Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Kickstarting STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion

Brian Van Slyke writes, "STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion is a board game about building a city-wide rebellion to stop a mega-corporation's takeover. It was created in collaboration between The TESA Collective, a publisher of games about changing the world, and Jobs with Justice (JWJ), a leading labor rights organization. It has just launched on Kickstarter.

"In STRIKE!, players collaboratively lead a city-wide rebellion of workers against Happycorp’s attempt to takeover their city. Players grow their ranks, mobilize their workers, and organize strikes around their city. As the Strike Council scores victories for workers, they will gain the support of more allies, from the dockworkers to the teachers, and build new bases of support from the manufacturing district to the university. The idea for STRIKE! was born out of conversations between TESA and Jobs with Justice. For 8 months, TESA and JWJ worked on every step of the game together, from the conceptual ideas, to the world building, the game design, and playtesting. They designed it to be a game about, by, and for the labor movement.

"STRIKE!’s crowdfunding campaign comes at a time when Kickstarter workers themselves are fighting to form a union. In response to calls from the Kickstarter workers, TESA and JWJ have added statements of solidarity to the game’s campaign page as well as ways that their supporters can support Kickstarter’s workers. Like all of TESA’s previous games, STRIKE! will also be printed and assembled in the United States on sustainable materials."

STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion [The TESA Collective/Kickstarter]