A board game born out of Marxist political theory at King’s College London and designed to bridge modern political divides has raised over three million euros in crowdfunding, turning complex socio-economic systems into an international tabletop hit.
Created by Cypriot founder Varnavas Timotheou, Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory launched after years of academic research into how ruling classes shape societal norms. Co-designed with Greek game developer Vangelis Bagiartakis, the title translates class struggle, public policy, and economic friction into a competitive four-player simulation.
From an academic idea to reality
The idea took shape in 2016 following Donald Trump’s first US election victory and the Brexit referendum, as Timotheou found himself discussing political turbulence with university friends.
Seeking a game that could explain these dynamics, he found nothing on the market. He brought the concept to his university supervisor—a Marxist academic—who praised the idea despite having no background in game design. Timotheou recruited Bagiartakis, one of Greece’s leading game designers, to handle the core mechanics while he provided the academic framework.
The project quickly gained real-world resonance. In 2020, Timotheou illustrated the cover art for Hegemony, depicting a protest outside the US Capitol building—months before the actual six January 2021 insurrection in Washington.
“Of course, we’d created a cover that had nothing to do with that,” Timotheou said, adding that the goal was simply to illustrate popular pushback against state institutions.
To make political economy accessible amid rising polarisation and misinformation, Timotheou’s Cyprus-headquartered company, Hegemonic Project Games, designed the title as an educational bridge.
“As societies, we’re moving away from the centre and towards the extremes. Misinformation and fake news especially mean that,” Timotheou said. “I wanted to get people to step into someone else’s shoes and see the other side, the other perspective.”
Simulated class struggle
In Hegemony, players take on distinct, colour-coded roles: the working class (red), middle class (yellow), capitalist class (blue), and the state (grey). Over five rounds, players manage businesses, healthcare, education, taxation, and parliamentary votes.
The game forces opposing factions to interact. Capitalist businesses require workers to generate revenue, while working-class players depend on corporate employment to afford basic needs and personal luxuries like mobile phones.
“There’s conflict, the well-known Marxist class struggle, but on the other hand we have to cooperate,” Timotheou said.
Since its release, Hegemony has won three awards at BoardGameGeek—the industry’s primary reference platform—and reached 41st position in its global rankings. The game has been translated into twelve languages, including French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Crowdfunding backers span the globe, with sales reaching as far as American Samoa.
Each Kickstarter edition includes an academic handbook covering macroeconomics, GDP calculations, and electoral systems, written in collaboration with researchers across Europe, North America, and Africa.
Shifting developments and international affairs
The company’s second release, World Order: Lead the Race for Global Hegemony, shifts focus from domestic politics to international relations, allowing players to control the US, European Union, China, or Russia in a simulation of post-2010 geopolitics.
Developing World Order revealed how rapidly global assumptions can shift. The development team locked in production files in September 2025, having spent months creating event cards to keep pace with global developments.
Timotheou noted that several foundational assumptions in international relations were challenged during development, including long-standing expectations regarding NATO stability and US diplomatic relations with hostile states.
“The constants we had in the system aren’t constants anymore,” Timotheou said. “Trump compressed history. As many things can happen in ten years, he squeezed into two.”
The Cypriot market and the founder’s vision
Despite starting the project in the UK, Timotheou chose to base Hegemonic Project Games in Cyprus, citing the island’s business ecosystem, digital infrastructure, and position within the European Union. Satellite teams operate in Greece, Poland, China, and the US.
However, Timotheou confirmed there are no plans to create a board game focused on Cypriot politics, citing the small domestic market and rapidly shifting local dynamics. He noted that the existing engine can already simulate local political systems, recalling Greek playtesters roleplaying as domestic political parties like PASOK and New Democracy during early testing.
Looking ahead, Hegemonic Project Games is evaluating a digital video game adaptation of Hegemony through potential studio partnerships, while preparing new expansion packs covering environmental policy, crime, and civil liberties. The company is also exploring lighter versions of its core game and considering publishing work by other international relations designers.
A recent April Fool’s joke proposing a children’s version of Hegemony drew such a strong positive response that the team is now developing it into an actual product.
Reflecting on his journey, Timotheou noted that purpose and financial clarity are essential for founders navigating long-term development cycles.
“If your goal is only money, along the way you’ll want to stop a hundred times,” Timotheou said. “We can’t influence billions of people, but if we reach some of them, I definitely think we’re offering something.”
