About
Civics in Chaos: An infuriatingly fun game of civic survival
$15,060
308
The “Twitterer in Chief” can’t stop himself from attacking the checks and balances of the United States government. Civics in Chaos is a game to Make America Smart Again. Game play happens in the Congress where 11 swing votes determine whether or not a bill becomes law. Tweets will disrupt the rule of game play with absolute chaos. Will the bill be passed? Will it be blocked? Or will the tweets disrupt it all. Beware of the sneak hacks from the Russians and maybe, just maybe, if you’re lucky, you will Impeach the guy.
Play one-on-one or as teams. One side is trying to pass a bill into a law, the other is trying to block them. The round ends when all the cards have been played from the Trump deck.
The battle involves swing votes in Congress. The team attempting to pass a bill goes after those swing votes. The opposing team tries to take them away.
Congress gets in the way—doesn’t it always?—with its arcane rules that change the conditions for winning.
The battle for swing votes gets dirty. Political attacks are constant.
Protect your votes or prevent your opponents from voting. These cards are powerful no matter what side you are on.
Chaos explodes from the White House. Whenever a Trump card is drawn, players are at the mercy of the Tweet, Leak, or Alternative Fact that comes their way.
3 games in 1! The Russians threaten democracy in the first booster pack. The expansion pack tweaks the core mechanic into impeachment proceedings. Have more fun and learn a little!
THE PLAYERS:
Ed: He’s an illustrator with a long track record of work in publications including Politico, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. Also a bunch of children’s books-- some of which are educational.
Genessa: She’s worked in ‘The Biz’ in LA, was a futurist at Microsoft, pioneered work in HDTV, produced for events for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and runs a Cultural Design business making physical spaces and experiences beautiful and connecting.
Ron: He’s been designing all kinds of things for a very long time. Things like Houses, and Xboxes, and TVs and Phones and all kinds of software. He’s had card games in the back of his head for awhile. Now he is running a design studio called BLAMO with his wife Laura. Jenene, Megan, Jasmine and Jake all worked hard on this game.
THE BACKSTORY:
After the election, 3 things happened:
1. Ron (who’s into politics) became obsessed with the Trump story and spent hours reading about what was happening.
2. Ed (who’s not that into politics, until it inspires questionable behavior) started drawing Trump cartoons about things that struck him as funny, ironic, or plainly absurd.
3. Genessa (who’s SUPER into politics) started marching on weekends and launched a newsletter for resistance activism.
Late one evening, Ron connected the idea of Ed’s drawings to that idea in the back of his head-- a funny card game about Trump. He thought it was a pretty good idea. Then he went to bed. When he got up, he still thought it was a pretty good idea.
He contacted Ed, who said something like… “Huh? Okay, I need something to do.”
Ron started to design the game. His initial ideas were mediocre. He knew he needed help and he knew exactly who to call. Genessa.
Genessa has a big soul and big passion for social justice. She also knows a lot about politics and government. So the BLAMOs had a meeting with her. She asked a few questions, and then suggested the game be about politics and government.
At that point we began to make a game that was rooted in American Civics-- which is already a game. We thought we could make it educational, while also being fun. At the very least it would have Ed’s hilarious and poignant illustrations.
For months we designed, played, drank whiskey, talked about politics, punk rock, kids, culture and life. Mostly we talked at the same time... Just talking right on top of one another. But each time we came together, the game became quicker, smarter and more engaging.
While our game evolved (and our political culture devolved) these pieces have remained true since our first meeting last April.
- Ed can illustrate the hell out of this cast of characters. And fast.
- Trump’s chaos makes civics frustrating; but also FUN. It’s reality TV after all. Genessa’s seventy-seven year old Mom (who, by the way, is a complete card shark) called us after a play test to say she is obsessed with TRUMPED and needs to play again.
- Civics matter. We are committed to fostering awareness of how Government should work. Much like School House Rock educated us on how passing a bill works, we wanted to provide the civic knowledge that leads to inspired civic engagement.
- Lastly, creating this game made us feel better, more engaged, more civic minded, and more committed to supporting and working for a nation where all of us are AWARE. Aware of what it means to be free, and happy, and in charge of our own collective future. We’re all in this together.
Here's our Stretch Goal status as of November 28th. Keep on pushing! We only have 10 days left in our campaign!
You awesome backers have already unlocked:
Only 5 more achievements to unlock Ed's awesome poster for all backers!
Risks and challenges
We've designed a unique game box with magnetic closure that can lie completely flat to become the game board. We haven't seen this before but we're working with Ad Magic for production and are confident we can make this happen. We'll partner with either Blackbox or Amazon for fulfillment. Everyone is busy with the upcoming holiday season so we need to work out some details. We are very confident in the available partners for manufacturing and distributing a humble card game. As for the game itself, we'll continue to play test with a wider test group to ensure that the game you receive will be rock solid.
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Funding period
- (37 days)