Can you help me beat an algorithm and behead some billionaires?
As dedicated readers know, this spring I’ll be working with the wonderful folks at Pluto Press to bring out Billionaires and Guillotines, a board game I designed in which…
players take on the role of 3-5 rival plutocrats vying to grab the wealth of the world before their actions trigger a revolution where they all lose… a lot more than their assets.
I’ve now play-tested the game with hundreds of people and can report that Billionaires and Guillotines is, in fact, fun, even for you deplorable spoilsports out there who allegedly “don’t like games.”
Even if you don’t intend to buy one, we need folks to sign up to the game’s kickstarter campaign now in order to get the platform to prioritize it for others!
If you’d like to play the game, there is a free “beta” version available on my Itch.io page which you can download and print at home. There will be a new version, with fancier art and updated rules in a few weeks.
As several of you have pointed out to me, it’s no small irony that an anti-capitalist goblin like me is doing a capitalism here, hawking a game in the hopes of making the next Monopoly. What can I say: Guilty as charged! But, you know: give this reprobate grandpa* a break. Shouldn’t at least one of us do well in this apocalypse?
* I am, in fact, a grandfather now. The rest may or may not be true.
Also, I’ve been told not to tell you this, but I was so convincing in my sales pitch (after a few pints down at the pub) that Pluto Press has foolishly staked the entire 50+ year-old radical publishing company on the success of this game, so if we don’t succeed, they’ll go bankrupt.*
* It is, in fact, completely untrue that Pluto staked the company on the game. I lied.
Why I need you to sign up early
Seriously, I want to offer you a little peak behind the scenes here.
In order to finance the production of this game, we need to pre-sell several thousand copies on Kickstarter when we launch our campaign later this Spring.
In order to get those pre-sales, I not only need all my friends and followers to sign up to buy a copy, I need you to sign-up to Kickstarter early, before the campaign officially launches.
If we can get at least a thousand people signed up, it will mean that when we do launch, Kickstarter will promote the campaign, meaning a lot more potential sales.
A lot more sales mean a lot more radicalized gamers, which brings us one step closer to… guillotines (metaphorically).
The take-away? Please take 30-seconds and head over the Kickstarter and “sign up to be notified about the launch.” You’ll be under no obligation to buy it or give your payment information.
And here’s something to sweeten the deal: Pluto has agreed that if we can reach our funding goal in the first 72 hours of our campaign, they’ll fund the development of a special free expansion of Billionaires and Guillotines where you can play a rebel sympathizer!
This is in development now, but basically it allows you to either play a well-intentioned (if misguided) reformist trying to convince the billionaires to fund social programs and deal with the crises their competition is creating… or secretly play a crazed revolutionary, gunning for an uprising.
Who did the amazing art? It was Amanda Priebe!
Can you also help us spread news about the game?
As we get ready to launch the campaign, I’d be grateful if you could let people know about it, especially…
Journalists - How’s this for a pitch? “A despicable new board game shows that, in the wake of the Trump victory and the arrest of their ‘saint Luigi,’ the loony left has abandoned all pretense of maturity and analysis and just fantasizes about revenge. One oddly-titled tenured professor emerges from the deep Canadian woods to call a new generation of radical hyenas to renew their futile class war.”
Leftish influencers - Slavoj Zizek would probably hate playing this or any board game, but I’d like him to say so, publicly and emphatically, so that tens of thousands of people learn about Billionaires and Guillotines. Is anyone going to visit Subcomandante Marcos and do you have room in your luggage for a small game?
Cross-promoters - Do you have a favourite podcast or Book/GameTok or Instagram account? Might they need a copy of the game to review? What about a horrible fashion influencer who wants to wear a Billionaires and Guillotines T-shirt or branded underwear?* Can you put us in touch?
Billionaires - We don’t want to leave them out, and I would be delighted if a thin-skinned fascist space-jackass freaked out about the game and used the social media platform he bought and trashed to make even more of a fool out of himself.
Game-lovers - I know you know a few people who would like to be buried with this game in their tomb. Please forward this to them.
Billionaires and Guillotines branded underwear is not available, but it could be soon.
