The ultimate deal
Two friends were lost in the commerce of a Monopoly Deal somewhere around the middle of last year, when they began to speculate- idly- on a similar game based on Sri Lankan politics. Over the next couple of months they would fish from their imagination details and ideas for an uproarious game- all the time without really knowing they were blueprinting something which has the promise of becoming a Sri Lankan classic.
Pix courtesy Hora Deal team
The two friends were then joined by a third- forming a trio that, unfortunately for us, have to stay incognito given their current employment circumstances. All that can be revealed is that they are ‘thirty somethings’ living in Colombo and working in a mishmash of industries full time (and sharing a rib ticklingly dry funny bone).
Before long, the three had amassed enough ideas for cards and game play to print out a version on A4 and play amongst themselves. It turned out to be great fun, and the fate of Hora Deal as a popular card game was sealed.
Essentially, Hora Deal is a game where the objective is to collect three sets of power cards to become President and win. Your first set makes you a Provincial Councilor, the second a Cabinet Minister, and the third, HE himself. The power cards are all “key attributes” of a successful Sri Lankan politician: your own set of thugs, relations in power, offshore accounts, stolen ballot boxes and so forth.
You can play action cards to steal power cards from your opponents, collect bribes from them, engineer crossovers, and do all manner of other tricks to stop them from becoming President and make sure you get there first.
Ideas and inspiration were not lacking, given the soap opera nature of Sri Lankan politics, and with 225 ‘fantastic ambassadors’ who constantly keep the game relevant. Cards include ‘Caught with a hooker”, “Mathaka Na card”, “Astrologer reads the signs wrong” and “Mahanayaka protest”.
The three ‘Hora Dealers” did the graphic design entirely by themselves, which meant mastering Photoshop- no mean task, they assure, for a bunch of MS word aficionados. Luckily, one creator had a cousin in the printing industry who took his printers offline for them- even in the height of the election poster campaign in February (‘nepotism’- they point out).
Response for this contagious game has been very gratifying. Some buyers have laminated their cards to keep them safe while the three creators are constantly amused by people who know them personally commenting on the game- not knowing who is behind the venture. The ultimate validation for them was when a parliamentarian recently posted about Hora Deal on Twitter and Instagram.
The immediacy of Hora Deal for Sri Lankans is what makes it tick; so refreshingly familiar, comical, real-life and amusing than making palatial conquests in outlandish Mayfair, or down St. James Place. ‘There’s nothing like stealing your friend’s Prado to thwart his cabinet ministerial dreams,” the team assures us.
Hora Deal the card game is available on Takas.lk, the standard version is priced at Rs.1,500 and the limited edition, in an engraved box, at Rs. 2,500.
