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Review Anti-Bush board game inadvertently promotes Republican values By David Moye February 20, 2006 San Diego--Political board games are nothing new. Anyone who has played Monopoly knows that. But two women in Scripps Ranch have devised a game that is designed to bushwhack George W. Bush. It’s called “Wreck The Nation” and is billed as a “game of political misbehavior.” Basically, the game is designed to show how Bush and his cronies have sold the country out in order to fill their own pockets and, consequently, have wrecked the nation. Players start out with a few hundred billion dollars of government money and try to spend it on pork barrel projects, political dirty tricks and homeland security and the player who gets rid of the most cash first wins.
And while the game definitely was inspired and revolves around Bush bashing, Carson thinks the game will have a long shelf life even after Dubya leaves office because “people will still see the effects of his actions for years to come.” Vyuz editors hate crooked politicians as much as the next guy. That is, unless, the next guy is Randall “Duke Cunningham” so we were eager to play the game to see if it might join the canon of political board games like Monopoly, which invites players to screw every last dollar from their friends, or Risk, which promotes war and conquest in an exhilarating manner. Plus, it’s fun to hate those suit-wearing hypocritical Republicans who use hate speech to bash those peace-loving, sensitive Democrats any chance they get, right? But, strangely enough, the feeling that Vyuz arts editor David Moye and Vyuz editor in chief Larry Knowles had after playing the game was a new appreciation for the GOPs screw-or-be-screwed laissez faire philosophy. We can’t say we’re voting Republican next election but the game does have some of the problems that are stereotypically Democratic. For instance, lots of rules. Not only do you have to role dice to move your players, but if you land on “Gouge The Government” you have to role black dice to figure out how much money to spend. That is, unless you role doubles and then you’re paid more money that you have to spend. Unless the homeland security card tells you spin the polls spinner to determine how much spin a controversial decision or spin the declare war spinner to decide on whom to attack: Democrats, the environment or civil liberties. Oh, some cards direct you to pay money to the bank but if you pass a certain spot you’re supposed to pay $1 billion to the Wreck The Nation kitty in the middle of the board and whoever gets the Wreck The Nation card gets all that money. The game is so bureaucratic that we had to call Carson to ask her what to do if you landed on an “Expenditure” card vs. a “Revenue” card. You may not have that option, just like the many poor people who can’t afford sleazy accountants to help them avoid paying taxes. All the bureaucracy not only made the game hard to understand but it took away strategy. Basically, players have to do what the game tells them to do like government drones. I’m surprised we didn’t have to fill things out in triplicate. Actually, we did. The Gouge The Government card requires players to roll the dice three times and add up the numbers like some bean counter. At some point, Larry started trying to make side bets in order to add some oomph to the game. It didn’t help. Wreck The Nation is fine for anti-Bush haters who would rather promote a cause than actually have fun. And it will probably become a valuable collector’s item for political junkies. But it’s not a fun game. It’s too complicated and there’s little chance for strategy. Plus, you don’t even get to enjoy spending the money. Whatever you want to say about Dubya, he looks like he’s having fun sending us to the poorhouse. Shouldn’t the game reflect this? Conservative talk radio and TV is often good for a cheap laugh but now it’s understandable why Republicans rail against Democrats for trying to make big government even bigger and, for saying, “We know better about how things should be done.” If you don’t mind, we’re going back to Monopoly. At least it makes being a robber-baron seem like fun. Wreck The Nation is available at www.wreckthenation.com -------------------- David Moye is a fifth generation resident of San Diego county and has the same birthday as Reggie Bush--but none of the athletic ability. Suggested Vyuz reading... What it's like to be straight in Hillcrest | By Leopard J. Ferry San Diego Mayor talks corruption and the Strong Mayor form of government | By Larry Knowles Steve York, UCSD pornographer, chooses law over porn | By Larry Knowles The bare facts about Brazilian waxing | By Romina Cleary A look inside Imperial Beach border patrol | By Larry Knowles A serial networker walks among us | By April Labine-Katko |
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