As the quiet summer months are here, get your friends together and play the new game sweeping Place Luxembourg and champagne receptions across the EU quarter: Lobby Families.
During the nineteenth century, the popular card game Happy Families revitalised public love and respect for simple, rural cottage industries (Mr Stamp, the postman, Mr Snuffet the undertaker). In a similar fashion, this game will inspire greater affection for some of Brussels most insincerely loved elements, the simple lobbyist. Failing that, it may give them someone to talk to at parties.
The aim of the game is to collect business cards and at least one personal email from the key lobbyists and representatives for a particular industry, or ‘family’. For example, players who choose to collect lobbyists in the pharmaceutical field should hunt for Bristol Myers Squibb, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson etc.
Basic Rules:
Two or more players.
Players select an industry themselves, or set challenges for other players. Levels of difficulty vary according to policy area: the more specialised the industry, the more prized the family.
Players may also swap cards, in order to complete a set, but personal emails should then be obtained directly using that card.
Points are allocated according to the seniority of the lobbyist befriended and the prominence of the organisation they work for.
At least five organisations should be collected in order to complete a family. No points are awarded for multiple lobbyists in the same organisation.
Bonus points may be allocated for unearthing the Commission official responsible for the family business, or tricking a PR consultant into admitting they have clients in a particular family.
This article has been sponsored by the European Confederation for the Friendship Enhancement of Corporate Kronies (EC’Feck).
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