Political dirty tricks simplified in a card game

 

Can you bribe a judge better than the country's current slate of presidential candidates?

 

Politricks, a "dirty card game" developed by Totally Wholesome Games (TWG), allows players to deploy some of the most depressingly familiar tactics in Philippine politics to earn the most votes. 

 

"This game tackles all of the behind-the-scene stuff that happens in our politics," co-creator RB Ting explained in a media forum on Saturday

 

The card game was inspired by queries from Ting and partner PJ Lim's friends who were curious about the zany ins-and-outs of Philippine politics.

 

"We have foreigner friends kasi, galing Singapore, galing Japan. So these guys are asking us about how Philippine politics works. We had to describe to them, for example, it's not about party usually, it's not about platform usually; it's about personalities," Ting recalled.

 

While each card invokes pained laughter with its colorful depictions of horribly familiar acts of corruption, Ting said the gameplay, which basically boils down to usage of attack and defense cards, isn't structured to condemn all candidates but to show their hope that these tactics could be transcended.

 

"The person who attacks the best wins. This is the core of the game, of politics in the Philippines, which we want to highlight. We're not saying everyone is doing this. We applaud (those who) transcend this politics," he said. 

 

Politricks aims to engage millennials in political discourse, and even educate youths, by using the familiar and delightfully boorish format of politically-factual yet politically-incorrect board games.

 

"We really want to show how normal think about these topics not just how higher people think about these topics. (It's) representative of the vox populi," Ting said.

 

"Our generation, the millennials, they don't want to be lectured, they don't want to be told what to think. We're showing them what it is and they can make their own judgements, on social media for example... when they're playing this with a group of people, they can make their own ideas up," he later added.

 

The retail version of Politricks won't be hitting shelves soon - physical or otherwise - but a launch party will be held at the Snacks & Ladders Boardgame Cafe in Maginhawa Street on Thursday. — APG, GMA News