Singapore has long been lauded as the best and safest place in Asia to raise your kids. Even better if you’re an expat.
However, as a Singaporean (born and raised), I can tell you that it’s not all roses and daisies. Singapore has consistently topped the rankings for being the MOST EXPENSIVE city in the world to live in.
Cost of living has increased (because capitalism and globalisation waits for no scrub to earn more money), while our wages have not.
The Singaporean dream used to be owning the 5Cs – Cash, Car, Credit Card, Condo, and Country Club (membership).
Now the millennial’s 5Cs consists of Career, Cheap Everything (air tickets, food, clothes), Connection, Cashless Payment, and Crying. Trust me, I’m a millennial.
Our Singaporean Dream is just to have our place, a heated shower, a decent paying job, and hope to be able to retire before we die from work.
If you’re as “optimistic” as I am about living the Singaporean Dream, you can “sign up” for a trial by playing this locally-made card game aptly named “The Singaporean Dream“.
The Singaporean Dream Is (Not) A Game
This card game will see you pit your survival skills with other Singaporeans, as you pay, steal and sabo your way to being the perfect Singaporean.
Pick Your Avatar
You start with 5 personas to choose from – the Auntie, the CBD OL (Office Lady), the Complain Queen, the NSF, and the Ah Beng.
Very local archetypes here.
Live, Collect, Win
There are 3 types of cards in the game – Action Cards, Cash Cards, and Dream Cards.
So the main goal of the game, is to accumulate and amass as many Singaporean Dreams (Dream Cards) as you can before the pile of “Dream Cards” runs out.
There are 2 ways you can collect Dream Cards.
- Buy Dream Cards with Cash Cards.
- Gain Dream Cards with Action Cards.
It’s quite an accurate depiction of the Singaporean life though. You’re either rich enough to accomplish a Singaporean Dream, or you work towards achieving the Singaporean Dream, like the rest of us.
Some of the Action Cards include “Getting A Seat In A Crowded MRT”, “Dating An Angmoh”, “Kena STOMP-ed”, and “Cutting A Queue”.
Each turn, you draw 2 cards from the Action Cards pile, and you can play up to 2 actions per turn.
Repeat until the pile of Dream Cards runs out! The player with the most Singaporean Dreams wins the game!
There are 104 illustrated cards in a deck and each card is hand-drawn by the creator, Theresa (She’s a millennial).
So don’t tell me millennials don’t work for anything because I’m sick of it.
If you’ve been to Mind Cafe recently, you might’ve been one of the few fortunate ones to play the game when it was on trial there.
You can pledge an amount for their Kickstarter campaign if you’re looking to get your hands on a deck.
In the meantime, how are you really faring in your real-life quest for the Singaporean Dream?
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(Header Image Source: The Singaporean Dream)
