It's like Monopoly but with a uniquely Philippine twist.
A new board game selling briskly in Manila allows Filipinos to re-enact the Senate impeachment trial of ousted president Joseph Estrada.
In real life the trial collapsed before it was concluded, but the game allows players to decide if Estrada would have been guilty or not guilty of corruption.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Impeachment: an educational board game" is the creation of seven Filipino men, all in their 30s and from various professions. None is a lawyer.
The concept is several things to the creators.
"It's a board game where people can vent their anger [over the collapse of the Senate trial]," said artist Alfred Galvez, one of the seven.
"It's educational, but we want it to be as fun as possible so you also learn a lot of things about the trial," said Robert Bernas.
Patrick Ildefonso says the game is a lesson in law and history that "sounds boring to kids but could also be fun."
The real impeachment trial of the former movie star collapsed when the prosecution team quit in protest at the Senate's refusal to open bank records which they said would show the president had amassed millions of dollars through corruption. Estrada has repeatedly said he is innocent of all the charges.
In the game, two pairs of players join as defense and prosecution co-counsels to try Estrada on four articles of graft, bribery and corruption he faced at the Senate.
At every roll of the dice, the key is to gather enough witness, motion and evidence cards which players may use to collect senator-judge cards.
Almost to the last detail, the game is a faithful play on all the elements of the Senate trial. The cards bear the names and caricatures of the senators who sat as trial judges and those of the 26 witnesses who testified.
Lawyers, young professionals and children from the ages of 10 upward are buying the game at specialty bookstores and, the creators say, even at schools, a barber shop and a cake shop.
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