RULES 1 of 5

1. it would have to be two-player and asymmetrical (capitalist vs. proletariat) or multi-player and
cooperative (workers teaming up against automated capitalism. the game where all players
represent defenders of capitalism teaming up to quell class struggle has already been made; it’s
called pandemic.). the latter has some advantages (capitalists *can't help* but accumulate,
they're basically on auto-pilot, everybody has to work together to defeat a inhuman threat) but
two big downsides, one of which is inherent to cooperative games: 1) quarterbacking and 2) the
disappearance of capitalist/reactionary cunning. if we choose to make the two players capitalist
and proletarian, then we can have that back-and-forth we see in history (e.g. innovation to
undermine labor organization, selective repression and propaganda efforts) emerge from the
game mechanics more or less spontaneously.

1a. actually, there is another option: multi-player, one vs. all. the one could either be the
proletariat vs. many competing capitalists, or capitalism vs. many workers who have to team up
to defeat it (while the capitalist entices each of them to defect from the workers’ alliance). each
of these introduces a coordination problem and makes me think of games like mafia or the
resistance. but i’d rather design a game for two players, because those games already exist and
are excellent, and because it’s hard enough to make friends - i’d imagine it only gets harder
when your pitch is “come over! we can play a marxist board game.”

2. if we're going two-player and asymmetrical, it would be cool if the capitalist player is playing
a traditional worker-placement game (e.g. agricola) trying to turn a profit, while the proletarian
player is trying to organize those workers for revolution.

3. the advantage that the capitalists have is that they run shit/status quo bias/legitimacy, and
their resource is money. but how to capture their ”running shit" while at the same time giving the
proletarian player stuff to do? two boards. one represents workers, technology, and physical
space. this one is dominated by the capitalist for the better part of the game - the capitalist
player moves workers around, tries to squeeze as much profit as it can out of them, decides
what kind of work they'll do, what kind of innovation will take place, etc.

4. meanwhile, the proletarian player's main interest is in advancing class consciousness, which
takes place on a different board, with face-down cards representing the consciousness of each
worker moving from column to column (or region to region? that would be more nonlinear and
complicated; possibly worth it). the advantage that the proletariat has is numbers, and its
resource is consciousness. each time the capitalist player does something they must do to
advance the game (e.g. displacing workers from the countryside, closing factories to make
space for new ones that employ fewer workers, excessive repression of worker unrest), the
proletarian player should receive something like ‘discontent counters’ which can be traded in to
raise consciousness. this consciousness-raising eventually erupts in unrest on the main board,
where the proletarian player vies for control of society/production/the state. the important thing
to preserve, though, is the capitalist player's anxiety about worker discontent - they can't know
where it's going to pop up next, or who's going to initiate it, but they know that they have to
make a profit and thus have no choice but to put workers to work.

5. there are twenty-six worker pawns in the game, one for each letter of the alphabet and in
these colors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Distinguishable_colors to the capitalist player,
these colors can be either a meaningful requirement (e.g. on a given tile it says you need F and
Z to produce 20 credits) or meaningless (e.g. instead the tile says you need two workers to
produce 20 credits); i prefer the latter, since it captures something of the capitalist's indifference
towards concrete labor and the concrete laborer, and avoids complications like more and less
privileged workers. this might, however, be a sore loss from your perspective; if so, giving the
production tiles specific worker requirements would be enough to reintroduce that dynamic into
the game.
 RULES 2 of 5

5a. this paper discusses the coloring problem in more detail: https://
eleanormaclure.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/colour-coding.pdf

6. each card (there are 26) represents where each worker is at ideologically. the cards are laid
out face-down in columns representing levels of class consciousness. the capitalist player
cannot look at the face-down cards, and any time they move the cards around (e.g. five workers
are pacified, so five cards are moved from column 3 to column 2) they keep them face-down,
unable to choose specifics, forced to blast propaganda rather than target it. the proletarian
player CAN look at the cards and move them purposively - this represents the hard qualitative
work of radicalizing an individual.

6a. (you could make the case that the opposite is more realistic. capitalists can bribe and bully
individual workers into complaisance, but they can’t bribe everyone, while left-wing ideas
pervade society in a more diffuse/glacial way. this design, however, smacks of economism. if the
proletarian player doesn’t have an advantage in the realm of consciousness, that is, on the
board that we called into being precisely to represent potential, then we’re kowtowing to
spontaneity - the capitalist player has all the agency, and our job as marxists is just to wait
around for the capitalists to inevitably bring capitalism crashing down.)

7. i envision the main board as a 6x6 grid, where each square is 2”-2.5” to a side. this can be
neatly subdivided into 2, 3, 4, or 6 equal regions. i was thinking six, with one vertical line down
the center of the board dividing it into halves and two horizontal lines dividing each half into
thirds: agriculture, industry, “the reserve army of labor” (i.e. unemployment), coercion (the
repressive apparatus of the state), media/education, and services. there are drawbacks to
committing too heavily to any one region, just as there are drawbacks to spreading yourself too
thin. this applies to both players.

8. the capitalist “develops” regions by buying tiles and placing them on the board. these tiles
come in five sizes: 1x1, 1x2, 1x3, 2x2, and 2x3. there is only one 2x3 tile corresponding to each
region. once the capitalist has placed the 2x3 tile for all five regions (excluding the reserve army
of labor, which can't be developed), the game ends, and capitalism wins.

9. each tile has the following information on it:

- region. each tile can be placed only in its region. no factories in the countryside, no armories in
the services region, etc. this may be communicated by a color/symbol on the back of the tile or
by color scheme/art.
- worker requirements (in the shape of outlines having the same shape as the worker pieces,
probably circles). the cheapest tiles have a high density of workers required per unit area (e.g.
4), while the fully capitalized 2x3 tile has a low density (e.g. 1/6 or 1/3).
- cost. the 2x3 tile is far and away the most expensive, but in the mid-range the capitalist player
has several options at a comparable price, each with advantages and disadvantages. this cost
is paid only once, when the capitalist buys the tile.
- multiplier. to find the output of this tile in the production phase (or, in the case of coercion, the
repression phase), multiply the number of workers on it by the multiplier. this will range from
x1/4 at the lower end to very high multipliers like x30 or x50.
- input. a few tiles require that the capitalist pay each time they are used, either in money or in
the form of discontent counters given to the proletarian.
- output. this is what kind of output the tile produces. agricultural, industrial, and services tiles
produce money (services tiles may produce other effects). coercion tiles produce force, and
media/education tiles produce contentment (moving worker consciousness cards from left to
right) and other effects. this can be communicated by a small icon, e.g. coins vs. swords vs.
hearts.
- whether the tile must be fully or only partly staffed in order to be operational. many of the most
attractive tiles have this downside. this can be communicated by e.g. a colored rim.
 RULES 3 of 5

9a. the cheapest tile, for example, is green on the back (agriculture), has one circle on the front
(it employs one worker), costs 3 (although the capitalist starts the game with it for free), has a
multiplier of x2, requires no input, produces money (represented by a coin symbol), and must be
fully staffed in order to operate (duh). the second cheapest tile is white on the back (coercion),
has two circles on the front (it employs two workers), costs 8, has a multiplier of x3, requires no
input, produces force (represented by a sword), and does not need to be fully staffed to operate.

10. all twenty-six workers start the game in the (totally undeveloped) agriculture region -
distributed 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. the capitalist begins the game with the starting 1x1 agriculture tile
described above. their first choice is where to build their first farm. the displaced workers are
moved into the reserve army of labor region. the proletarian gains a corresponding number of
discontent counters, so the cautious player will displace only one. displacing more, however,
frees up more labor, which lets the capitalist get off to a quicker start.

11. the capitalist's turn looks like this:

1. hiring and firing - the capitalist may choose one: either fill a single not-fully-staffed tile with
workers from the reserve army of labor or move one worker from any tile into the reserve army
of labor. note that there is no limit to the number of workers that can be moved onto a tile in one
turn's hiring. if the capitalist fires someone, the proletarian gets a discontent counter.
2. production - each sufficiently-staffed tile produces its output according to its multiplier and the
number of workers on it. all production goes to the capitalist - the only exception is if the tile
gives discontent counters to the proletarian.
3. investment - the capitalist may buy and must immediately place bought tiles. if this requires
the scrapping of older tiles, the proletarian gets one discontent counter per unit area (e.g. when
scrapping a 2x2 factory, the proletarian would get 4 discontent counters) and one discontent
counter per worker on that tile (all of which go to the reserve army of labor). a scrapped tile is
not scrapped for good; the capitalist may rebuy the same tile later in the game.

12. the proletarian's turn looks like this:

1. workers’ control - the proletarian may take the actions of any tiles they already control, i.e.
those with red banner tokens on them (more below).
2. unrest - the player may reveal a card in column 6. if that worker is on a tile or in the reserve
army of labor, they start a disturbance (see below).
3. organic ressentiment - the proletarian receives 1 discontent counter for every worker (maybe
every 3-5 workers if this turns out to be too much) in the reserve army of labor.
4. consciousness-raising - if the proletarian has any discontent counters, they must spend at
least one, and may spend up to five, moving cards from right to left. one discontent counter =
one card moved one column to the left (i.e. +1). there are six levels of consciousness. at the
beginning of the game, the cards are randomly dealt into columns 1 & 2 (the rightmost
columns).

13. disturbances and repression:

once the proletarian has started a disturbance, the capitalist has the opportunity to make a
wager of force. this can only be done using sufficiently staffed coercion tiles. the capitalist
chooses any number of coercion tiles on the board to address the disturbance. their wager of
force is the total force produced by these tiles. the proletarian's unrest total is the sum of the
class consciousness of each worker on the tile (one of which, a 6, is known to the capitalist
when the unrest is declared) or, in the case of the reserve army of labor, in the region.
(remember, the reserve army of labor never has tiles on it). after the capitalist declares their
wager of force, the proletarian reveals the cards of the workers associated and for each
orthogonally adjacent tile/region under worker control (i.e. with a red banner token on it), may
decide to count or not count the number of workers (not their consciousness total; this is
calculated only for the strikers) on that tile/region towards their unrest total. once the unrest has
 RULES 4 of 5

ended, those cards are flipped over again and may be shuffled amongst other cards in the same
column to hide their location from the capitalist.

14. outcomes:
- if the wager of force exceeds the unrest total, then the agitator card (the consciousness of the
worker that started the unrest) is put into column 1 and that worker is moved into the reserve
army of labor. this represents death and replacement. the proletarian player gains a number of
discontent counters equal to the difference between the force and the unrest total.
- if the wager of force exactly equals the unrest total, the agitator card is put into column 1 but
the worker is not moved into the reserve army of labor. the proletarian gains no discontent
counters. production may continue uninterrupted.
- if the unrest total is greater than the wager of force, the revolt is successful. the proletarian
places a red banner token on the tile or region in question - this represents worker control. a tile/
region controlled by the proletarian no longer produces for the capitalist during the production
phase. the capitalist loses hiring and firing power on that tile. as mentioned above, the number
of workers on a tile may be counted, after the wager of force is made, towards the unrest total of
an adjacent tile/region. red banner tokens can be removed only by special coercion tiles/some
synergistic combination of coercion and media TBD.

15. workers’ control: if the workers control tiles, several things change. for one thing, any
number of worker pawns may occupy that tile. during the workers’ control phase (or during
unrest, in the case of coercion tiles), they can use the tile to produce. instead of money, the
proletarian player can move one worker pawn one space per coin (these moves never appear
as tokens, so they must be taken at the same moment they are produced. note that this is the
only circumstance under which the proletarian can move worker pawns, and that their style of
movement is unique, as the capitalist player has never had to worry about distances. the
possibility of workers occupying factories they’re not working in arises for the first time.) instead
of contentment counters, media/education tiles produce discontent counters. during unrest, any
coercion tile with a red banner token on it can be brought to bear for the proletariat.

16. win conditions: the proletarian player wins by controlling at least four regions of the board.
you control a region if you control every tile in it. the reserve army of labor region is
undifferentiated space: every worker in it is treated as being on the same space, and placing a
red banner token on that entire region requires only a single victory by the workers. the capitalist
player wins by placing their fifth fully capitalized 2x3 tile.

17. the basic flow of the game is: the capitalist, seeing an opportunity for profit, moves workers
into a higher stage of production. but as soon as e.g. most workers are involved in industry,
there's no brake on growth in class consciousness, and labor unrest (spreading from factory to
factory) becomes a thorn in the capitalist's side. thus the capitalist resorts to more sophisticated
means of social control - automation, which reduces the number of workers needed in factories,
sending them into the reserve army of labour, i.e. unemployment; media, which helps depress
class consciousness; coercion, which helps break strikes, but can also be a source of instability,
especially if it's infiltrated; and services, which is a relatively safe region to park workers in but
not very profitable.
a good game will see the workers seize at least one region, at which point there is a pitched
battle by the capitalist to isolate and undercut the impact they can have on the wider
revolutionary situation, while the workers use their first victory to snowball into more and more. it
is possible for the capitalist to stave off a worker victory in all regions for the duration of the
game by the very judicious use of force and ideology. it should be possible but extremely rare
for the proletarians to control three regions and subsequently lose the game.

18. the virtues of my simulation as i see it: the reserve army of labor is where most workers end
up, especially as the organic composition of capital increases via technological innovation,
 RULES 5 of 5

reducing worker density in the productive regions. the capitalist is forced to constantly
revolutionize the means of production, which means they can't help but raise proletarian
consciousness. the capitalist is paranoid about worker unrest, which can spring up anywhere,
and is hard to deal with appropriately if you also want a highly efficient coercive force (lots of
bang for buck). the proletarian almost always has an interest in starting a disturbance, although
it can go wrong. the capitalist is indifferent to which workers they use; the colors are (for them)
only a source of suspicion. in the course of a game, certain individual workers will become
infamous and occupy important roles in the struggle; this gives the game personal drama. all of
this emergent from relatively few moving pieces and fairly intuitive rules.

19. a more sophisticated take on the issue of class consciousness wouldn’t use a linear column
system but instead something rhizomatic, where workers contage each other with radical ideas,
burn out, forge group identities, schisms, etc. one problem with this style of representation is
that it makes things *way* more complicated. i’m amenable to suggestions, though. i worry that
this design might be too simple for the proletarian player; i’m looking for ways to make their
experience more interesting gameplay-wise.