«Hegemony» — is an asymmetric card tabletop game in which participants take on specific roles: worker or middle class, capitalists or the state. Each class acts in a particular way, pursuing its own interests and influencing other classes.
The game lasts for 5 rounds. Each round consists of several phases, which are further divided into stages. At the end of the 5th round, a final stage of the game takes place, after which the final results are counted. The player with the highest score wins.
Politics and political courses:
The majority of player actions revolve around influencing 7 policies: Fiscal policy determines the size of the public sector and the amount of loans that the state can take before a collapse occurs and IMF intervention is required.
The labor market policy course determines the minimum wage (MW). Business owners must consider this when setting wage levels for their employees. The tax policy course determines the amount of taxes that players pay to the state each round. Social policy in healthcare and benefits determines the cost of medical services provided by the state and the possibility of providing certain benefits to the population, as well as influencing the tax multiplier. Social policy in education determines the cost of educational services provided by the state and also influences the tax multiplier. The foreign trade policy course sets the customs duties collected on goods in the foreign market and determines the number of transactions per round. The migration policy course determines the openness of the country's borders to labor migrants and allows the working and middle classes to gain more new employees each round.
The policy courses change based on the results of votes on bills.
- The task of the working class is to have as many policies as possible with the left/top course «A» (socialist courses) in effect by the end of the game.
- The task of the capitalists is to have as many policies as possible with the right/bottom course «B» (neoliberal courses) in effect by the end of the game.
- The task of the middle class is to have as many policies as possible with the middle course «B» in effect by the end of the game.
- The task of the state is to ensure that the active courses coincide with its political agenda at the end of each round.
Game duration: from 90 to 180 minutes
Number of players: from 2 to 4