>> >CB: Somehow, the "game" of Monopoly comes to mind (smile)
>> JB: FWIW, it was originally called "the Landlord's Game" and was developed
by
>> followers of Henry George to demonstrate problems with land ownership and
wealth
>> concentration. Originally played over several nights, you could change
the
>> rules in subsequent play to produce fairer outcomes.
>
>Anybody else ever play Star Power? It's one of my more vivid memories
>from junior high social studies...
>
><http://www.stsintl.com/schools-charities/star_power.html>
>
>What happens in StarPower?
>
>Participants have a chance to progress from one level of society to
>another by acquiring wealth through trading with other participants.
>Once the society is established, the group with the most wealth is
>given the right to make the rules for the game. The power group
>generally makes rules which maintain or increase its power and which
>those being governed consider to be unfair. This generally results in
>some sort of rebellion by the other members of the society.
>
>Andy
Sounds pretty good. I never ran into that, but my dad was the inventor of a board game called "Careers," which was a response to Monopoly (the Parker Brothers version). In Careers there are three dimensions to success: Money, fame and happiness. At the outset of the game, the players decide in what proportions they would like to attain these.
Much later he developed a version in which he added power, virtue and enlightenment as dimensions. It featured an inside and outside track, and if you got 3 players together in "Marco's Basement," and none of you went to the hospital due to injuries sustained from "weapons practice," you could execute a revolution in which the inside track players all went to the outside and the outside track players went to the inside and could enter the career of their choice.
There was also the possibility of being elected president, entering the war room and starting World War III, which ended the game. Players who chose this strategy had to plan it from the outset. By winning, and ending the world, they proved themselves megalomaniacs who were pursuing only power. We never could get anyone to market this more advanced version, but the simpler version of Careers sold well from the late 50's to the 80's.
Jenny Brown </HTML>