version, we can simply tweek the rules to Monopoly to hold us over. Pass Go, pay 200.00 .... Add one token, building inspector who gets one turn each round. Any property this token lands on must pay him half the rent the landlord is able to charge others. This token has a perpetual get out of jail free card, and pays all fines to himself.
This token can buy up property with the money it has earned. Once this token has achieved dominance, no one is allowed to leave the game.
Edited on January 22, 2011 at 12:54pmNov '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
This is an idea with legs.
There is surely scope for designing a game which, as well as illustrating the notorious vices of a planned market, illustrates the contrasting virtues of a free market.
I vaguely imagine a game where players explore a virgin landscape varying in its yield of desirable commodities; where they stake and maintain claims to plots of land under a regime of property rights; where they then develop their plots, engage in free trade, and adopt a division of labor, in pursuit of riches...
But such "worker" players can also vote for alternative "government" players, who will impose redistributive tax regimes differentially favorable to more and less productive workers, or who will also dictate how certain economic transactions will go down.
Otherwise, progress in the game will depend partly on luck (dice-determined), partly on talent and effort (the instantiation here being the hard bit.)
Final wealth achieved would be proportionally exchangable for a pre-agreed pot of real money. There would be real skin in the game.
It's called "LiberTyranny".
Shall I continue to develop the game plan, and mull over the mechanics?
Any input welcome!
Nov '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Aaron Miller:
The earlier the correct shot, the more points. As the game progresses, more and more faces form on the screen. Shoot all the images before they become clear. But shoot a full revealed face and the game ends!
It was interesting to hear my liberal designer friends draw a wide variety of interpretations. · Jan 21 at 9:11pm
Am I correct in guessing that abortion is the underlying "social issue" in question?
If so, then why not go the whole hog, and show fetuses morphing into babies?
As the levels progress, more and more fetuses appear, and develop at a faster and faster rate. The goal, as always, is to minimize immorality: kill as many fetuses as you can, as quickly as possible.
Also, if you wait long enough for the babies to mature into octogenarians, you can shoot them again. This neatly connects two social issues.
Taste and subtlety have never been my strong suit.
May '10
Re: A Brilliant Way to Teach Children About the Evils of Communism
Oh, no, that won't do - everyone pays $200? What about the player with all the fancy boulevards? She should add at least $100 per high-value property to the middle of the board each time around. And the guy with no hotels - each time he passes go, the other players should chip in to buy him a railroad or something.