I know The Landlord’s Game/Monopoly and Class Struggle, are there any others?
I looked it up on reddit, and there were some interesting games, but the usual cringe.
I like secret hitler because it shows the ineptitude of liberal democracies to combat rising fascism
lol, all it takes is 2 liberals to be forced to approve a red law, and caos ensues. Fascists have it so easy in that game.
What about Root?
Damn I was actually about to suggest that one! Crazy class struggle metaphor by the gameplay
Looking at my board game shelf right now, a few that have some class implications:
- Twilight struggle - Play through the cold war. Incredibly fun but complicated.
- Carcassone - a battle between feudal lords trying to capture as much of the commons as possible.
- Jaipur - Ruthless trading about buying as cheaply as possible, and selling for as much as possible.
- Ticket to ride - Railroad monopoly titans fighting over limited terrain.
- Risk - Napoleonic warfare, but IMO the capturing of countries and continents gaining you more soldiers each round, implies industrialization and colonialism. Axis and allies kinda the same deal.
- Pass the pigs - Do I need to elaborate on this one.
Jaipur is also a city in Rajasthan, India.
(If you are a potential tourist do not consider visiting Rajasthan/Jaipur. It is 0% fun.)
Is it dangerous?
Nope. Just underwhelming.
I’ve seen reviews and discussions of Hegemony: Lead your class to victory stating and implying that it gets a lot of things about various policies and their economical consequences surprisingly right.
I was curious about Hegemony. I know you can play as the worker class in it, though I am not sure if something like a class revolution is a mechanic or not.
I have found that a lot (most?) of the board game space is very traditionally liberal though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the game reflected those kinds of economic ideas too.
That’s the curious thing - reviews stating that the game gets a lot of it right despite the widespread (and, quite possibly, still present in the game itself) liberalism. One player mentioned feeling defenseless as the workers when the capitalists sell everything abroad and gain so many influence dice as to make engaging in elections and policy-making against them pointless, then, following the workers’ attemps at striking, decide to buy abroad as well; his coplayer referred to a two-months-old argument among them about protectionist policies, then asked whether player 1 sees now, taking a simplified model that is the game as an example, that reliance on consumer imports is pretty harmful for the majority of the population in the long run.
Although it’s kind of designed to play it only once.
Red Outpost is a cool concept but not the best gameplay.
Not sure if I’d call it based as such but the cooperative aspect of Pandemic and the Legacy versions is really refreshing. Most games these days are competitive and based on some liberal economic aspect.
Also, does anyone know of genuinely good boardgames that involve some spycraft / bluffing? I tried codenames, but I’m not a big fan.
I quite enjoy secret hitler. It is quick and dynamic, like a snappier version of werewolf.
coup
I didn’t get a chance to play it, just watch, but Coup looked really fun and is basically a game about bluffing about which cards you may or may not have.
Bluffing: Battle for Rokugan. It’s a territory control and strategy game in the vein of Risk but actually playable and not luck based.
Also bluffing, Spicy. It’s a €10 card game that’s great to start a board gaming session or something fun to do with a group that aren’t board gamers.
I don’t like codenames either. There’s a counterintelligence game I’m trying to find, though.
yeah i’ve never been a fan of codenames either… im not sure why it’s so popular
Shadow Hunters is a secret roles type game with RPG elements to spice it up
The Resistance is a my preference for the secret role/social deduction style party game. One thing I really like is that it has no player elimination mechanics, you don’t have to worry about getting knocked out in round 1 and then just watching your friends play the remaining rounds.
Not necessarily spycraft, but Sheriff of Nottingham is a really fun bluffing game where you are trying to smuggle goods past the titular Sheriff.
I love sheriff of nottingham so much. Thx, I’ll check out Resistance.
If it wasn’t the wordcraft that turned you off Codenames then I think Decrypto is a much better execution. The opposing team is also trying to make guesses using your information, which makes it more of a spy game, and there is less RNG involved in being dealt good words.
Other than that I enjoy Coup and Citadels, basically any Mafia style game, as well as games where everyone is dealt a similar hand like Libertalia and Oriflame.
I just remembered, there’s a cointelpro related game mentioned on Programmed to Chill, but idk what its called.
Edit: no luck. my best bet would be asking him on twitter, but i dont have an account.
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