Everything involves politics. This statement rings particularly true as the election season reaches its crescendo. With thousands of voices trying to vye for your vote with volume, choosing the right candidate can be tricky. But what if there was a simulation, allowing you to step into the shoes of a politician? SHASN may be the (fun) answer. It is an engaging board game that promises to do all this and more. With the 2024 General Elections coming to a conclusion, My Kolkata caught up with the game’s creator, Zain Memon, to know why playing SHASN can change the way you look at politics.
The game makes players dive into a world where they are competing in a national election, and have to routinely take tough policy decisions to get votes. Its interactive nature encourages players to strategise on building a political persona.
‘A granular understanding of how politics works’
A lot of inspiration comes from Zain’s past experience in creating political content, having led the crowdfunding campaign for the documentary, An Insignificant Man. “Our idea was to take insights from the political cinema we had made, and translate it to people. This transformation journey gave us a granular understanding of how politics works, and the shift from policy to politician.”
Through SHASN, Zain wanted to raise pertinent questions on the lack of dialogue around a party’s policies. “We don’t talk about what a party stands for, but the personality of its leaders. We wanted this to change with SHASN,” he adds.
148 different political scenarios
The game blends a variety of ideology cards, resources, voter cards and conspiracy cards to create a delicious concoction much like a political thriller. With 148 different political scenarios embedded within these cards, Zain’s vision isn’t just to capture one or two nuances of contesting an election, but the entire political spectrum. Apart from the base game and a campaign around India 2022-23, there are a variety of expansion packs, including the Fall of Republic - Rome 40 BCE, the USA 2019-20 Campaign, and the UK 2019-20 Brexit Campaign. Designed for 2-5 people, much of the game’s marketing literally encourages you to ‘backstab your friends’.
Zain Memon wanted to create a board game that helps people understand the interplay of politics, ethics and strategy
“For thousands of years, we have said that politicians are corrupt. The question then arises, do only corrupt people get into politics, or is it only the corrupt who attain power? SHASN shows how the system is flawed by making you think like a politician. The game is created in a way where you slowly start seeing your ideals erode, as you do what it takes to win,” he explains.
In order to keep up with the constantly evolving landscape of modern politics, the team updates the game with a new campaign every 18 months, replacing resolved and non-urgent issues with ones that have freshly cropped up. Through its constant evolution, the game aspires to change a player’s perspective by making them question the system instead of leaders. “SHASN doesn’t care about one political party or ideology. It cares about the process of democracy itself.”
Apart from the base game and a campaign around India 2022-23, there are a variety of expansion packs
With games reported to last as long as six hours, there is incredible nuance in this political simulation, especially in an age where democracy is seen as black or white. Its meta mirroring of the world we live in enables conversations around subjects like property rights, war and free speech. At the same time, the game makes players ask themselves if they would truly hold onto their beliefs in the face of political incentives.
Encouraging deep conversations was Zain’s primary motive, and one that drives Team SHASN to keep creating. “Through this game, we want people to talk about politics and policy with the people they love the most, without it getting acrimonious,” he signs off.
You can find out more about the game here.