''Kolejka'' (; Polish for "queue" or "line (of people)") is a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

. It was designed to teach young generations about the hardships under communism (1945–1989), particularly the difficulty of acquiring

consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, b ...

in the

shortage economy "Shortage economy" ( pl, gospodarka niedoboru, hu, hiánygazdaság) is a term coined by Hungarian economist János Kornai, who used this term to criticize the old Centrally planned economy, centrally-planned economies of the communist states of th ...

. The game has been described as inspired by ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

''. However unlike Monopoly it is not a Roll-and-move game, and instead it utilizes

Worker Placement In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide the player's actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, a ludeme is an element of play like the L-sha ...

, Set Collection and Take That mechanics.

Educational purpose

Kolejka is one of several educational and historical games released by Poland's

(IPN). Karol Madaj, the game's creator, said the goal was to "show young people and remind the older ones what hard times these were and what mechanisms were at play". In keeping with its educational goal, the cards illustrate historical goods of the era in which they were sold, and the game is accompanied by an historical brochure explaining the economic realities of the shortage economy in communist Poland. The first Polish edition was also distributed with a documentary film. Polish historian Andrzej Zawistowski supervised the game's design for historical accuracy.

Game play

The game is played by two to five players, each controlling five pawns, representing their family members. Each family needs to do some shopping for events such as birthdays or holidays, however each player faces the problem of a shortage of needed goods. The stores are mostly empty, and there is no certainty as to what will be delivered or when and where it will be delivered. The players have to decide which store to queue in front of, and can play various event cards such as "This isn't your place", "Colleague in the government", or "Store closed", changing the order of the pawns in the queue (which represents jumping the queue, or forcing other players out of it). Goods can also be exchanged on the bazaar (black market). The first player to collect the required set of goods cards is the winner.

Versions and expansion

An international version of the board game, which includes manuals and translation stickers in Polish, English, German, Spanish, Japanese and Russian, was released in 2012. A French edition was added in 2013, and a Romanian version called "Stai la coadă" (''Stand in line'') was released later that year, on November 26. An expansion, "Ogonek" (Polish for "curved end of the queue", lit. "tail"), adding another player and a number of additional cards and supplementary educational materials, was also released.

Reception

By July 2012 the game has sold 20,000 copies of the Polish edition within a year and has been described as best selling. By June 2014, the total production run of the game was almost 100,000 copies. It has also proven popular abroad. In the summer of 2014, IPN sold the game's license to a private company (Trefl), citing its inability to efficiently manage the game's production, demand for which regularly exceeded IPN's production budget, and led—ironically, as numerous sources described—to shortages in the game's availability. The game has received good reviews, both for its game play and its educational value. It has been used in history classes. The game received the 2012 "Gra Roku" (Game of the Year) Polish board gaming award, becoming the first Polish board game to receive this particular award. In 2016, some rumours appeared that Rospotrebnadzor declared ''Kolejka'' "anti-Russian" and excessively critical of the Soviet system; it said the game would be banned in Russia unless direct historical references were removed, which IPN refused to do. Andrzej Zawistowski, IPN's director of education, said that "When Russia takes the Soviet Union's history as its own, it leads to some Russians thinking that criticizing the Soviet Union as a totalitarian regime is the same as attacking contemporary Russia.". Later on, it was revealed that it was the initiative of the distributing company, and the staff of Rospotrebnadzor first heard the story from mainstream news.

References

{{Reflist, 2, refs= {{cite news , url= http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-waiting-game-communist-monopoly-teaches-downside-of-socialist-life-a-740587.html , title= 'Communist Monopoly' Teaches Downside of Socialist Life , first= Jill , last= Petzinger , work=

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, '' Der Spiegel'', w ...

, date= 2011-01-20 {{cite news , url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/25/polish-board-game-recalls-communist-hardship/ , title=Polish board game recalls communist hardship , agency=

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

, publisher=FOX News , date=2011-01-25 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701201020/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/25/polish-board-game-recalls-communist-hardship/ , archivedate=2011-07-01 , url-status=live {{cite news , url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaAYc5DEnuAzeQxdNU90tcx-mBGg?docId=2690b189c0d24c818340df265263752e , title=Polish game on communist hardships goes global , agency=

, date=2012-06-28 , archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/68m7yrRCr?url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaAYc5DEnuAzeQxdNU90tcx-mBGg?docId=2690b189c0d24c818340df265263752e , archivedate=2012-06-29 , url-status=live {{cite web , url= http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/2/605/Premiere_of_the_international_edition_of_quotQueuequot_Kolejka__Polish_most_reno.html , title= Premiere of the international edition of "Queue" ("Kolejka") - Polish most renowned historical game - Warsaw, 28 June 2012 , publisher=

, date= , accessdate= 2012-06-29 {{cite news , url= http://www.rfi.ro/asculta-rfi-ro-46012-stai-coada-un-fel-monopoly-comunism , title= "Stai la coadă" - un fel de Monopoly despre comunism , first= Ioana , last= Hașu , work= RFI România , date= 2013-11-27 , archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20140718053033/http://www.rfi.ro/asculta-rfi-ro-46012-stai-coada-un-fel-monopoly-comunism , archivedate= July 18, 2014 , url-status= live {{cite news , url= http://qz.com/646871/russia-banned-a-polish-board-game-that-simulates-communist-era-shopping/ , title= Russia banned a Polish board game that simulates Communist-era shopping , first= Hanna , last= Kozlowska , work= Quartz , date= March 24, 2016 {{cite news , url= http://www.newsweek.com/russia-bans-polands-communist-monopoly-being-anti-russian-438972?rx=us , title=Russia Bans Poland's 'Communist Monopoly' Board Game , first= Damien , last= Sharkov , work= Newsweek , date= March 21, 2016

External links