Kolejka means queue, which is what you do for goods in communist Poland…

…and never get them.

The board game Kolejka (a.k.a. Queue) tells a story of everyday life in Poland at the tail-end of the Communist era. The players’ task appears to be simple: They have to send their family members out to various stores on the game board to buy all the items on their shopping list. The problem is, however, that the shelves in the five neighbourhood stores are empty.

Kolejka Summary

There are a lot of games about queuing.

One I haven’t played but want to is Beasty Bar where you manipulate a queue of animals that are trying to get into a nightclub. When the queue is big enough, the two at the front go in and the one at the back goes home. You need to make sure you have those at the front and not at the back.

Probably the biggest and best known is Guillotine. Here you’re manipulating a queue hoping to put a high-value target at the front of it on your turn so you can take their head off.

As a historical representation of the time and as a ‘lesson’ the game is very good. It reflects how difficult it must have been at the time just to get simple items like Toilet Rolls.

After playing it I went to McDonald’s and did think about how easy it was to get this meal and how I picked up iPhone headphones in the day. No queuing. (Well, 2-3 minutes, not days).

The problem is, as a game it’s not fun.

During the last few rounds of the game I didn’t bother to play cards, I just passed. There was literally no point putting in the thought and effort to achieve the goals only to have them shattered.

I actually gained MORE goods that way. This is because I didn’t take it to the game, the game randomly came to me.

Jesta ThaRogue