Seize the power
A board game about inequality and power dynamics.
3-4 players, 45 - 60 minutes.
A board game about inequality and power dynamics.
A game about privilege, bigotry, negotiation, and subjugation of power. Some characters will be discriminated against. There is no balancing. Life is just harder for some.
Go to school to be educated. Get a job. Get money. Buy food and shelter.
Meanwhile, money is also used to gain power. Whoever wins a rule auction can decide to enforce that rule, or not, as they wish. Players are free to make threats or ask for bribes for preferential treatment.
The world itself is unfair. Those with fewer arms, fewer eyes, or no eye stalks will be discriminated against. Their starting position will be worse, usually with less money and education, and the rules in-game will also disadvantage them.
Players are aliens in a society where discriminatory rules can be enforced, a place where aliens join together to create a revolution, attempting to overtake the hegemonic power. Aliens have different numbers of eyes, arms, and eye stalks that influence how you can play the game. Seize the Power is a game about unfair rules, negotiation, and bribery, designed to explore the themes of discrimination and social inequality, ultimately initiating and addressing difficult conversations through an alien society.
Seize the Power has been co-designed in collaboration with Bonnie-Beth Shahriari from Stuff by Bez.
Presentations:
2025 Games and Social Justice, London, UK.
2025 UK Games Expo (UKGE), Academic Track, Birmingham, UK.
2024 Games Transformed, London, UK.
2022 Now Play This!, London, UK.
2020 Fastaval, Educational Games, Hobro, Denmark.
