If youâre suffering the consequences of the current economic shitstorm, youâll have plenty of time to play Layoff, an examination of the current financial scandal cleverly disguised as a Bejeweled-like casual game.
Itâs not only educational and entertaining, itâs also depressing. Edutainment meets pain. That makes it âedutainful.â Layoff was developed by Tiltfactor Lab and the Rochester Institute of Technology, giving fans of matching three things side-by-sideâas casual game design is wont to doâa dose of harsh reality and a heaping spoonful of facts.
That includes facts like âthe federal bailout of $8.5 trillion is more expensive than every war the US has ever fought, the Louisiana Purchase, the Marshall Plan, the New Deal, and the Nasa Space Program COMBINED.â Weâre having some kind of fun now!
The rules, as described by Tiltfactor Labsâ press release, are similarly depressing.
In the game, players play from the side of management needing to cut jobs, and match types of workers in groups in order to lay the workers off and increase workforce efficiency. During the game play, players eliminating many workers in a row find financiers and bankers taking the place of working class jobs. The financiers in this game cannot face layoffs.
Even more enjoyable are the names and mini bios of every member of the workforce you make redundant. Have a blast!
LAYOFF [tiltfactor]
