Office Politics!
A Game of Corporate Collaboration!
Welcome to Office Politics! A fun interactive board game where players must attend regularly scheduled updates, conduct annual peer reviews and vie for promotion. Remember: TechCorp Giant 1001345 is the best place to work in the world and you are its lucky denizens.
Objective
The objective of Office Politics! is to rise through the ranks and become the big boss. This can be achieved in a manner of ways:
Financial Freedom: If a player earns over 6,001 units of capital they can buy out the company and thus have won the game.
Promotion: On turn seventeen, provided a 2D6 roll greater than 8, the big boss retires. Remove the big boss token from the board. An emergency Annual Fiscal and Financial Manager’s Meeting is called and players must vote unanimously to elect a new big boss. If no unanimous vote is achieved, it is considered a new big boss has been elected externally. Replace the token on the board.
Last Man Standing: If all other players have either run out of capital or possess a long-term sick/death in service/injured at work/retired card, then the remaining player is considered the winner.
Devotion: If a player enters the basement and makes a 2D6 roll of 7 (Note: all other rolls will receive a death in service card), they are considered touched by the essence of the old gods. The big boss will cede his position and this player, our most holy messiah, will assume his place. Play can continue if so desired.
Players
Office Politics supports between 2-27 players, though many more can spectate.
Before the game
Players decide how to spend their fun tokens to determine their stats, placing points into one of five categories (Management, Efficiency, Collaboration, Bloodlust, Value). Once concluded:
Place Office Members on their starting squares.
Place the 6,000 units of capital in the finance office.
Place The big boss token in the corner office.
Place the card decks for Corporate Events, Work/Life Balance, and Cross Departmental Projects to the side of the board facedown.
Starting the game
The game begins with Quarter 1’s annual fiscal and financial manager’s meeting (note, only players with a management stat of 3+ are allowed in the meeting, all players with lower scores must leave the room). In this meeting, players will decide how to divvy out the 50 units of capital that has been provided by corporate for bonuses (apparently certain players have made this meeting last days, amazing levels of immersion!).
Once decided the player with the highest bloodlust score shall roll the dice and make their first move. Every time they land on a Corporate Events, Work/Life Balance, and Cross Departmental Projects square they must draw a card from the relevant deck. They must read out the instructions to the rest of the group and complete them if possible. At the end of their turn, they will be provided with their monthly salary, based upon their Value score. If the Finance Office does not have enough capital to pay the salary, the player will be provided with a starvation card.
The second turn and beyond
At the start of each turn an Emergency Meeting is called between all players. The agenda is determined by the player with the highest Management score. The agenda must include:
Company Anthem
Appraisals for all players
Review of Safety message (please see back of the instruction manual for example safety messages)
Discussion of Quarterly earnings
The Feast of Magnificence!
AOB
At the end of the monthly meeting, 1 player will be provided with a Fun Token to be spent on their stats card, so make sure to come prepared and participate! (The Fun Token distribution shall be determined by a dice roll).
Winning and losing the game
Winning conditions have been discussed above, but losing conditions are many and varied. If a player meets one of the losing conditions, they are free to continue playing the game, but must surrender their Fun tokens (their stats are assumed to be 0 from herein), they can no longer participate in the monthly meetings, collect cards or roll the dice. Losing conditions are thus:
Twenty starvation cards are collected.
They pull/are provided the death in service card.
They pull the behavioural misconduct card.
During The Feast of Magnificence! they seem sheepish or uncomfortable and do not remove their garters.
They retire (it is suggested these players leave the house)
Players find the idea of the old gods ridiculous or funny
Anybody raises their voice above a certain level of decibels
Someone says ‘shall we just say you’ve won’ or ‘let's just play two more rounds and then let’s go’ or words to that effect, words which express that 1) the game is going on too long or 2) that they are not having fun.
Anybody caught with the look of bleakness that accompanies the long grind of corporate existence, the look of the child which has been marched slowly but relentlessly out of them, or any look that may be considered as such.
Anybody who does not eat the complimentary stacks provided in the monthly meeting.
Errata
On ‘Monthly Steer Co Meeting’ card, add ‘depending on the number of players this meeting can re-occur in the following turn if all items on the agenda are not concluded in the allotted time.’
On ‘Audit!’ card, change ‘The player selected shall not be subject to physical violence even if it is deemed necessary.’
Example Safety Messages
We, as a company, believe all members should be treated equally. Convince your superiors of this fact.
Handling the pipes in the basement is advisable only with the correct gear. What measures do you take, both mentally and physically, when your work requires you to be in the basement?
Clients often respond well to positive feedback. What positive feedback can you give to your superiors in this meeting? To add a little fun to proceedings, refer to your superiors as The Most Holy Significance.
Today is national give yourself a break day. What do you do on your breaks to ensure you are a fully optimised instrument for the company?
When you provided positive feedback to your superiors, which of them was most humble and which, if required, should be considered a blemish upon the reputation of the old gods? Don’t worry. For this safety message, the old gods are watching.
In a recent survey it was discovered engagement has risen by 100% across the company since last year. How could this be improved?