Chassidish Monopoly
This is a real board game sold in Williamsburg:
Good quotes from the original blog post at Blog in D Minor:
Spaces on the board include: the jail or "tefiseh", which is an old Eastern European jail, naturally. It's located in the bottom right hand corner. Don't miss the "shtreiml gesheft" on the bottom center. The bottom left corner is a picture of the swirling hellfires of "Gehennom" (Hell). Continuing clockwise around the board, the box with the arrows at ten o'clock points to a second box called "Mikhutz Lamakhane" or excommunication (i.e. Kherem.) The text reads "Harkhek mekhover ra, keyner tor zikh mit dir nisht khavren". (Stay away from a bad neighbor, nobody is allowed to act friendly towards you.)
Funny Rules:
There's a "tzedoko" in addition to the bank. Every profitable transaction requires players to donate ma'aser (a tenth) of the proceeds to charity. Of course, if a player runs out of money, he receives charity. This results in the game being never ending, for, if you run out of money, you immediately receive a tzedoko (charity) stipend.
What happens should the tzedoko pushke runs out of money:
"Az es treft zikh un di tzedoko pushke iz shoyn leydik, makht der gabai tzedoko a groysn 'appeal' un yeder shpiler zol gebn khotsh $50. (Es farshteyt zikh tomer men hot.)"Good Cards and Bad Cards:
If the tzedoko runs out of money, the adminstrator should make a giant appeal, and each player should donate at least $50 (if he has it).
As in Monopoly, there are two kinds of cards. In Handel Ehrlekh, they are called "Iberashung kartelekh" and "Kheshbon Hanefesh kartelekh" (soul searching cards).
The cards tell you something you've done, comment on it, and then tell you what to do. The "Iberashung kartelekh" are positive and the "Kheshbon Hanefesh kartelekh" are negative.
As you can see, the values being taught with these are typically admirable. For example: "Gebakn khale lekovod Shabes koydesh!" (You baked Challah in honor of Shabbos), "Host gegebn a sakh tzedoko mit a gute hartz" (You gave a lot of charity with a good heart), "zikh ayngehalten fun kas" (You restrained your anger), "rakhmones gehat oyf yenem" (You had mercy on another).
There are some unusual ones though. My personal fave is "Yiddishe tokhter! Du hust dikh gerukt in a zayt ven a mans perzon iz gekumen antkegen" (Jewish daughter! You moved to the side when a man was approaching." "A tzniyusdike gefil un a khoshevkayt fun di neshome."
The best "Chesbon Hanefesh" Cards:
"Yiddeshe Tokhter! Du host aroys gelakht ven mener hoben gehert! Zeyer a groyse pritzus! Shtel dokh in 'mikhutz lamakhane' un blayb aroys 3 gang." (Jewish daughter! You laughed when men could hear you. Very immodest! You're excommunicated! Lose three turns.)
"Geredt English tzuvishin zikh! Yiddish redn taylt up fun di goyim! Shtel dokh in 'mikhutz lamakhane' un blayb aroys 3 gang." (You spoke English amongst yourselves. Speaking Yiddish separates us from the Gentiles! You're excommunicated! Lose three turns.)
"Getantzt mit shtrik in gas! Vi iz dayn gefeel fun tzniyus? Batzol shtrof $50 un blayb aroys a gang." (You jumped rope in the street! Where is your modest sensibility? Pay a $50 fine and lose a turn.)
"Geleynt a treyfene bikhl! Tomey, Tomey! Arayn in Gehenom un blayb aroys 2 gang."Ungevoren di 2 tayereste pletzer vos du host." (You read an unkosher book. Unclean, unclean! Got to Hell and lose two turns. Lose your two most valuable properties!)
"Geholfen di Tziyonistishe medinah! Fun a shaykhes tzu reshoim kumt keyn guts nisht aroys! Nor shoden! Tu teshuvah! Zitz in a yeshivah 2 geng, un tzol far di yeshiva vifel es kost far yededn aroys gebliben gan $50 far tzedokoh!" (You helped the Zionist country! No good can come out of an association with evil people, only bad! Repent! Sit in a yeshivah for two turns, and pay $50 tuition per day to charity).
View the whole board here.
posted by Captain Salamander @ 7:26 PM
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