STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion

Name: STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion
Brand: The TESA Collective
SKU: STRIKEGAME
Price: 35.0 USD
Availability: InStock

$50.00 $35.00

STRIKE! is a strategic, cooperative, and beautifully-illustrated board game for 2 - 4 players about building a city-wide rebellion to stop a mega-corporation's takeover. It was created in a collaboration between The TESA Collective, a publisher of games about changing the world, and Jobs with Justice, a leading labor rights organization. It is manufactured in the USA and on sustainable materials.

HappyCorp, the richest company in the world, has just unleashed its most diabolical plan yet: turning Mercury City into an entirely corporate-run metropolis. From the schools to the sidewalks, everything will be owned and run by HappyCorp, and every resident will become a HappyCorp employee. There will be no more minimum wage, no more public services, and no more unions. HappyCorp has already begun unleashing its Smile Drones to convert the city’s infrastructure, crush protests, and ensure every resident watches its Commercial Breaks.

Players take on the role of the Strike Council to lead a city-wide rebellion against HappyCorp’s takeover, while also fighting for better livelihoods for all. Players will grow their ranks, mobilize their workers, and lead strikes around Mercury City. As the Strike Council scores victories for workers, they will gain the support of more allies, from the steelworkers to the teachers, and build new bases of support from the manufacturing district to the university.

So do you have what it takes to lead the worker rebellion to defeat HappyCorp? Or will you soon be a smiling employee of HappyCity?

STRIKE! features beautiful artwork and visual designs by T.L. Simons.

Here’s what comes in each copy of STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion:

STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion is a cooperative game: all players are on the same team, fighting against HappyCorp. Players collectively win by completing enough STRIKE! cards to score 15 victory points, and thereby abolishing HappyCorp from their city.

HappyCorp, like any nefarious corporation, can win in multiple ways: by scoring 15 victory points of its own, or by deploying all six of its MegaDrones across the city.

Accessible and Strategic Gameplay

STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion has a short rulebook. However, the combination of cooperative gameplay, eight unique characters, as well as a tough opponent in HappyCorp, makes this a highly strategic game!

Experienced game players should be able to understand the gameplay behind STRIKE! relatively quickly, while novice gamers should be able to pick it up within a few turns. The unique characters and different difficulty settings will let you play over and over again!

Eight Unique Characters

At the start of each game, players choose one of eight characters to play. Each character has unique powers and stats, giving them different ways to strategize.

For example, Valentina can disassemble Smile Drones three times on her turn, meaning she’s great at challenging HappyCorp. Skyler, on the other hand, can grow ranks three times per turn, meaning she can quickly organize large strikes.

Players can also recruit workers from other industries across the city, from the teachers to the steelworkers, to grow their strikes and take powerful actions.

HappyCorp: Commercial Breaks, Drones, and MegaDrones - Oh my!

At the end of each turn, HappyCorp will force you to draw a Commercial Break card. These will do bad things for the Strike Council: such as remove Strikers from the board, cause players to lose energy, and deploy HappyCorp’s drones throughout the city.

But worst of all is HappyCorp’s dreaded MegaDrones. Whenever three regular drones are in a location together, they fuse into one humongous MegaDrone! The creation of a MegaDrone causes HappyCorp to score one point for each MegaDrone in a shared color, and it blocks the players from completing strikes in that location.

Solidarity Forever: Cooperation & Teamwork in STRIKE!

Every facet of gameplay in STRIKE! is based around teamwork and cooperation. These are some of the key cooperative game features:

Everyone is one the same team and must strategize together: win together, or lose together.
Every character’s special powers can benefit other players. Play as Hamza the student, and focus on boosting your teammate's energy. Or play as Candace the Firefighter to help strategically dispatch other players' strikers around the board.
Combine your Strikers in locations to score more points.
And more!

Want to see a gameplay preview? Check out the video below!

Geekdad (read the full review here):

"Overall, I think Strike! works well both as a cooperative game with a hint of a sci-fi theme, and as a conversation starter about the labor movement. It feels like there are plenty of games in which players are the corporations, maximizing profits and exploiting resources and labor, but not many that take the worker’s perspective into account. Strike! is a rare exception to that rule, and is worth checking out, especially if you like the theme."

Uproxx (read the full review here):

"Cooperative games can always slip into familiar problems of an “alpha” gamer making decisions for everyone, but Strike seems designed to unlearn that and genuinely have players work together. There are a lot of ways to win using a variety of abilities to move around the board, but no one can truly finish the job alone. It’s a game that advocates for action to its core, and that includes encouraging more reluctant players to take part in the strategy and use their unique skills each turn."

A Pawn's Perspective, which gave STRIKE! 4.3 out of 5 stars (read the full review here):

"Fast-playing and easy to learn. Replayable with different character options."

Cardboard Republic:

"Games about the labor rights movement of the last century are not particularly voluminous, and even fewer tackle the topic from a modern perspective. In an era of unprecedented wealth and social inequality the likes of which we haven’t seen in a century, STRIKE! aims to step into that void with an approachable game that’s one part social awareness, one part classic co-op, and one part dystopian warning."

Matt Milkowski, public school teacher:

"As soon as STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion was done, I was ready to play again. The theme and mechanics blended together smoothly and with intention. My favorite part of the game is how empowered I felt helping the labor movement take down HappyCorp. To be fair, that theme aligns with my core values, but I think the game does a great job helping you personify yourself as the underdog going up against behemoth, which anyone can get behind. The cards' flavor text had a nice balance of humor and real-world commentary on the problems that giant corporations create. Can't wait for the release!"

Vanessa Fernandez, labor organizer:

"STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion finds the perfect balance of strategic, cooperative gameplay and rich narrative. Gorgeous artwork and thoughtful, humorous flavor introduces levity to a typically daunting topic; creating new entry points for creativity, conversation, and fun."

Eli Kurtz, game designer:

"STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion is fast-paced, it's tons of fun, and it raises awareness about the value of worker solidarity and collective action. What's not to love?"