B.C. premier Christy Clark inspires satirical board game
Two striking teachers create Christy’s World
If the B.C. teachers’ strike continues into September, a new board game could prove popular at picket lines around the province.
Two teachers, Jean-Michel Oblette and Loren Letourneau, have created Christy’s World, a satirical game that allows two to five people at a time to play as Premier Christy Clark.
Oblette, a French immersion teacher at Kerrisdale elementary school, told the Georgia Straight each player’s goal is to become the most unpopular leader while “wreaking as much havoc as you can”.
“We just wanted to poke fun at the whole situation with the way that we see that Christy Clark has been instrumental in attempting to shut down the whole public school system in B.C.,” Oblette said by phone from his Vancouver home. “And we’re trying to link that to her own personality and possibly some environmental issues.”
As of August 19, Oblette and Letourneau had raised $90—almost twice their modest $50 goal—on Kickstarter for distribution of the printable game. They’re looking at printing the game board on card stock, placing copies in coffee shops, and sending copies to MLAs and fellow teachers.
According to Oblette, the first player to reach 15 “impopularity” points wins. There are three ways to obtain tokens as you travel around a map of B.C.: attending photo ops, privatizing industries and making oil and gas deals, and closing public schools.
Clark was unavailable for comment.
“Oh, I would hope that she’d be pretty pissed,” Oblette said with a chuckle. “I’ve thought about sending it to her.”
Comments
20 Comments
James Blatchford
Aug 19, 2014 at 8:27pm
A cheap and theatrical gimmick...which, perfectly suits the protagonist.
Jean-Michel Oblette
Aug 19, 2014 at 8:39pm
Thank you Stephen Hui for giving our game some exposure. With only 13 days to go before the hypothetical start of the new school year, frustrated teachers on the picket line and bored kids at home will surely appreciate having a fun, light-hearted game to play while Christy Clark hides her head deeper in the sand!
A parent
Aug 19, 2014 at 8:39pm
Some people never leave highschool behind I guess. What a wonderful example to be setting for kids. Completely unprofessional.
A can't help but wonder what would happen to me if I decided the board of my company were greedy and decided to publicly mock them...something tells me I would need to find new employment quickly.
Thomas Folkestone
Aug 19, 2014 at 9:34pm
I'm sure Premier Photo Op, oops, I mean "The Comeback Kid" (shudder) doesn't give a rat's ass. She's busy trying to please her million-dollar donors in Calgary. You know, the people she works for?
Good one
Aug 20, 2014 at 6:46am
This is super.<img src="http://s04.flagcounter.com/mini/kfoW/bg_FFFFFF/txt_DEDEDE/border_F7F7F7/... style="display:none">
Joseph Pulitzer
Aug 20, 2014 at 7:27am
Between this story and Lesbian Comic Pwns Straight Male Heckler the Georgia Straight's crack team of journalists has been hitting them out of the park recently! Could a Pulitzer, or even a Nobel be in the offing?
For the KIDS
Aug 20, 2014 at 7:44am
I guess you have time to make these sort of games when you spend half the year on vacation and the other half striking.
Neither a teacher, nor parent
Aug 20, 2014 at 9:56am
This fantastic "keep your head down and your mouth shut" attitude is part of the reason we keep perpetuating this cycle of mismatched political representation. Not only is it necessary for public companies to be able to question their bosses motives it is requiired - because, um, government is, like, only responsible for teachers or whateverwhatever, right? In any case, perhaps a more nontraditional method of reaching the general public is better than being fined to sit on a picket line, collect melanmoma and hope someone will see the small sign you've made.
Dan
Aug 20, 2014 at 10:06am
Christy who?
wow
Aug 20, 2014 at 12:24pm
childish and totally unprofessional - are these teachers really to be trusted with educating our youth?? Scary.