MAKING CORRUPTION FUN
New board game inventor Dave Loach tells players how to play Construction & Corruption, a game he created based on the city’s political financing scandals
To pass the time while stuck in infernal traffic on Highway 40 this summer, David Loach came up with the quintessential Montreal board game: Construction & Corruption.
He spent a few hundred dollars to manufacture prototypes so he could enjoy the concept with his friends.
Now he’s hoping other Montrealers will want to play with the big boys.
On Saturday afternoon, Loach showed off the game at the Victory Point board game café on Queen Mary Rd. In the coming days, he plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter.
The goal is to sell 500 games at about $70 each.
Construction & Corruption is a chance to laugh at two of the city’s most frustrating flaws, said Loach, a board game enthusiast who has a day job as a multimedia editor. “It brings a bit of levity to a situation that’s a little dark.”
Loach described it as a “negotiation game where players bribe, cajole and convince each other,” though bribes and promises are not binding.
The game starts when players are handed cards that give them a borough in which to do construction work.
The board is a stylized map of Montreal. Game components include contract cards, federal investigation tokens and road-closed pieces. Player tokens feature “men at work” pictograms.
Players can use “The Mole” and “Work Crew Snitch” cards to gain advantages. Banknotes (denominations of up to $1 million) are called “corruption bucks.”
Before every round, players elect a mayor, who has the power to place “a festival” on a work site — a move that temporarily stalls construction. That’s a good thing for the player responsible for that area because he or she can squeeze more money out of contracts.
“You can reward someone,” Loach said. “Let’s say someone is in trouble, but they voted for you, you can put a festival there — that means the work doesn’t get done, you keep the contract and in the next round you get paid for it again.”
How do you win the game? By having the most money at the end, of course.
But the most corrupt player won’t necessarily win.
“The best strategy is subtle — you really have to be a bit low key, under the radar, to win,” Loach said. “You can’t broadcast the amount of money you have or that you’re ahead.”
Players succeed by backstabbing and shifting allegiances.
“But if your reputation gets ruined and no one works with you, you’re not going to win,” Loach said.
“You have to be sort of in-between. You have to be Machiavelli’s fox — not too honest, but also not so disreputable that no one will actually trust you.”
Three to seven people can play. Games run about an hour or two.
For more information, visit constructionandcorruption.com.