A time-honored Christmas tradition for many families is to gather around and have a good-old fashioned game of Monopoly, a game which – just like the good old fashioned capitalism it is based on – ends when one player has all of the money and the rest are left with nothing but soaring debts and crushed spirits.

And that, in a way, is the starting point for the latest game to hit Greek store shelves just in time for Christmas: ‘Here comes the Troika!’ a satirical card game based not-so-loosely on Greece’s current trials and tribulations at the hands of its troika of lenders (the IMF, ECB and European Commission).

The game is a Greek version of the hugely popular ‘Vem ai a Troika’ game first designed and released in Portugal about a year ago by a group of game-loving friends led by 49-year-old engineer Carlos Mesquita. The Greek edition is set in a fictional but rather familiar land called Angeladistan, a place where a dark nexus of corrupt politicians and powerful interest groups have bankrupted the country. Which means that the troika is on its way…

Each player’s goal is to amass political power and money (stashed in offshore bank accounts) by forming alliances with corrupt leaders, making shady financial deals and winning the support of influential interest groups. Bribes, smear campaigns and dark secrets are all part of the day to day machinations of the powerful in Angeladistan while the populace is subjected to wage and pension cuts, emergency taxes and job losses.

The game includes over 100 cards in several categories including 8 political leader cards. While the game states that, “any similarity to real people or events is purely coincidental,” the caricatures on the cards bear more than a passing resemblance to political leaders like Alexis Tsipras and George Panpandreou and convicted felons such as former defense minister and noted money launderer Akis Tsochatzopoulos.

When the dreaded troika card is played (pictured as three men in dark suits and glasses bearing briefcases bulging with cash as well as whips and other torture devices) it means the final reckoning is at hand. The game ends and the person who has managed to gain the most points by winning elections and stashing money overseas is declared the winner, just like in real life.

The game is only available at Public stores and sells for €20.