RULEBOOK
1989: THE YEAR OF RESISTANCE
THE EDUCATIONAL BOARD GAME FOR 2-4 PEOPLE
The board game 1989: The Year of Resistance is a result of the project „1989: Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, Development of the Strategic Game for the Young Europeans”. The aims of the project were to allow young people from Germany, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to become more acquainted with the modern history of Europe and develop a board game depicting the events of so-called Autumn of Nations: the great movement toward freedom and liberation from the yoke of communism
by the Eastern European countries. The project theme was inspired by the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Young people created this game: they developed the concept of the game, the rules and the questions, they also tested a prototype game during the international meetings. Each of the meetings included historical seminar about the year 1989, meetings
with experts and witnesses, film projections, city tours, photographic workshop, board game development workshop run by
professional board game editor, Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) and finally a public presentation for local citizens. Over 200
participants took part in the workshops and co-created the board game.
The events were organized in:
•18th-20th April 2015 in Kraków (Poland): Polish movement to freedom. The fall of communism. From the Round Table to the
parliamentary election in June 1989.
•18th-20th July 2015 in Kosice (Slovakia): V for Velvet Revolution 1989. A peaceful way to freedom in Czechoslovakia.
•26th-28th September 2015 in Deta/Timisoara (Romania): Revolutions in the Autumn of Nations - revolution in Romania and
Hungary in 1989.
GAME GOAL:
The goal of the game is to gain cards which symbolize the active participation in an anti-communism opposition. To gain
these cards, players must use their knowledge of 80s Eastern
Europe, with a focus on the final years of this decade. The first
player to gain a certain amount of cards and fulfill the requirements of his Goal card is the winner – he contributes the most
towards liberating the country from communist influence.
GAME COMPONENTS:
The board: the board represents
a ficticious communist city, in which
the game takes place. Elements of this
city could be found in all countries of
the Eastern block during the 1980s.
The players traverse the city, visit key
locations around it and interact with
them. On the board, along the sides,
there are spaces for the players to keep
their gained cards – the colours of these spaces correnspond
with the colours of the locations.
Question cards: each card of this type
presents three questions, of which one
is chosen. Answering the question correctly allows the person to gain the
card and place it on one of the spaces
designated on the board. Each correct
answer is a step toward
victory.
Visit the following:
Monument of Lenin
Central Committee
Shop
Goal cards: players will find different requirements on these cards, that are dealt
to them at the beginning of the game.
Each Goal card shows three locations on
the board, which the player has to visit
during the game.
Goal tokens: these tokens are used to track the fulfilling of goals by the players. A token is placed on
a Goal card for each Location listed that the player
visits.
Mobility tokens: these tokens allow the players to
modify the number of spaces that they move during a turn. These tokens symbolize the knowledge
of the right people, the knowledge of shortcuts to
run away from the regime, and they help players
get where they want to go faster.
Location cards: these cheat-sheets list
all locations in the game and their functions. Players have to look up the location on the list when they visit it and
read the instructions for the space.
Attention: due to a bug, on Locations
cards you may find different locations’
names, than given on the board. You
should use rules of following locations for
locations on the board:
Rules of locations
ILLEGAL PRINTHOUSE (GREEN)
1: the printhouse is raided. Lose
an Opposition token.
2-4: gain an Opposition token.
5: gain a Move token.
6: draw a Question card.
DEPARTMENT STORE (GREEN)
1-2: you spend several hours in line,
but walk away empty-handed.
3-4: you gain a Move token.
5-6: draw a Question card.
JAIL (GREY)
1-2: you have been identified as
an Oppositionist. Lose a turn.
3: your request to meet with
an Oppositionist has been denied.
Lose a Opposition token.
4-5: you have met with an Oppositionist
and exchanged information.
Gain two Opposition tokens.
6: draw a Question card.
SECRET POLICE HQ (GREY)
1-3: you have been identified as
an Oppositionist. Lose a turn.
4-6: draw a Question card.
MAIN SQUARE (PURPLE)
1: a demonstration you took part
in has been dispersed by force.
Lose one Opposition and one
Move token.
2: you take part in a demonstration.
Lose a turn and gain an Opposition
token.
3: you take part in an illegal gathering.
Gain an Opposition token.
4-5: A friend tells you about a safe
house. Gain a Move token.
6: draw a Question card.
CHURCH (PURPLE)
1: a police patrol interrogates the priest
and bars you from entering the Church.
Lose a turn.
2-3: gain a Move token.
4-5: gain an Opposition token.
6: draw a Question card.
UNIVERSITY (RED)
1: you stay late and have to avoid
a police patrol after dark. Lose a turn.
2: you stay late and have to avoid
a police patrol after dark.
Lose a Move token.
3: you are questioned by the police.
Lose an Opposition token.
4: you communicate with academics
who support your cause.
Gain an Opposition token.
5-6: draw a Question card.
LENIN’S MONUMENT (RED)
1-2: you are caught while defacing
the monument. Lose a turn.
3-4: you deface the monument.
Gain an Opposition token.
5: you deface the monument.
Gain a Move token.
6: draw a Question card.
FACTORY (BLUE)
1-2: you take part in a strike and get
arrested. Lose a turn.
3: you take part in a strike.
Gain an Opposition token.
4-5: you organize a meeting of workers
and recruit some of them to your cause.
Gain a Move token.
6: draw a Question card
CENTRAL COMMITTEE (BLUE)
1-3: you take part in a protest and are
identified. Lose a turn and
an Opposition token.
4: you take part in a protest.
Gain an Opposition token.
5-6: draw a Question card.
1. Shop rules for Department store
2. Jail rules for Detention
3. Main square rules for Central Square
Opposition tokens: these tokens symbolize the
support the player maintains among other oppositionists and the city’s inhabitants. Players can use
these tokens to modify the roll of the dice when
they are visiting a Location.
Berlin Wa
ll
Berlin Wall cards: these cards symbolize the
power of communist regime and are removed
during play to show the players’ progress towards abolishing communist rule.
Pawns and die: the pawns are used to track
the players’ movement on the board, while the
die is used to see how many spaces a player can
move each turn and what happens to the player
when he enters one of the locations.
SETTING UP THE GAME:
Place the board on the table, divide the cards into a Goal card
deck and a Question card deck, shuffle both, and place them
near the board. Place the Opposition, Mobility and Goal tokens in separate piles, near the board. Place the player pawns
on the Central Place space in the middle of the board (one per
player), one pawn per circular space, at random. Lay out 10
Berlin Wall cards near the board, so that all players can see
how many there are. Each player receives, at random, a single Goal card, which he places in front of him, face up (you
can put the other cards back inside the box, they will not be
used during this game). Give to each player a Locations cheat-sheet. The players also receive 5 Opposition and 5 Mobility
tokens each. The oldest player starts the game.
Location on which he received the question. He cannot own
more than a single card of a certain colour. If he is unsuccessful, the card is discarded without effect, and his turn ends.
After moving and possibly drawing a Question card, play continues with the player sitting clockwise from the player who
just completed his turn.
FULFILLING GOAL REQUIREMENTS:
To complete a Goal mentioned on
a player’s Goal Card, the player has to
visit (ie. stop on) three Locations listed on the card. When the player reaches the first of them, put a Goal token on
that Location’s name on his Goal Card.
When he reaches the other two as well,
he may place a second and third token
on the Card in the same way. Placing
the third token on the card means the
Goal is now achieved, and the card is
kept in front of the player with all three
tokens remaining.
REMOVING THE BERLIN WALL CARDS:
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The players remove a single Berlin Wall card and return it to
the box each time when one of the following happens:
•a player fulfills his Goal by visiting all three Locations listed
on his Goal card (three tokens have been placed on the card)
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
GAME TURN:
The player begins his turn by rolling the die and moving his
pawn a number of spaces up to the number rolled (he is allowed to move less spaces than he rolled, for example to stop
on a Location which he would otherwise pass over). The entirety of the move must always be in a single direction (the
player cannot backtrack during a single turn). When a player reaches a branching path, he can choose the direction in
which he wants to move. A player has to move each turn.After
moving a number of spaces based on the die roll, the player
can spend any number of Mobility tokens, if he has them.
Each token spent this way allows the player to move an additional space on the board.
If a player finishes his move on one of the ten Locations, he
must immediately roll a die to see what happens. The exact
effects are described on the “Rules of location sheet” – in general players can gain Opposition or Mobility tokens, but they
can also lose them, and they can lose a turn. The most important function of these spaces is drawing Question cards.
After rolling the die to check the Location effect, the player
can spend any number of Opposition tokens, if he has them.
Each token spent this way allows the player to modify the roll
of the die by adding one number to it (for example making
a roll of 4 into a roll of 5). This allows the players to avoid
some unpleasant effects of Locations, and to draw a Question
card even if the number of the die was too low.
When a player (we call him Player A in this example) receives
an instruction to draw a Question card, the player sitting to
his right (Player B) draws one from the top of the deck, but do
not show it to the Player A. Than the Player A should choose a
number from 1 to 3 to pick the question randomly. The question picked is read aloud by the Player B along with the possible answers, and Player A must try to choose the right answer.
If he is successful, he receives the card and put it in front of
him on the board, on the space that has the same colour as the
•a player places the first Question card on his side of the
board
•a player places the third Question card on his side of the
board
•a player places the fifth Question card on his side of the
board
When a player places the fifth Question card on his side of the
board or when there are no more Berlin Wall cards, the game
ends.
GAME END:
In a four-player game, the game ends in two cases:
•when one of the players, who has fulfilled all three of the
Goals on his Goal card, gains a fifth Question card and has
one on each of the coloured spaces on his side of the board,
OR
•when the last piece of the Berlin Wall is discarded
In the first case, that player wins the game. If the Berlin Wall
has fallen due to this fifth card being played, the player is instrumental in freeing the country from communist rule. If the
Berlin Wall still stands, that player still wins, but his victory
is just a step toward the deconstruction of the communist regime. There is still work to be done!
In the second case, players achieve victory together, but there
are still some who contributed the most towards ending communist rule. Players who have fulfilled both of the Goals on
their Goal Cards have priority when checking victory conditions. The player with the most Question cards on his side of
the board wins the game. If players with completed Goals have
the same number of Question cards, the victory goes to the
player with the most Opposition tokens. If there is a tie in this
case as well, the player with the most Mobility tokens is the
winner. In a case when players are again tied, they share victory.
In the unlikely case when no player has completed their Goal,
but all Berlin Wall cards have been removed from the game, all
players share a hard-won, but partial victory. The shadow of
communism still lingers, and the new, democratically elected
government, may not be completely free of its influence...
TWO- AND THREE-PLAYER GAMES
Vladimír Čovan, Erik Dudinský, Tomáš Džambík, Gabriel Eštok, Viliam
Fedorko, Mária Fialková, Diana Furíková, Ivana Gavalcová, František Gizela,
René Goldschmidt, Dávid Hanko, Victor Harakály, Barbora Karľová, Dominika
Kleinová, Andrea Lengvarská, Jakub Lengvarský, Margita Lengyelová, Ladislav
Lukáč, Katarína Magyarová, Dominika Nazarejová, Alexander Onufrák,
Marek Pacák, Nadežda Paucová, Katarína Rybnická, Katarína Šimková,
Jaroslav Števčať, Štefan Stropko, Gabriela Szabariová, Roman Valenta, Valentína
Weissová
GERMANY: Lutz Kessner, Florian Kämpf
HUNGARY: Farkas Balazs
In a three-player game, start with 8 Berlin Wall cards on the
table, instead of 10. In a two-player game, start with 6 Berlin
Wall cards on the table, instead of 10. Other rules remain unchanged.
Aurea Libertas Institute would like to thank our associated partners, all
institutional partners and all participants for active taking part in the
project.
LONGER FOUR-PLAYER GAME: MORE BERLIN WALL
CARDS
Project partners: Azimut, O.Z. (Slovakia), „Timis-Torontal” Intercommunity
Development Association (Romania), Ariadne Kulturnetzwerk e.V.
(Germany)
There are 13 Berlin Wall cards in the box, but only 10 are used
during a regular game. If you wish to play a longer game, use
all 13 Berlin Wall. This will make achieving full victory (winning by discarding the final Berlin Wall card) more difficult.
Project idea & Coordination: AUREA LIBERTAS INSTITUTE, Kraków,
Poland
Project staff: Rafał Olszowski, Magdalena Górska, Izabela Szeląg, Miroslava
Rybárová, Slavomír Stankovič, Gheorge Duta, Ioan Iovan, Cristian Morar,
Edith Portik, Mikołaj Maśluk-Meller, Michał Stachyra, Radosław Szeja,
Kamil Kardel, Anna Misiak, Krzysztof Biliński, Krzysztof Zięba, Rafał
Halski, Dawid Hallmann, Paweł Siemianowski
Graphics and DTP: Bartek Fedyczak
The participants, who contributed to creation of the board game were
(among others):
POLAND: Marcin Bartyzel, Estera Chorąży, Mateusz Cygan, Błażej Dolicki,
Karolina Fajerska, Sara Gawłowska, Wiktoria Głód, Joanna Goryl, Aleksandra
Grab, Barbara Gregorczyk, Karolina Grudzień, Alicja Grudzińska, Magdalena
Grys, Gabriela Hajos, Daria Halska, Justyna Janczur, Małgorzata Janczur,
Michał Jeleń, Aleksandra Kaczmarczyk, Adrianna Klepacka, Mateusz Kołtyś,
Wiktoria Korbecka, Magdalena Krzemińska, Izabella Kubik, Marcelina
Kulmaga, Katarzyna Kuśnierz, Gabriela Kwaśniewska, Wojciech Leżoń,
Łukasz Lonc, Wiktoria Lubzińska, Andrzej Łyko, Patrycja Manwelian,
Marianna Marszałkowska, Paulina Michalak, Magdalena Misztalska, Iga
Okulska, Hubert Orlicki, Hanna Piechota, Marzena Pierzchała, Aleksandra
Pragnąca, Agata Rymarowicz, Anna Rzemińska, Dawid Sęk, Artur Synowski,
Mikołaj Szarek, Kornelia Szkodoń, Piotr Szwagrzyk, Anna Światłoń, Krzysztof
Więckowski, Tomasz Wilk, Teresa Wolano, Paulina Wójcik, Barbara Wziętek,
Zuzanna Zając, Wiktoria Żywiec
ROMANIA: Lăcrimioara-Iasmina Apostol, Andreea Roxana Băbu, Alexandra
Báduceanu, Iarka Baitar, Miodrag Balan, Roland Baranyai, Razvan Florin
Bieraru, Raluca - Diana Boboc, Diana Buciooca, Denisa Cîmpan, Ana-Maria
Cioară, Zoran - Adrian Circa, Cosmin – Ionuț Cîrlea, Cristina Clara, Flavius
Comloșan, Denis Corozmici, Stefan - Alexandru Curiban, Cosmin Adrian
Dlujanschi, Dario Denis Alin Dugalici, Patricia Ecob, Cristian Florin Enache,
Miriam Farawi, Monica Daniela Farcas, Ramona Farcas, Gabriel Florea,
Marinela Găinuță, Alexandra - Cristina Galamboș, Amalia Geapana, Iasmina
Hojda, Slavisa Iancouici, Laurentiu Ionașcu, Doroftei Ionică, Bogdan - Ioan
Iovan, Sebastian Iztwan, Anamaria Teodora Koporhyai - Toth, Franciska Laszlo,
Darius Adrian Lungu, Elena- Ancuța Luțoaica, Cosmina Man, Gabriela Iasmina Manea, Alexandru Marcu, Rafael Patrican Mirel, Daniel Mîțw, Eugen
- Florentin Mociar, Patricia Muscă, Mihaela Nedela, Ana Isabela Nicola, Liviu
- Valentin Niculache, Carmina Novaceanu, Bianca - Mihaela Nucu, Ioana
Alina Ostoia, Loredana Pal, Roman Petru, Marius Bogdan Popescu, Alexandra
Poptean, Adelina- Alexandra Prisecian, Dana Estera Pungilă, Piry Radilov,
Nikolaus Zoltan Radovan, Adrian Radu, Alex Radulov, Marcela Rosu, Nadia
Roszuș, Loredana Rujan, Sergiu Vasile Savin, Denis Shqsir, Ioana Maria Stoica,
Alexandru Cătăliw Szemenyuk, Cristian Toma, Sabrina- Florentina Tomei,
Adrianna Turda, Monica Ursuț, Simona Ileana Vaszko, Betina Gabriela Vegső,
Stefanie - Johanna Vegső, Maria Vincze, Alexandru Vișan, Nicoleta Diana
Vladislav, Mihaela Vulpe, Ionuț Zeic
SLOVAKIA: Róbert Alžo, Jakub Bardovič, Martin Berta, Renáta Bzdilová,
Board Game Production: Gry Na Zamówienie, Kuźnia Gier LTD
Project website: www.1989resistance.eu
Coordinator website: www.aurealibertas.org
Photos in the board game:
All photos in the board game (except described below) were taken by
participants during three events.
Archival photographs:
- Monument of Lenin (on board) - Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa
(The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków)/Photo: Janusz Podlecki
“Lenin in Nowa Huta”
- Factory (on board) – Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa (The
Historical Museum of the City of Kraków)/Photo: Henryk Hermanowicz
“Architecture of Nowa Huta”
- Photo on cover - from the collection of Muzeum Historyczne Miasta
Krakowa
(The Historical Museum of the City of Kraków)
Project „1989: Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, Development of the
Strategic Game for the Young Europeans” is realized within the framework of
Europe for Citizens Programme, Strand 1 „European Remembrance”, co-funded
by the European Union.The European Commission support for the production of
this publication does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflects the
views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Producer:
GRY NA ZAMÓWIENIE
Kuznia Gier LTD
www.GryNaZamowienie.pl
tel.: +48 604 559 272
Made in Poland
2-4
45-80 min