Mogamma el Tahrir

Mogamma el Tahrir

A board game designed to collectively imagine millions of scenarios to the fate of Mogamma El Tahrir. Designed By Ayah Abdeen. Research and history by Nadine Sameh and Nouran Sameh.

Observing the rapid urban transformations performed on Cairo especially as a result of the new administrative capital and attempting to shift the focus on preassigned estranged scenarios of the new capital to our dearest Cairo we speak and question our right to decide the fate of the city.

Through this game we aim to invite our co-inhabitants to engage through architecture by co-questioning various scenarios of what particular building or space could be or mean to the local community. The process was purely experimental and was meant to the people of the city, not necessarily an architect or an artist, it was meant for any of us to collectively envision, discuss, criticise, and share architecture, space, and urbanism from our own point of view.

Game Overview

After 50 years, Mogamma El Tahrir which was the symbol of bureaucracy in Egypt becomes a hotel. Despite the fact that people had bad memories with El Mogamma for spending hours and days doing bureaucratic paperwork, they still feel betrayed after transforming El Mogamma from a public property to a private business. Ghosts from the past, people from the present, and El Mogamma itself compete together to decide the fate of the building.

Number of Players: 3-6
Game duration: 45-60 minutes
Age: +10

Game Components

– Game board (Building Map).
– 4 sets of cards (Characters cards, Tools Cards, Action Cards, and Events Cards).
– Hotel rooms cards.
– Imagination cards.
– A pencil.
– Bidding tokens
– Anger markers.
– A dice.
– Points tokens.
– Bag.

Game Setup

Place the building map in the center of the table, then randomly distribute the hotel rooms and arrange them in their designated locations. Afterward, flip them over as each time the room distribution will be different.

If playing with 6 players, use all the cards; if playing with 5 or 4 players, remove 1 card of each type from the tool and action cards; if playing with 3 players, remove 2 cards of each type.

Distribute the character cards and each player takes cards equal to the number of players. Return the remaining cards to the box.

Shuffle tool cards and action cards then place them face-down in a main pile in a location accessible to everyone.

Shuffle event cards and place them face-down.

Place the auction tokens, anger markers, and dice on the table.

Gameplay

At the beginning of the game, each player is given a random character card, 3 main cards, and 15 auction tokens of the same colour.

Determine the starting player, who is the last player to have visited a government building.

In each round, players move around the game board performing different actions using different tools then compete with each other in auctions to claim rooms and decide their fate.

Players continue taking turns until all hotel rooms are occupied.