The game
Six careers. Six different journeys.
Choose from six career paths, each with a unique ability or resistance. One character might be better equipped to handle harassment; another might be able to use knowledge more than once.
The same situation can affect different characters in different ways. That reflects an important real-life lesson: people do not all experience the same system identically, and a strong team learns to use everyone’s strengths.
Event cards: obstacles, risks and setbacks!
Event cards bring recognisable situations onto the board across four areas:
You might miss an after-school STEM club because you are expected to look after a younger sibling. You might return from maternity leave to discover that your responsibilities have quietly been taken away. You might encounter a stereotype, an unfair expectation or behaviour that makes it harder to move forward.
Some Events create an immediate setback. Others give you a choice: accept a smaller penalty, or fight back and risk a much bigger win—or a bigger loss.
If you were illegally asked in a job interview whether you were planning on having a baby in the next few years – would you complain, or stay quiet? Players will discover the difficult choices they’d make under pressure, and gain a new understanding of why so many women choose silence
Players do not simply read about inequality. They experience how apparently small barriers can add up across a person’s education, family life and career.
Fight back. Blaze a trail.
Choosing to challenge an unfair Event can be risky. It may move you forwards, or it may cost you more than staying silent.
But whether your roll succeeds or fails, fighting back blazes a trail.
a ‘blazed trail’ counter is added to that event square, taking it permanently out of the game
the square no longer exists on the board – and any allies behind you will jump right over it, effectively shortening their path to victory!
The message is built into the mechanic: speaking up can be difficult for the person who does it, but challenging a barrier can make the path fairer for everyone who follows.
Empowerment cards: knowledge knocks down barriers
Empowerment cards are packed with real-world information about equality, legal protections and women’s rights.
Match an Empowerment card to an Event of the same type and you can cancel its penalty. Suddenly, knowledge is not just something to memorise for a test—it is a tool that changes what happens next.
Know your rights. Change the game.
Allyship cards: lend a hand, lift up your friends
An Allyship card cannot move you forwards. It can only be used to help another player.
The cards offer practical suggestions for girls and boys: challenge a stereotype, share responsibility, make space for someone else’s voice, speak up when something is wrong and support somebody facing unfairness.
Play your allyship cards to help others progress. Remember to help smash the all-important glass ceiling for everyone!
The cards illuminate the importance of solidarity: helping each other moves us all forward.
The glass ceiling: one success doesn’t equal equality
Although players take individual turns and move their own counter along the board, there is one crucial rule:
No player can cross the finish line until everybody has smashed the glass ceiling.
That changes the smartest way to play.
Instead of racing ahead alone, players need to notice who has fallen behind, use their allyship cards strategically, and pull one another up with them!
Once the entire group has broken through, the glass ceiling becomes another safe checkpoint. Only then can one player make the final move to the CEO position and secure victory for everybody.
This mechanic challenges the idea that one single successful woman reaching the top alone proves the system is fair. Equality is only achieved when everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
Beat the board, not each other!
EQUALISH is a fully collaborative game: you play against the board itself.
As you and your teammates make your way through the winding path to victory, your male co-worker is taking the elevator – direct to the top.
After every full round, he moves one floor closer to victory.
If one teammates reaches the CEO position before the co-worker, everybody wins!
Collaboration is key.
The male co-worker in the elevator is not another player to attack—and boys are not the enemy. The elevator is a visual reminder that the same workplace can give different people very different routes upwards.
The unequal system is the opponent. And you can only beat it together.