The Panama Papers are keeping the world in awe, and the journalists who leaked the information rolled out a game simulating the tax heaven scenario.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) added a tax simulation game called Stairway to Tax Heaven to the official page of the leaks, where readers can get a feel of grand scale tax evasion.
The authors of the game imbued the simulator with humor, as you can see from the tagline. The title welcomes you to the offshore world, where the main goal is to stash your cash far away from those pesky financial authorities in your own country.
"Lawyers, wealth managers and bankers are there to help you. Pick a character and don't get caught!" the tagline assures future players. If only it worked as easily in real life.
If we spiked your interest, give it a whirl and keep dreaming about actually having that insane amount of cash.
A quick exploring of the game provides a strong dose of forbidden fun, the kind that makes one question if such scenarios actually work out for real people. According to the ICIJ reports, they totally do.
But how does the game work, you ask?
First off, you get to choose your character. There are three available options: a football star named Juan Penalti, an up and coming female politician dubbed Polly Tissien and a middle-aged business executive that goes by the suggestive name Edmund von Kronen. No word exists on future DLCs, but we assume that the trio is enough to fulfill most people's fraudulent tropical dreams.
The idea of the game is simple: avoid getting caught in your mischievous investments, or face a long time counting iron bars next to the cast from Orange Is the New Black.
The 11.5 million leaked documents belonging to the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca cover a time period between 1977 and 2015. The leaks revealed a staggering amount of tax evasion and suspected money laundering orchestrated by renowned public figures. In the leaked papers, investigators found prominent names such as Argentina's own President Mauricio Macri and soccer star Lionel Messi.
At the time of the writing, 140 politicians were already spotted as having connections with the Panama Papers investigation.
We look forward to seeing what the "Financial Wikileaks" has in store, and we will keep you posted on future developments. In the meantime, have some fun with the game.
