Agencyland board game mirrors the ad business, where it’s not all fun and games

Agencies, let’s play a game. The rules are simple.

Roll your dice and move across the board to land on spaces to hire and staff accounts. Pass GO and you’ll get paid your monthly retainers. Make money, that’s the goal. (Sound familiar yet)? Grab as many accounts as you can and beat out your competition.

Sounds easy, right? Except, not everything will get you paid. In this game, you may lose accounts, occasionally win pitches, and you must make payroll, otherwise accept being relegated to Layoff Lane.

At this point, you may be thinking: Sabrina, what are you talking about? Is this a real game? It is, and it’s just like Monopoly.

“Agencyland” is the new capitalist board game created by an independent D.C. agency This January, modeled of course, after the advertising industry.

The game, created as a passion project by the agency’s creative team, aims to help your parents finally understand what you do by including cheeky yet informative rules of how things work.

While playing the game, players may land on squares that say: "You won a Lion! Charge double for this lap around the board”; “Grow or go! Choose any account, roll an odd number to double the account size or an even number to lose the account”; "Cold email! Skip one turn to do intro calls. Roll a 3 to win the account”; “The auto account is now in review. Spin the pitch wheel for a chance to win this account”; and “Late payment alert! Your biggest client won't pay you until the next time you land on Payroll.”

“If you explained to a normal person the unique obstacles and heartbreaking lows of agency life, they wouldn’t believe you. So we packaged them up into a board game, so you can live them,” said Maggie Winters, executive creative director and partner at This January. “Running an independent agency is like a good board game. Often fun and often filled with merciless setbacks and unforeseen hurdles that feel downright spiteful. Agencyland is a fun way to show off the intricacies and quirks of the advertising industry from the founder's perspective.”

While the game is not yet available for purchase, it will be. According to Winters, it is in production and could be available to buy within a few weeks. However, This January plans to sell it as a “MSCHF-style limited edition series,” as the game was created for fun and not profit.

“Its a fun way for the non-advertising community to think about us when it's not the Super Bowl,” Winters said. “[It’s also] the perfect game for the holidays when your grandma keeps asking ‘how it's going’ at work.”

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