Boondoggling (1936)

Boondoggling is one of several games published during Franklin Roosevelt's administration criticizing the WPA (Work Projects Administration) and Roosevelt's "brain trust" of advisers for his "New Deal" economic program. In the game, players compete to spend all of their money and return to Washington with no money in hand. The challenge, however, is to avoid collecting new funds from the Treasury on the Road to Inflation, which means that a player's best chance to win is both when his own funds and the Treasury's are exhausted. As with many political games, more attention is paid to the political statements being made than to producing a playable game design. The only choices a player has in the game are whether to keep a roll of doubles or to re-roll the dice, and when to take the Road to Inflation to try to win the game. All else is driven by the dice and the spaces on the game board.