La Famiglia - The Great Mafia War, produced by the German Boardgame Atelier, recently won the As d’Or - one of the major awards for games that is given out each year in France.
Recently translated into Italian and distributed on various online sales platforms, the game invites participants to compete for “control of the Sicilian mafia families’ districts”.
Players can use “game tools” such as car bombs, killing “soldiers” and building drug laboratories and boats for making, transporting and smuggling drugs.
The reaction of a regional parliamentarian of the centre-right post-Berlusconi Forza Italia (FI) party, Alessandro De Leo, was critical.
De Leo sent a letter to Sicily Governor Renato Schifani, also of FI, saying, “It is unacceptable that a criminal phenomenon with its burden of violence and suffering be turned into a board game.
“This product not only offends the dignity of Sicilians but also devalues the daily commitment of millions of citizens who fight for legality and justice in our Region.
“Even more serious, from every point of view, is the trivialisation of violent elements such as the use of car bombs, [which have been] reduced to simple game tools.”
De Leo asked Governor Schifani, a former top ally of Silvio Berlusconi who has had to bat away unfounded Mafia informant allegations, “to evaluate every possible action to counter the spread of this game, following the example of those companies and associations that have already mobilised against the marketing of products that trivialise the mafia phenomenon.”
The game in question allows up to four players to take control of six different mafia families, each with “special abilities” to compete for the domination of Sicily.
It is a formula that, according to De Leo, “transforms one of the most painful chapters in Sicilian history into entertainment”.
ANSA
