Why Bother Working for a
Living?
Have you finally unlocked all the new characters
in Smash Bros. Brawl? Then maybe it’s time to take
a step away from your electronics. It’s warming
up outside, so why not gather a few friends and
play Public Assistance?
Game Play:
You begin the game as an able-bodied welfare recipient.
Your general goal is to spend as little time
as possible in the “working person’s rut” with a
real job. Instead, you want to commit as much
welfare fraud as possible. As you go around the
board, you do everything from committing robbery
to prostitution, having as many out-of-wedlock
children as possible to collect benefits from
them, and so on. Welfare recipients can then
spend money on the lottery and horse betting.
If you’re unfortunate enough to get stuck in the
working person’s rut, you have to pay for things
like groceries and gas. At the end of the game, if
you’re still there, then you pay taxes as well.
The game instructions can be a little heavy on
the liberal-hating, but once you’re already playing,
politics are the last thing on your mind while
boasting about your eleven out-of-wedlock children
earning you benefits each month. (I got that
many playing the game the first two times!) The
game doesn’t even require any real knowledge or
specific opinion of the welfare system.
Style:
The board is in full color and the printing quality
is really nice. The economy version of the game
is printed on cardstock. The deluxe version
comes with a flat-lying vinyl spill-proof board.
Both games come with half a million (game) dollars,
30 out-of-wedlock children, game pawns, 50
Welfare Benefit cards, and 50 Working Person’s
Burden cards. The Benefit and Burden cards are
almost exactly like Chance and Community
Chest in Monopoly.
Also, the game doesn’t have its own special box.
Instead, you are given a label that you put on the
box in which it was shipped. The sticker label is
the same one that was on the original game, and
very clearly states that it was banned in the ‘80s.
Several groups were working together to get the
game banned until recently. If you’d like to read
more about that, there’s a full 10 pages on the
website which talk about it as well as the idea
behind the creation of the game.
Cost:
Economy version: $19.90
Deluxe edition: $35.90
Rating:
9 out of 10 (Lots of fun!)
Discover the fun of fraud at http://www.welfaregame.com
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