Autonomía Zapatista Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Board
• Preparation
• Goal of the Game
• Game Turns
  • 1. Show context cards
  • 2. Roll and place dice
  • 3. Round resolution
• End of the Game
• Levels of Difficulty
• Context Cards
  • Blight
  • Drought
  • Landslide
  • Storm
  • Military attack¹⁶
  • Disease
  • Hurricane
  • Paramilitary attack
  • Megaproject
  • Government project
  • GMO corn
  • Solidarity Volunteer
  • Solidarity Volunteer
• Glossary
• Write Your Own Rules

Components

• 1 board
• 20 markers indicating achieved goals (red stars)
• 10 food tokens
• 1 round marker (Don Durito)¹
• 41 context cards
• 13 demand cards
• 24 dice: 12 red and 12 black

Game Board

The board shows the following areas and elements. Numbers in circles are the printed location numbers; superscript numbers refer to the Glossary.

• 01 Community
• 02 Infirmary
• 03 Food storage area
• 04 Round counter
• 05 Health area (outlined in light blue): autonomous health center³, health promoters⁴, midwives/bone-setters/herbalists (3 areas)⁵.
• 06 Zapatista Army of National Liberation
• 07 Education area (outlined in yellow): auditorium, education promoters⁶, autonomous school⁷.
• 08 Production area (outlined in maroon): agroecology promoters⁸, production cooperative⁹.
• 09 Good Government Council¹⁰
• 10 Communication area (outlined in green): community radio¹¹, communication promoters¹².
• 11 Bad government prison
• 12 Agricultural fields
• 13 Cemetary (as printed)

The 13 Zapatista demands are printed around the edges of the board.

Preparation

1. Place the board on a table.
2. Place 2 markers corresponding to an achieved goal (red star) on the board: 1 in a part of the community and 1 in the autonomous health center.
3. Place 1 food token on the board in the food storage area.
4. Place the round marker at the initial position of the round counter in the center of the board.
5. Place the 13 demand cards on the edges of the board in their corresponding places, showing the objectives to be achieved in order to fulfill them.
6. Shuffle the 41 context cards and place the deck of cards face down next to the board.
7. Distribute the 12 red dice and the 12 black dice equally among those who are going to play. For example, if 3 people are playing, give 4 red dice and 4 black dice to each person. These dice represent the Zapatistas and their labor force, which is needed to build autonomy.

Although we recommend that you play with between 2 and 6 players, if you play with 5 people then the distribution of dice is not even and one player will receive one die less. The same can happen if you play with a larger number of people. In these cases, you will have to decide how to distribute the dice fairly.

Goal of the Game

The goal of the game is to achieve the 13 Zapatista demands and the 7 principles of leading by obeying before the end of the tenth round of the game. In order to do this, you will have to cultivate the land, build houses and community infrastructure, train the promoters, fight against threats, etc.

The 13 Zapatista demands are:

• Land
• Labor
• Food
• Housing
• Health
• Education
• Independence
• Democracy
• Freedom
• Information
• Culture
• Justice
• Peace

Each demand is achieved when the two required objectives, indicated on the back of the card, are met.

For example, to achieve the demand "Education", both the autonomous school and the education promoters have to be achieved.

The 7 principles of leading by obeying are:

1. To serve others, not serve oneself.
2. To represent, not to supplant.
3. To build, not to destroy.
4. To obey, not to order.
5. To propose, not to impose.
6. To convince, not to defeat.
7. To work from below, not seek to rise.

Each principle is achieved by convening the Good Government Council (how to convene it will be explained below).

Game Turns

The game is played in a maximum of 10 rounds.

In each round, one person acts as leader. The first leader will be the youngest player, and in each round the position of leader will pass to the person on their left. The leader of each round is responsible for coordinating the round, proposing the strategy and facilitating the group's agreement on what to do together.

These three phases are carried out in each round:

1. Show context cards.
2. Roll and place the dice.
3. Round resolution.

1. Show context cards

At the beginning of each round, the round leader draws 3 context cards from the context deck next to the board and places them face up next to the board.

Each context card is composed of different parts:

• Cause (paramilitaries)¹³
• Effect (occupied agricultural field)
• How to neutralize it (place two dice with values 4 and 5)

Context cards take effect immediately as soon as the card is played.

For example, this card represents the threat of a paramilitary group occupying one of the agricultural fields (you have to place it on the agricultural field it represents and it will make that field unplantable). The context card will be neutralized when two dice (a 4 and a 5) are placed on it (this can happen in the middle of the round). If the card is not neutralized, its effect will continue the next rounds and it will be added to the 3 new context cards.

Some context cards do not have dice printed on the bottom. This means that they are eliminated after applying their effect.

For example, in this card a hurricane destroys the health center (you have to remove the goal achieved indicator from that location) but you don't have to do anything to remove it from the board once the health center has been destroyed.

2. Roll and place dice

Simultaneously roll all your dice out of the board. Every player has to know which are her/his/* dice. Decide collectively how to place them on the places that have a die printed on them to indicate that you want to perform that action. At this point, everyone playing the game can simultaneously place their dice, working together to achieve the different objectives. An action will not be performed until all the necessary dice are placed. You cannot perform an action partially. Actions will be performed at the end of every round.

The possible actions are:

a) Plant crops: in order to cultivate the fields, place the three corresponding dice representing the process to obtain food (to plow - to farm - to harvest).

Keep in mind that at the end of each round 4 units of food will be required to feed your support bases and that for each unit of food missing 1 Zapatista gets sick.

b) To neutralize threats: to neutralize a threat and eliminate it from the board you must place all the corresponding dice.

For example, to expel the paramilitary group from the field they have occupied, place one die with value 4 and another with value 5 on the card and at the end of the round they will be expelled.

c) To build: to build part of the community, the school, the health center, the auditorium, the radio or the cooperative, you have to place all the corresponding dice.

For example, if you have a die with a 1 and another die with a 2 and the part of the community with values 1 and 2 is unbuilt, you can place those dice on it and at the end of the round this part of the community will be built (place a goal achieved marker in that place).

d) To train: to train the health promoters, education promoters, communication promoters, agroecology promoters, and midwives/bone-setters/herbalists, you have to place all of the corresponding dice.

For example, if you have one die with a 2 and another with a 3, you can place them on the midwives/bone-setters/herbalists area. At the end of the round place a goal achieved marker to indicate that they are trained.

e) EZLN: to ask for support from the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) you need to place 2 red dice and 2 black dice (no matter the number) on their location.

Each time you ask for support to the EZLN, at the end of the round you can free all the dice that are in prison. These dice are distributed among the people who have fewer dice at that point in the game.

Important: Some Zapatista demands require support from the EZLN. In each round only one of the Zapatista demands that require the EZLN can be achieved.

f) Achieve 1 of the 7 principles of leading by obeying: place 1 red die and 1 black die (no matter the number) on the Good Government Council to achieve one of the principles of leading by obeying (place a goal achieved marker to indicate that it has been achieved).

Some Zapatista demands require the Good Government Council to be convened. In each round only one of the Zapatista demands that require the Good Government Council can be achieved.

Important: only one Council can be convened per round and it is necessary to achieve the 7 principles of leading by obeying to win the game. Therefore, you can only play 3 rounds without calling the Council during the 10 rounds of the game or you will not win!

Combination of red and black dice

You can combine 1 red die and 1 black die of any value to achieve the desired number. This symbolizes the strength of Zapatista women and men collaborating to achieve any value.

For example, if you want to plant this field and you only have two dice with values of 4, you could place the two dice with values of 4 and then place one red die and one black die, regardless of their values, to convert them into the missing 4.

When you have placed all the dice or there are no places to place the remaining dice, you have reached the round resolution.

3. Round resolution

At the end of each round you must:

1. Perform the indicated actions with the dice:

   Remove from the board all the context cards that have been completely neutralized (all its dice are filled).

   Build the school, health center, cooperative, radio, auditorium and the parts of the community that you have achieved with the necessary dice. In order to indicate that the building has been built, remove the dice and place a goal achieved marker (red star) on the dice icon.

   Train the promoters who have both of their dice filled. Remove the dice and place a goal achieved marker (red star) on the dice icon.

   If you have convened the Good Government Council, place a goal achieved marker (red star) on one of the 7 principles of leading by obeying.

   If you have activated the EZLN, release all dice from prison. Distribute the released dice among the people who have fewer dice.

   Heal the sick:

   • Take out 1 die from the infirmary if you have both the health center and the health promoters or midwives/bone-setters/herbalists.
   • Take out 2 dice from the infirmary if you have the entire health area (health center, health promoters and midwives/bone-setters/herbalists).

   The elements on the board that belong to the health area have the outline of the dice in light blue.

   Distribute the healed dice among the people who have the fewest dice.

   Place in the food storage area as many food units as fields you have cultivated (fields with all their dice occupied). In addition, if you have the entire production area (the cooperative built and the agroecology promoters trained), place an extra food unit in the storage area. The elements of the board that belong to the production area have the outline of the dice in maroon.

2. Feed the community, removing 4 units of food from the food storage area at the end of each round. If you do not have enough food stored, for each unit of food missing, 1 Zapatista gets sick (place 1 of the dice of the round leader in the infirmary).

3. Check the achievement of the Zapatista demands. If the requirements of any demand are fulfilled, flip over your card to indicate that it has been achieved. Remember that you will only be able to achieve one of the demands involving the EZLN or the Good Government Council each time you convene them.

End of the Game

If at the end of a round you have achieved the 13 Zapatista demands and the 7 principles of leading by obeying, you have won the game! Congratulations!

If any demand or principle is missing and you have completed 10 game rounds, you have lost the game! Fortunately, this is only a game and true Zapatista autonomy does not depend on it.

Levels of Difficulty

In order to decrease or increase the difficulty of the game, there are several modifications that can be made before starting to play, as it is indicated in the following table.

	Easy level	Medium level	Difficult level
Initial buildings	Part of a community; Autonomous school; Autonomous health center; Community radio	Part of a community; Autonomous health center	None
Initial food	3	1	None
Deck of context cards	Remove 3 cards that imprison, kill, or sicken Zapatistas	All cards	Remove 3 red context cards (solidarity volunteers, Tour for Life, Day of the Dead, etc.)

Context Cards

The dice icons printed on the artwork of each card show the dice needed to neutralize it, or the dice it adds to the round. The dice values are artwork and are not transcribed here; the text of each card follows.

Blight

• Food loss (remove 1 unit of food from the storage area)

Drought

• Food loss (remove 1 unit of food from the storage area)

Landslide

• Health center is destroyed

Storm

• Part of the community is destroyed

Military attack¹⁶

• 1 Zapatista imprisoned (place 1 die of the round leader in prison)

Disease

• 1 Zapatista gets sick (place 1 die of the round leader in the infirmary)

Hurricane

• School is destroyed
• Health center is destroyed

Paramilitary attack

• Agricultural field is occupied (the land remains occupied and cannot be planted until the threat is neutralized)
• Production cooperative is destroyed
• Food loss (remove 1 unit of food from the storage area)
• 1 Zapatista killed (place 1 die of the round leader in the cemetary for the whole game)
• Health center is destroyed

Megaproject

• Chemicals used in a megaproject make 1 Zapatista sick (place 1 die of the round leader in the infirmary)
• Part of the community is destroyed
• Agricultural field is occupied (the land remains occupied and cannot be planted until the threat is neutralized)

Government project

• 1 Zapatista gets sick (place 1 die of the round leader in the infirmary)
• Community radio is disabled
• The work of education promoters is hindered
• The work of the midwives/bone-setters/herbalists is hindered
• The work of the agroecology promoters is hindered
• Infiltrated die: the government infiltrates a person among the support bases and destabilizes the organization (the round leader rolls 1 of their dice and all dice with that value (belonging to any of the players) are useless during this round)

GMO corn

Nearby genetically modified agricultural fields contaminate 3 of the agricultural fields (you will not be able to cultivate them until you neutralize the card).

Solidarity Volunteer

A solidarity volunteer arrives in the autonomous territory and brings her labor force but also consumes food (Remove 1 unit of food from the storage area and use this card as 1 extra red die with a value of your choice in this round).

Solidarity Volunteer

A solidarity volunteer arrives in the autonomous territory and brings his labor force but also consumes food (Remove 1 unit of food from the storage area and use this card as 1 extra black die with a value of your choice in this round).

International Gathering of Women Who Struggle¹⁷

A women's encounter generates alliances but consumes food (remove 1 unit of food from the storage area and use this card as 2 extra red dice with a value of your choice in this round).

"Other"¹⁸

One of your support bases is assumed to be "other" (each round and until the end of the game, 1 of the dice of the round leader can choose its gender).

Tour for Life

The Tour for Life generates political alliances below and to the left but consumes food (remove 1 unit of food from the store and use this card as 1 extra black die and 1 extra red die with a value of your choice in this round).

Day of the Dead¹⁹

The dice of the cemetary can be played during this round (at the end of the round, the dice return to the cemetary).

National Indigenous Congress²⁰

The National Indigenous Congress is an alliance that provides support (use this card as 2 extra dice with a value of your choice in this round: 1 red and 1 black).

* If you lose 1 unit of food and you have no food in the storage area, for each unit of food missing, 1 Zapatista gets sick. Place 1 die of the round leader in the infirmary.

** If the context cards destroy already-constructed buildings or disable active promoters, remove the goal achieved marker (red star) from its location. If they were not constructed or active, this card does not affect you. You will be able to rebuild the buildings and retrain the promoters once you neutralize the card or the card's effect wears off. This can happen in the same round.

For example: a hurricane destroys the health center at the beginning of the round but during the round it is rebuilt and at the end it is used to heal the Zapatistas in the infirmary.

The unused dice for each Zapatista who gets sick, imprisoned or killed, belong to the round leader. In the next round, the last round leader will have fewer die available.

Glossary

1. Don Durito of the Lacandona Jungle: Character from the stories of Subcomandante Marcos. It is a beetle from the Lacandona Jungle who studies neoliberalism.
2. Principles of leading by obeying: Core political principles of self-government and administration of justice guiding the Good Government Council.
3. Autonomous health center: Health care space that combines traditional and western medicine, based on a holistic approach to health and illness, respectful of indigenous cosmovisions.
4. Health promoters: Zapatista women and men who work in the health centers of the autonomous territory. They exercise their positions as a service to the community and without remuneration.
5. Midwives/bone-setters/herbalists: Mostly Zapatista women with knowledge and skills in healing using traditional medicine.
6. Education promoters: Zapatista women and men who administer the primary and secondary schools in the autonomous territory. They exercise their positions as a service to the community and without remuneration.
7. Autonomous school: Autonomous educational space where Zapatista children and youth learn. The educational content is based on and respects the reality of the communities, without colonial impositions.
8. Agroecology promoters: Zapatista women and men who promote agroecology in the autonomous territory. They exercise their positions as a service to the community and without remuneration.
9. Production cooperative: Space for storage and sale of goods produced in the autonomous territory.
10. : Made up of women and men of the Zapatista communities, this is the highest instance of self-government and justice in each Zapatista zone. Its members are elected by assembly and exercise their positions on a rotating basis, unpaid and revocable in the event that they do not comply with the popular mandate.

Write Your Own Rules

We invite you to appropriate this game and to modify, invent, dream... and organise your own rules.