OBJECT OF THE GAME:

“Class Struggle” reflects the real struggle between the classes in our society. THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS TO WIN THE REVOLUTION … ULTIMATELY. Until then, classes—represented by different players—advance around the board, making and breaking alliances, and picking up strengths and weaknesses that determine the outcome of the elections and general strikes which occur along the way.

1. “Class Struggle” can be played by two to six players.
2. THE REAL PLAYERS IN “CLASS STRUGGLE,” HOWEVER, ARE CLASSES, not individuals. Workers (those who produce shoes, cars, houses and so on) and Capitalists (those who own the machines and factories with which these things are produced) are the Major Classes. Farmers, Small Businessmen, Professionals (doctors, lawyers, professors, etc.) and Students are the Minor or Allied Classes. In the game, the hammer symbolizes the Workers, the top hat—the Capitalists, the tractor—the Farmers, the cash register—the Small Businessmen, the brief case—the Professionals, and the mortarboard—the Students.

Created by NYU professor Bertell Ollman in 1978, Class Struggle: The Game looks like a cheeky adaptation of Monopoly (made abundantly clear by the fact that Karl Marx is arm wrestling Nelson Rockefeller on the cover).

So: question. Should we see Class Struggle: The Game as as a useful pedagogical tool to mobilize would-be revolutionaries or more as a leisurely, bourgeois way to pass the time until the revolution inevitably washes over the armchair revolutionaries?

Yes, I’m being cheeky.