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

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

Institute of National Remembrance The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecutio ...

. It was designed to teach young generations about the hardships under Poland's communist regime (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 an intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good. W ...

in the

shortage economy In economics, a shortage or excess demand is a situation in which the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market. It is the opposite of an excess supply ( surplus). Definitions In a perfect market (one that matches ...

. The game has been described as inspired by ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

''.

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.

Gameplay

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 Rospotrebnadzor (Роспотребнадзор), officially the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare () is the national public health agency of the Russian Federation, and is the federal service responsible for t ...

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

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 ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...

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

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, publisher=FOX News , date=2011-01-25 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701201020/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/25/polish-board-game-recalls-communist-hardship/ , archive-date=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 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20240526012727/https://www.webcitation.org/68m7yrRCr?url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jaAYc5DEnuAzeQxdNU90tcx-mBGg%3FdocId=2690b189c0d24c818340df265263752e , archive-date=2024-05-26 , url-status=dead {{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 Rfi Romania is the Romanian language radio service of Radio France Internationale. Unlike BBC Romanian, Rfi Romania has studios that cover most of the urban area of Romania and Moldova. In 1998 Radio Delta became Radio Delta RFI. In 2006 Radio D ...

, 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