Kolejka (Queue)

The Queue

State Trade Announcement

Attention! On February 5, 2011, at approximately 11 AM, the first delivery of The Queue Board Game will take place. Packaged in a substitute box, The Queue Board Game can be purchased in exchange for National Bank of Poland bills. In view of the planned rise of paper prices as well as the threat of speculators, you are advised to stock up on the game now. Only on February 5 will the merchandise not be subject to rationing, though its quantity is limited. After the premiere, the merchandise will be sold in the above-mentioned retail trade establishment until supplies run out. For persons queuing up to purchase The Queue, the IPN cultural-educational instructors have prepared a free educational program, including: a documentary film “Everyone Knows Who They Are Standing Behind,” popular queue music, a lecture on the economy of the People’s Republic of Poland from the “Standing” series, a competition with valuable prizes for the most experienced queuer, as well as civic training in the rules of The Queue Board Game.

The Queue Board Game: How It Works

We say NO to the machinations of the speculators!

The Queue is a board game that tells a story of everyday life in Poland at the tail-end of the communist era. At first glance, the task of the 2 to 5 players appears quite simple: they have to send out their family, which consists of 5 pawns, to various stores on the game board to buy all the items on their randomly drawn shopping list. The problem is, however, that the shelves in the five neighborhood shops are empty…

The players line up their pawns in front of the stores without knowing which store will have a delivery. Tension mounts as the product delivery cards are uncovered and it turns out that there will only be enough product cards for the lucky few standing closest to the door. Since everyone wants to be first, the queue starts to push up against the door. To get ahead, the people in the queue use a range of queuing cards, such as: “Mother carrying small child,” “This is not your place, sir,” or “Under-the-counter goods.” But they have to watch out for “Closed for stocktaking” and “Delivery error” cards, and for the speculators – black pawns standing in the queue. Only those players will come home with full shopping bags who make the best use of the queuing cards in their hand.

On the product cards there are photos of sixty original objects from the communist era. The merchandise includes Relaks shoes, Przemys³awka eau de cologne, Popularna tea, as well as other commodities that were once in short supply.

Though the neighborhood also has an outdoor market which sells everything, the prices there are steep – unless, of course, you manage to strike a deal with the market woman. In this historical board game you really have to be savvy to get the goods.

Are you brave enough to confront the everyday life of the 1980s?