‘Anti-war wargame’ Chicago ’68 is an impeccably timed board game

In the summer of 2020, filmmaker Yoni Goldstein looked out the window of his home to see a line of police officers advancing on demonstrators — neighbors of his who had taken to the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd. In that moment, his mind flashed to another image, one that was burned into the memories of many Chicagoans like a sunspot: the protests surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where a similar line of powder-blue helmets advanced on a similar line of demonstrators.

Thinking of activists in action, both old and new, planted the seed of an idea in the rookie gamemaker’s mind. And the result of that pang of inspiration — a board game titled Chicago ’68 — launches on Kickstarter Aug. 6.

On a call with Polygon in the first week of July, Goldstein described Chicago ’68 as a kind of “anti-war wargame.” The game pits The Establishment — including the Democratic National Committee itself as well as then-mayor Richard J. Daley and the infamous Chicago political machine — against The Demonstrators, a motley group composed of the Youth International Party, street performers, and other loosely affiliated agitators.

Rather than using historical figures and events as unique, one-time events dropped into the game (much like Twilight Struggle or Labyrinth: The War on Terror does), Goldstein said his design instead uses cards as a “menu of actions.” Each side plays from two separate decks, one called the Leadership Deck and another called the Rank and File Deck. Together, these decks allow players to both control the state of the game, and to maneuver their units and engage in direct conflict on the streets.

The Establishment’s goal is straightforward: Protect the convention delegates and minimize the impact these protests have on choosing a Presidential nominee. The Demonstrators, in turn, are working to embarrass The Establishment and hijack the convention in order to nominate their own chosen candidate for the Presidency.

But don’t confuse this for a Risk-style dudes-on-a-map board game. Instead, Goldstein’s design has more in common with asymmetrical wargames like Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right and Volko Ruhnke’s counter-insurgency series. It’s a skirmish with multiple front lines — one plotted around the physical space in and around the convention itself, and the other on television screens around the world.

Photo: Yoni Goldstein

“There’s definitely an element of the demonstrators as insurgents, and the police being counter-insurgents,” Goldstein said. “How do you keep [the protestors] from entering into sensitive areas of the convention center? […] The map represents different sites that are historically important during the convention week. As The Establishment, you want to keep The Demonstrators in the parks. [Meanwhile] the Demonstrators are moving into the Hilton, where the delegates were being housed, or moving into the convention center, [or battling with police on Michigan Avenue].”

Goldstein says there’s an incentive for both sides to encroach into each other’s territory because media exposure impacts the two sides differently, depending primarily on where conflict takes place. As The Demonstrators, infiltrating the DNC and protesting on the floor can generate lots of useful exposure for your side. Meanwhile, The Establishment wants to push the front lines back into those parks, where it can be seen visibly breaking up encampments and quelling unrest.

Image: The Dietz Foundation

It’s a fast and fluid game that plays out in five rounds, representing the final three days of the 1968 DNC. Goldstein says that, so far at least, playtests have been exceptional.

Of course, when Goldstein started designing the game more than four years ago the political situation here in the U.S. was very different than it is right now. The Democratic National Committee had yet to select Chicago to be the site of the 2024 DNC, for one. But, most importantly, President Joe Biden was the presumptive nominee instead of Kamala Harris. Seen in hindsight, our interview — conducted way back on July 3 — feels almost prescient of the situation we find ourselves in today.

Image: The Dietz Foundation

“As we get closer and closer to the August convention this year, Joe Biden seems more and more like [Lyndon B. Johnson],” Goldstein said on that call. “There is a lot of internal strife within the Democratic Party, and a lot of strife with people who feel alienated by politics as usual. And there’s definitely going to be demonstrations, [including] radical militant responses and also artistic performative responses to the Democrats being in Chicago.

“I think we’re gonna see a lot of echoes and a lot of similarities to the historical past. I don’t think it’s a one-to-one repetition of 1968, but it’s not going to stop, right? It’s going to happen again. Chicago is a site for world history, and for all the historical forces that we’re facing today. It’s something that I think we have to learn from, and re-apply and become more effective organizers for justice in this world.”

The campaign to fund Chicago ’68, which will be published by the non-profit The Dietz Foundation, runs through Sept. 5.