The game designer behind a controversial famine-survival board game says that while it was “thrilling” for The Great Hunger to be a featured topic on RTÉ’s Liveline this week, he does not “expect a single Irish person to buy this game”. Co-designed by architect and part-time game designer Kevin McPartland, The Great Hunger is a “historic simulation game” which involves 2-5 people playing families of tenant farmers and field hands during the 1840s. The architect and teacher was on RTÉ’S Liveline on Thursday to discuss The Great Hunger. The game was proposed to have a run of 1,000-1,500 copies and be sold by small Connecticut-based board game company Compass Games. He says that The Great Hunger is more an educational game than a trivial one.

Source: The Irish Times January 16, 2026 23:34 UTC