Kolejka, Poland's communist 'Monopoly' board game.

[Astral Rag]

-New game about life under communism
-Players must spend their time in queues to win
-Game painted grey to evoke depressing mood

A new board game, which tries to help children experience the deprivation and struggle of life under communism, is set to hit the shelves in Poland.

In Kolejka, which means queue or line, the aim of the game is for players to buy basic day-to-day goods.

Confronted with food shortages, a lack of deliveries and people with “friend in government” cards is meant to help gamers feel the frustration of day-to-day life under the communist regime.

"We want to show young people and remind the older ones what hard times these were and what mechanisms were at play," Karol Madaj, the game's creator, said.

"We want to show how it was when you lost your chance because someone with high connections jumped the line," said 30-year-old Madaj, who still remembers spending long hours with his mother in lines.

Three thousand of the board games, the colour of which evokes the grey mood of the communist years, will go on sale this week.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...oring-board-game/story-e6frfmqi-1225997819774

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/85325/kolejka

 

[SuicideBunny]

those queues look too short to be realistic.

 

[hoverdog]

played it a few months ago, it's ok but nothing special.

 

[Astral Rag]

I think it could be interesting, it reminded me of this capitalist indoctrination game my sister used to play:

Those eyes ...

 

[commie]

Propaganda bullshit. I lived under communism in Poland and there were fuck all shortages if you used your brain for foodstuffs. Of course if every fuck went to the same store to get their chicken meat then they'd run out. Same in the decadent west. The problem was more that you got paid a lot(yes really they paid well though there was fuck all to buy ) and so the unscrupulous would buy up stuff that really was distributed in smaller amounts(like appliances, clothing) and the rest would go without. Ration cards that we had were actually more to combat this type of thing than any real shortage of food and shit. Things weren't always pretty of course with big brother next door taking his cut, and there were delivery and corruption problems like this game says but fuck it makes me rage with this 'grey, hungry communist' bullshit. My father was just 25(a ship welder) and yet we still had a house with big yard, never went without anything. Shit, we even could leave the country legally when supposedly the 'evil commies' were cracking down with 'martial law' in 1982 keeping everyone down.

We left Poland more so because of my father's parents being in Australia(having gone in the early 70's) than any real problems.

 

[Black_Willow]

I'm feeling butthurt.

ok

 

[spectre]

It's not that "new", it's been out for more than a year right now.
The main appeal of the game is the nostalgic factor (wooo, we used to have a negro dolly just like that), if you get a bunch of people who do "get it" and larp out some of the stuff it can be pretty fun.
Apart from that I never felt compelled to play it for more than a few times.

 

[Topher]

I think it could be interesting, it reminded me of this capitalist indoctrination game my sister used to play:

Those eyes ...

Wow, I remember those commercials. They used to come on after school while I was watching cartoons.

It's sad that I remember the commercials but not the cartoons.

 

[CappenVarra]

there were fuck all shortages if you used your brain for foodstuffs

Wait, what? Eating your own brain for sustenance? It... explains so much about commie (Cleve would have a field day with this)

 

[Elwro]

Kolejka is a surprisingly fun game. Another printing is out? Cool, I think I'll buy a copy. It's good for parties, the rules are simple but allow for interesting tactics.

 

[ironyuri]

Kolejka is a surprisingly fun game. Another printing is out? Cool, I think I'll buy a copy. It's good for communist party, the rules are simple but allow for interesting tactics.

fixed

 

[Commissar Draco]

I am Commander Gen-Sec Shepard and I aprove this thread. : x

 

[Renegen]

Propaganda bullshit. I lived under communism in Poland and there were fuck all shortages if you used your brain for foodstuffs. Of course if every fuck went to the same store to get their chicken meat then they'd run out. Same in the decadent west. The problem was more that you got paid a lot(yes really they paid well though there was fuck all to buy ) and so the unscrupulous would buy up stuff that really was distributed in smaller amounts(like appliances, clothing) and the rest would go without. Ration cards that we had were actually more to combat this type of thing than any real shortage of food and shit. Things weren't always pretty of course with big brother next door taking his cut, and there were delivery and corruption problems like this game says but fuck it makes me rage with this 'grey, hungry communist' bullshit. My father was just 25(a ship welder) and yet we still had a house with big yard, never went without anything. Shit, we even could leave the country legally when supposedly the 'evil commies' were cracking down with 'martial law' in 1982 keeping everyone down.

We left Poland more so because of my father's parents being in Australia(having gone in the early 70's) than any real problems.

That's fascinating. I think there is a severe shortage (pun intended) of stories about the communist times. We're talking about a completely different economic system, culture, way of life and it's all with white people! I'm puzzled why Hollywood or books haven't picked up on it, it could be very interesting to learn about. And the few times something comes out, it's some propaganda bullshit.

I asked my mother how life was during communism because she never talked about it for some reason. During the 1980s things got quite hard in Romania. Romania had borrowed a lot in the 70s and then decided to pay it all down in the 80s. So in the 80s electricity, heating, water were all cut to a few hours a day. She talked about being part of workplace lotteries to buy a car and other amusing things. But at the same time the shortages weren't very bad in Romania, they were worse in Russia. Things really got bad in certain countries especially in the 80s and it's too bad that's all people know about.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

So commie was in the upper class of the communist system and, while it was about to collapse, emigrated to the vastly more capitalist and wealthy Australia at the first excuse to preach the communist manifesto from behind his capitalist keyboard


Leftists are disgusting creatures

 

[Texas Red]

(yes really they paid well though there was fuck all to buy )

What's the difference, bro? I work in a quite well paid environment and everyone is still broke by the end of the month. Difference is that I wouldn't consider 2 litres of Cola, 1.5 litres of flavoured water, 1 cup of coffee or an energy drink a day "essential". Everyone else who is "broke" is even worse, with a mandatory night out at least once a week, mandatory eating out at least several times a week, shitload of shit food every HOUR.

Funny when there was a crisis sort of thing and everyone got rehired with a significant raise. Next month everyone's broke.

 

[commie]

(yes really they paid well though there was fuck all to buy )

What's the difference, bro? I work in a quite well paid environment and everyone is still broke by the end of the month. Difference is that I wouldn't consider 2 litres of Cola, 1.5 litres of flavoured water, 1 cup of coffee or an energy drink a day "essential". Everyone else who is "broke" is even worse, with a mandatory night out at least once a week, mandatory eating out at least several times a week, shitload of shit food every HOUR.

Funny when there was a crisis sort of thing and everyone got rehired with a significant raise. Next month everyone's broke.

No real difference, just pointing out that contrary to the western propaganda about people being 'poor' due to lack of money, it was actually more a case of people not having anything to spend their money on which essentially resulted in them living as if they were 'poor' anyway. Since commie cash wasn't convertible with western monies, the products when they did show up in stores were really cheap for the average Pole who'd have a swathe of cash saved up by then. Too bad there was so little to go around. Only thing that was plentiful was vodka and smoked fish. While I was of course too young to have sampled the demon drink, I've yet to find a fish that tastes so good since.

In the west yeah I know, most of the wages go on rent/house payments, car, food, utilities. Even if you are doing ok, you still have little left over. It wasn't always like this though. In the 90's I was pissing away so much money as a student having made it from seasonal work. Now I'm in shock and awe at the prices of things in Australia not having been there for 6 years. It really has gone downhill.

So commie was in the upper class of the communist system and, while it was about to collapse, emigrated to the vastly more capitalist and wealthy Australia at the first excuse to preach the communist manifesto from behind his capitalist keyboard


Leftists are disgusting creatures

Actually my keyboard is made by a 100% Red Chinese company: cheaper by far at the same quality as western branded equivalent products.

 

[Kjujik]

No real difference, just pointing out that contrary to the western propaganda about people being 'poor' due to lack of money, it was actually more a case of people not having anything to spend their money on which essentially resulted in them living as if they were 'poor' anyway. Since commie cash wasn't convertible with western monies, the products when they did show up in stores were really cheap for the average Pole who'd have a swathe of cash saved up by then. Too bad there was so little to go around. Only thing that was plentiful was vodka and smoked fish. While I was of course too young to have sampled the demon drink, I've yet to find a fish that tastes so good since.

In the west yeah I know, most of the wages go on rent/house payments, car, food, utilities. Even if you are doing ok, you still have little left over. It wasn't always like this though. In the 90's I was pissing away so much money as a student having made it from seasonal work. Now I'm in shock and awe at the prices of things in Australia not having been there for 6 years. It really has gone downhill.

Yeah right. What about all those people who grew up to be big and strong by eating only mustard and drinking it down with vinegar.

But in all seriousness, if you look at the statistics the consumption of some commodities was actually higher in 70’s and 80’s than it is now (red meat, hard liquor etc.). Also there were special stores with western products, although you had to pay with dollars. So getting a pair of levis or a bottle of cola was not impossible.

It wasn’t all that bad, as contemporary propaganda tries to show. People didn’t only eat mustard and drank just booze or vinegar. “Kolejka” only adds up to brainwashing of newer generations and molding them into consumer - sheeple.The fact that it was sponsored by IPN does not help either.

If you want a real feel of communism, there was a fun monopoly-like game “Budujemy pomnik Stalina” (We’re building a monument to Stalin). That’s right - you got to chair a committee with a goal was to build the most majestic monument to Uncle Joe ever. The game even had some RPG-ish elements: different committies with different stats and if I recall correctly a DM was required. It’s kind of hard to get now, but worth hunting for. Had lots of fun playing it with my mates in early 90’s.

 

[Kz3r0]

So herostratus got butthurt and resorted to the usual "you were one of the privileged" that ill mannered morons use for maintaining the facade of monocleness?
This thread delivers.