The Long Game is a snakes and ladders game set in the UK PhD system. Players navigate from Day 1 to doctorate — encountering realistic boosts and setbacks drawn from published research on inequality in postgraduate education. Each player is dealt a background card that shapes how events affect them, reflecting the role of structural privilege in academic journeys. At the end, a luck vs privilege breakdown sparks discussion about what really determines who succeeds.
Enter each player's name, then background cards are dealt at random. Your background brings both bonuses and penalties — reflecting how structural inequality shapes the PhD journey.