Poleconomy

Poleconomy was invented by Bruce Hatherley, a New Zealander from Christchurch who was living in Sydney at the time.[7] He first filed a US patent claim for it in January 1981.[1] It was published in 1980, first in an Australian edition, then a New Zealand edition. The New Zealand edition was produced by Tanner Couch and Robyn Larsen sold the squares on the board as advertising space to the actual companies represented. The New Zealand Stock Exchange was involved with the launch in Auckland.[7] It was also published by World Games.[2]

Hatherley contacted Canadian think tank the Fraser Institute to help introduce the game to Canada in 1983. Michael Walker, an employee of the Institute, sold the first squares as advertising and the rest were sold by stockbrokers, who had little other work because of a recession at the time. More than a million dollars was raised by the Institute and Poleconomy was credited with helping the Institute survive the recession.[5]

It was later sold in South Africa and the United Kingdom in other localised versions.[2][4] More than 1.5 million copies of Poleconomy have been sold internationally, incorporating the participation of 260 major corporate sponsors who leased advertising space in the separate national versions.[8] US patent 4,522,407 was granted for the game in 1985.[1]

Players compete to acquire properties and investments through stylized economic and political activity. This involves the purchase of real-world companies and advertising using artificial money. The players take turns moving around the board via the roll of the dice, landing on the gameboard squares and carrying out instruction according to the square's contents or player decision.

The game is unusual in its mirroring of real-world businesses for which it has licenses to use their trademarks. It also illustrates how political events such as government decisions and taxation affect the economy. The players take turns at being the prime minister or president through elections. Once in power they have the ability to dictate the levels of inflation and so increasing or decreasing rents for property owners. If a player cannot cover their rent, the debt is written off and they can continue, receiving a government salary; no-one becomes bankrupt. According to the rules the game ends when the central bank runs out of money.[3]

Enterprise Australia sponsored the game to "improve understanding of the free enterprise system" among schoolchildren, and sold over 100,000 copies.[9][10] The introduction to the rules of the New Zealand version quotes Enterprise New Zealand, "The game reflects the way industry, finance and government interact when private enterprise operates within a system of parliamentary democracy."[3]

Paul Cockburn reviewed Poleconomy for Imagine magazine, and stated that "Indeed, in a game where players are being cautious and keeping the amount of cash in front of them at a minimum (which limits the government's ability to tax) it's very hard not to bankrupt the country."[12]

In the March 1989 edition of Games International (Issue #3), John Harrington pointed out that "what we have here is a direct descendant of Monopoly." He found the voting system in the basic game, which was simply based on rolls of dice, "disappointing", and recommended that players move to the advanced game as quickly as possible. Harrington concluded by giving the game an average rating of 3 out of 5, saying, "I can give the advanced version of Poleconomy a recommendation, if only on the grounds that trying to stop the country going down the toilet is an illuminating experience."[13]

• Poleconomy Rules