New Card Game Teaches Russians How Hard It is to Defend Their Rights in Prison

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 25 – One of the more remarkable developments in the Russian Federation over the last several months has been the appearance of games of all kinds that have taught people how to defend themselves again violence in the home, stalking and police investigations. Now, a new game has appeared designed to help them defend their rights if they are imprisoned.

            The current game like many of its predecessors was developed by the Noesis Studio for the Public Verdict Foundation. Nikolay Ovchinnikov, manager of the studio, describes what he and his team are seeking to achieve (semnasem.org/articles/2022/08/25/v-rossii-vyshla-kartochnaya-igra-grazhdanin-nachalnik-o-pravah-zaklyuchennyh-v-tyurmah-rasskazyvaem-kto-ee-pridumal-i-kak-v-nee-igrat).

            This game like others of its kind not only entertains but teaches something: “how to deal with the police and how to defend your rights.,” Ovchinnikov says. The idea came from abroad and was just taking off when the pandemic hit. But now the development of such games in Russia is on the rise.

            The game is directed at young people because they are more likely to play a game than to read any pamphlet, he continues. They don’t know much about the Russian prison system, and our game, he says, shows them that “not everything is in order behind bars” and that they can’t expect to win against the guards and bosses the first time around.

            Many Russians think that prisoners deserve whatever treatment is meted out to them, but there are political prisoners who clearly don’t, Ovchinnikov continues. Moreover, “even if someone has committed a crime, he needs to know how to defend his rights in jail. That is one of our chief goals. Another is to deglamorize prison life.”

            The Noesis portal description of the game begins: “You are playing as the prisoner against the boss of the colony. Your task is to tell him about all the violations of rights. To win, the prisoner must publicize things to the maximum. The task of the boss is to mess up the life of the prisoner as much as possible” (noesis.games/myprison).

            The prisoner wins when he exposes the boss; the boss wins when he destroys the health of the prisoner; but “if both happen at the same time, the boss wins,” again just like in real life.