Ciaran Purcell takes a look into two controversial new board games depicting historical events in Ireland.
When many people think of board games they think of games like Monopoly, or Uno. Along with them comes the ideas of family game nights or fun nights with friends. Probably frustration as well. However, one Connecticut based company Compass games decided that they wanted to take things a step further than traditional scrabble.
They started a kickstarter campaign for a game that they have titled ‘The Great Hunger: Ireland’s Tragedy in the 19th Century’. A game where you play as a family with the objective of surviving the potato blight. The Kickstarter campaign as of the end of January has managed to raise a staggering €19,549. From people looking to play as the company has described an “Easy-to-learn, card-driven game, rich with historical detail; explores 19th-century Irish expansion, blight, famine, & emigration” for 2-5 players.
Many Irish people online are rightly horrified by the glorification of one of the darkest points in the history of our country. Based on the perception of this you’d think that the company would decide that they had enough of retelling Irish history through this format. However at the start of this year Compass games decided to announce their next project The Troubles: Shadow War in Northern Ireland 1964-1998.
This one is a card game set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, one of the other darkest periods in our history. This one however, far more recent than the Famine. The reaction of this one seemed to be once again one of anger as well as confusion as to why an American country would seem to think that it is okay to glorify our history in such a way. Especially such a recent event as The Troubles.
I know myself that I had teachers in school and friends of my parents who vividly remember what it was like in Northern Ireland during this time period. It was dark and a period of destruction and major fear and anxiety. This isn’t to say that the media should shy away from Irish history or even The Troubles as sources of inspiration, however it’s to do it in a tasteful manner that showcases the realities of that time while also celebrating the beauty that is Irish culture.
If you’re looking for something that does it well I would point you in the direction of Derry Girls created by Lisa McGee as a piece of media that does this in the correct way. For no other reason than it is an Irish person telling Irish stories. However, something that we need to remember when it comes to discussions like this is that The Troubles in particular are something that people today still remember and are still in many ways going on in Northern Ireland.
Although it is an event that will be remembered forever more and a major turning point in the history of both Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland. It is still in the present tense and that making a card game that glorifies and in many ways belittles the real struggles that people faced and that many are still facing today, can and should be considered crass and quite rude.
Situations like this I think are a showcase that even though in many ways we as a society have come incredibly far when it comes to representation and diversity in media, that at the end of the day we do all need to remember, sometimes something isn’t our story to tell and rather than tell it poorly maybe we should just wait for someone who has lived through it to tell that story instead.