“Billionaires” and “guillotines” are two concepts that go
together like mom and apple pie. Like Woodward and Bernstein. Like Ernest and
Vern. In an age where our society is controlled by corporate overlords and
oligarchs, one could see the attraction in a game like this.
In Billionaires and Guillotines, you play a billionaire with
the purpose of filling every blank spot on your card with an asset. Typically
you “buy” them from markets. On each turn, you draw a card (if you want to),
but you can never have more than two in your hand (with one exception; if you
are the Banker). Then you must Buy, Invest or Exchange. You choose which cards
to play against the ones in the market in a Blackjack-ish showdown to see if
you win that asset. Or you can add a card to any market and draw a new one. Or
you can swap one of your cards with a face-up card or change two face-up cards
between markets.
That sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, but
at its most basic, that is the skeleton of the game. There are different levels
you can play, all of which add complexities like roles or determining
government policy and so on.
Who are the billionaires you get to play? And why can’t you
play as Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg, who are clearly displayed on the box?
That’s a major disappointment, but you can choose from five archetypes: the
Media Baron, the Property Speculator, the Aristocrat, the Tech Overlord and the
War Profiteer. Each billionaire needs to get five assets, and those assets
depend on which archetype you’re playing. The idea is to purchase these assets
from the five markets (Power, Toys, Influence, Legacy, Vanity) before you and
your fellow players raise the ire of the common people enough to introduce you
to the aforementioned guillotines.
Getting all of your assets is one way to win. There are also
the role cards, and you could get the Celebrity role, which means if there is a
revolt, you get to live. Unless you started the Crisis event that caused the
revolt, that is. There’s also a Toady card that lets you ride the coattails of
whoever actually wins the game.
The key part, however, is your ability to screw over your
fellow players. This seems to be the true purpose of the game. You can use the
Audit card to make opponents put an asset back. You can steal assets. You can
buy assets you don’t need so you can make the game harder for others. You can
also throw things in your favor by investing cards in your suit into the market
to give you a better shot at that asset. If you buy the asset, the price for
the next one is higher due to the inflation rules. You start with two cards at
each market, but if an asset is bought, then it’s three. Buy another, and it’s
four.
The best feature, though, is the fact that everyone could lose the game.
Billionaires and Guillotines was created by Max Haven: “I
really believe that we can think through and use games as a platform for
teaching people about what’s wrong with capitalism and why we must create
alternatives.” This game was originally called The Bastards, and it was
inspired by “radical political economist and Sparticist agitator Rosa
Luxemburg’s theory that capitalism inevitably creates its own crises from
within,” that the game “simulate[s] the way capitalist greed produces negative
consequences.”
And it really does that. Not just from the inflationary
point of view, but also from how their wanton impulses really are destroying
society. The more recklessly you go after assets, the more likely you are to
trigger a crisis, which then adds Rebel discs to the guillotine. If all ten
discs are there, then game over. You all lose.
After several play tests, one tends to notice a few things.
There are two kinds of people who play this game: those who go after the assets
in the market, and those who screw over the other players. The latter usually
does this with great gusto. It’s maybe a little thought experiment of its own.
How would you react in the shoes of a billionaire?
Sometimes there seems to be a lull in the play. Sometimes
you get locked into a pattern, where no one wants to make any moves. Oddly this
tends to come earlier in the game, when the stakes aren’t quite so high.
And then there’s the 2-player game, which doesn’t work quite
so well. It goes pretty quickly, but progress is nearly impossible, and no one
usually wins. The puppet billionaires are much more likely to run a market into
the ground due to the die roll, where you only have a one in six chance of
gaining an asset. The rules allow you to sacrifice cards to move the die score
up, but players tend to take their chances rather than give up a card.
Otherwise, this is a swift and exciting game with lots of
moving parts. It’s engaging, and it keeps you on your toes. You learn strategy,
and as a result, you learn to really appreciate the Art of the Ratfuck, and
suddenly Elon Musk doesn’t seem all that unusual. It’s a good game if you’re
just an average joe looking for something to do, but if your tastes run toward revolution
(ie. you understand that the Empire
was the villain of Star Wars, not the rebels),
this will be great fun for you. Just remember: the more players you have, the
more fun the game will be.
