Welcome To Adoptionopoly  (TM)

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"I think the strength of "ADOPTIONOPOLY" lies in focusing
peoples' attention in such a manner that they can get caught up
in the absurdity of the adult adopteee's situation.
Its gotta leave them laughing!!!"   Jim Kelly


* ADOPTIONOPOLY  (TM) *
Adult Adoptees' Records Board Game
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It's the Board Game You Play in the Dark



COMPONENTS OF ADOPTIONOPOLY:

PROPERTY GROUPS

SPECIAL RULES

EQUIPMENT

CHANCE AND COMMUNITY CHEST CARDS

INTERIOR PROPERTY GROUPS

CREDITS AND LINKS


PROPERTY GROUPS:

PURPLE:
   Made-a-Reunion Ave
   Vault-pick Ave.               (or Fall sick Ave. or Stall-trick Ave.)

LIGHT BLUE:
   disOrient Ave,
   disConnected Ave,
   Verboten Ave

MAUVE:
   Urge-in-ya Ave               (or Origin Ave or Urchin Ave)
   Procrastinates Ave         (or Frustrates Ave, or Waits Ave, or Confused States Ave)
   Goose Chase                  (or Churls' Place, or Essentials Place)

ORANGE:
   Clue Hawk Ave               (or Few Talk Ave)
   WannaSee? Ave             (or Tune-Us-In Ave)
   Shame's Place                 (or No Names Place)

RED:
   InDenial Ave
   Unlucky Ave
   Ill-Informed Ave               (or Ill-Conceived Ave or Ill-Advised Ave)

YELLOW:
   Frantic Ave                        (or RANTic Ave )
   Vent More Ave
   Martial Guardians             (or Beggin' Pardons or Ma's Kin's Fog-ins)

GREEN:
   Pacify Ave
   Not-Gonna-Help-Ya Ave
   Patronize-ya Ave

DARK BLUE:
   Dark Space
   Ward-Balk

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SPECIAL RULES:

                           The game is played with loaded dice.
                           When you pass GO (or STOP) you get non-information.
                           You roll the dice to determine if the non-info is:
                           Merely misleading
                           Patronizing and offensive
                           Stuff you can't do anything with
                           Stuff you already knew

MODIFIED OBJECTIVE:
                Complete your search before you go bankrupt.

PAY FOR:
                Non-Identifying Information,
                Confidential Intermediaries,
                Private Investigators,
                Court costs for access to records,
                Advertising costs for newspaper ads,
                Search costs (phone, travel, on-line time)
                Costs for political action.
Instead of rent: Fees are charged for access to items of information.

There are all sorts of ways to get hosed for money!!!



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EQUIPMENT:

GAME PIECES:
         A big screw
         A dog chasing its tail
         A Floating Cosmic Blip
         A bottle of white-out
         An Ailanthus ("Tenement Palm")
         A closed door
         A locked file cabinet
         An empty folder
         A turnip hooked up to a blood-donor kit

HOTELS are made out of red tape.
        (Hotels may be called Courthouses, or Vital Statistics Offices)  

HOUSES are windowless and leak-proof.
        (Houses may be called Nurseries, Orphanages, or Foster Homes).

BOARD MODIFICATIONS and their purpose:
        Inclined, foil-shaped board:
        (The game is never played straight or on the level).
        Board surface is not smooth: Lots of hills and valleys, cliffs and abysses, and rough spots.
        (CD-ROM version variation: from any point to any other point is always uphill.)

In the interior of the board is a square:
"HOSPITAL MICROFILM ARCHIVE".
       It is not accessible from anywhere!

Also in the interior are thirteen squares arranged in a circle. When COMMUNITY CHEST and CHANCE cards  or other events make you go around and around in circles, this is where you do it.

Streets running through the interior of the board contain ADOPTIONOPOLY GROUPS. The lights at key intersections are always red in both directions. If you land at one you go nowhere until you roll doubles.

In addition to "Jail" and "Go to Jail":
     "COURT" and "GO to COURT" or
     "SOCIAL WORKER'S OFFICE" and "GO to SOCIAL WORKER'S OFFICE".
(When you land on one of these or are sent to it, you have to go around the board backwards during which no transactions except paying rent.)

Instead of Free Parking:
       "LONG TERM PARKING".

In addition to GO:
       "STOP" (Same rule as red-light intersections).

A new square called "SNOW JOB".  If you land on it, you have to go around in circles (see above) until you've rolled a total of 99 (21 in some states).

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* CHANCE AND COMMUNITY CHEST CARDS *

[CHANCE and Community Chest decks may be stacked.
WHO gets to stack them is determined by CHANCE.]

CC: You have unknowingly married your sister.
PAY for full-dress production of "Oedipus Rex" ... $1000

CC: You develop an adult-onset genetic disease
which makes you ineligible for insurance.
CONGRATULATIONS: You are now entitled to full information.
PAY COURT COSTS: ... $400

CHANCE: You receive your non-ID information.
It says your B-Mom was sixty-three years old when you were born.
PAY for back issues of National Enquirer ... $50

CHANCE: You locate your birth certificate and full family history at
the records office of the American Kennel Club.
PAY for certification of your pedigree papers ... $75

CC: Your non-ID indicates you are an ORPHAN!
Your membership in the "Ungrateful Bastards Association" is cancelled.
COLLECT pro rata Refund ... $45

CHANCE: You buy a house on a dead-end street.
Unfortunately, it's dead-end in both directions.
PAY for Easement ... $1000

CC: Lawyer you've hired accomplishes nothing whatever, then loses your file.
PAY Lawyer's Bill: ... $250
PAY Photocopy Bill ... $50

CC: Social workers decide to "verify" info you found out yourself,
... you grind your teeth while you wait.
PAY DENTAL BILL ... $175

CC: After eight years' search you locate your B-Mom in Rangoon.
You learn she's had total amnesia for three years.
PAY TELEPHONE BILL ... $50

CC: You find reference to your case in old Court file.
It is their only recorded case of disputed maternity.
PAY for double martini at nearest bar... $6

CC: Your A-Family puts a heavy guilt-trip on you for searching.
PAY Psychiatrist's Bill: ... $500

CC: You land a job as Social Worker at an Adoption Agency.
NOW *YOU* GET TO STACK THE DECK!!

CHANCE: You take the Meyers-Briggs Test and score 'XXXX'.
COLLECT for services as psychological research subject ... $????

CHANCE: The desk at the AAC conference can't find the record of your Advance Registration.
COMPROMISE: They'll allow you to stay outside, looking in.
PAY for high-power binoculars ... $250

CHANCE: LEGISLATIVE CHANGE CARD Your State politicians have acknowledged that "Access to Adoption Records Laws" in other jurisdictions have not destroyed the adoption process. They vow to bring a bill to the floor in the current legislative session.
GO DIRECTLY TO "GO"

CHANCE: THE EVIL ACT CARD Bill Pierce and Adoption Agencies have lobbied and won. The EVIL ACT was passed in your State. It is now a felony to search for biological relatives and adoption records have been sealed for 99 years.
GO DIRECTLY TO "JAIL"

CHANCE: THE SANDY MUSSER CARD You have been caught fraudulently accessing sealed adoption records. You're BUSTED!
GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL AND MISS YOUR NEXT 99 TURNS.

CHANCE: THE ADVERTISING CARD You finally obtained your birth name and continued your search by mailing out 100 letters to people with your last name. Nobody replied.
PAY $100

CHANCE: THE MEDIA CARD The media has heard about your adoption search story and they're all clamoring for an interview with you.
MISS YOUR NEXT TURN WHILE YOU WATCH YOURSELF ON TV

CHANCE: THE COURT CARD You filed to get access to your adoption records under the "show good cause" provision of your State Adoption Act. You lose the case.
PAY $200

CC: THE UBA CARD The Ungrateful Bastards Association acknowledges your lobbying
efforts to bring about access to adoption records in your State.
COLLECT $200

CC: THE EMMA MAY VILARDI CARD You have just been notified by ISSR that they have a match in their reunion registry with one of your birthparents. Pack up all your files and go have a reunion.
PAY $100 IN TRAVEL EXPENSES TO YOUR REUNION THEN
ADVANCE TO "GO" AND BEGIN YOUR SEARCH FOR YOUR OTHER BIRTHPARENT.


Additional Chance/Community Chest card topics:

Bureaucrats: Institutions, Agencies, etc.
   "Lies",
   "Stonewalls"
   "Stalls",
   "Runarounds"

Records:
   "Lost",
   "Not retained so long",
   "Destroyed in a fire",
   "Forwarded to (institution or agency long defunct)"

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ADOPTIONOPOLY (INTERIOR PROPERTY) GROUPS:

It isn't possible to get the true flavor of the Adoptionopoly experience by just going around the board. You have to turn into the interior and wend your way through it. These are some of the twists you'll encounter when you do.

ADOPTEE GROUP:
   Eager-to-Please Lane
   Grateful-for-Anything Terrace
   Rescued-Puppy Walk

NON-ADOPTEE GROUP:
   Urchin Alley
   Rejection Lane
   Waif's Corner

PRIVATE ADOPTION GROUP:
   Inertia Drawbridge [Always Up]
   Obfuscation Tunnel
   Secret Money Underpass

ADOPTION AGENCY GROUP:
   Hypocracy Viaduct
   Non-Accountability Freeway
   Coverup Circle

SEALED RECORDS GROUP:
   Sophistry Alley
   Groundless-Fear Street
   Rumor Mill Road

CONDESCENDING BUREAUCRATS GROUP:
   Verification Cul de Sac
   Forever-a-Child Park
   Metered Crumbs Lane

ATTORNEY GROUP:
   Greed Crescent
   Cynicism Mews
   Venality Way

ARCHIVES (a.k.a. Railroads):
   Hospital Archives
   Foster Care Archives
   Adoption Agency Archives
   Child Welfare Archives

NON-UTILITIES
   CI procedures
   Government managed registries

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"ADOPTIONOPOLY" Copyright (C) 1996 Jonathan Marin - All rights reserved.
Created and written by Jonathan Marin, following a suggestion by Valeen Haslam. Large contributions from Jim Kelly, and additional contributions and suggestions from the following subscribers to the Adoptees Internet Mailing List:
     Susan Friel-Williams, Tricia "PPawprint", Suzanne Goodman, Gloria Oren, and Debra Wright.


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This page is maintained by Jonathan Marin
(j.marin.1@alumni.nyu.edu)
Last modified on October 27, 2004