CLG under fire for playing games with HIPs

The Government is to spend what is believed to be millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on backing a HIPs board game for families to play.

SPLINTA reacted angrily to the news, saying it would be asking under the Freedom of Information Act exactly how much is being poured into the new venture.

But CLG defended its actions, saying that the new game, HIP Hop, is simply intended to raise public awareness of HIPs in a fresh and innovative way.

A CLG spokesman told Estate Agent Today: “We’ve had dry runs of the game and think we have come up with a winner. We acknowledge that HIPs have not had the best press so far, but we believe HIP Hop will really appeal to the whole family, engage them as stakeholders, and make them realise that HIPs can be fun as well as useful.”

The launch of HIP Hop, which is co-sponsored by AHIPP and features Google’s Street Scene, comes just days before the latest changes to HIPs are due to kick in on April 6.

The game is loosely based on an original idea – which was essentially a flowchart – from HIP provider Rob Hailstone, founder of Hipag.

The game will be going into shops soon, with outlets including supermarkets Tesco and Asda, plus W.H. Smith, Hamleys and The Early Learning Centre.

Like Monopoly, HIP Hop also uses dice and miniature houses which move round a board with some of the same features. For example, any player who breaks the rules will pay large daily fines into the Community Chest and if they refuse, will Go To Jail. There will also be a Mayfair Office.

The object of HIP Hop is for the players to get to exchange of contracts first. If more than one player gets to exchange at the same time, then the one who has amassed the most authorised documents in their HIP, for example an asbestos search, wins. If several players reach exchange simultaneously, then the ‘fridge style’ rating in their EPC will be taken into account.

In the event of a complete impasse, extra points will be awarded for unregistered properties. Extra points are also awarded for special tactical manoeuvres such as gaining leasehold management information or an epitome of title.

A major feature of HIP Hop is that none of the players can actually start playing at all for at least a week. After agreeing to take part, the rules are that players cannot roll the dice, or even tell anyone they are going to play, until they have collected all the basic required information. Once play does start, players compete in a race to see who can get the other required information first, plus as many authorised documents as they need to win.

CLG is suggesting that any children playing HIP Hop could complete the Energy Performance Certificates themselves.

A CLG spokeswoman said: “An EPC is a really informative way for children to learn about climate change and how even small measures like extra loft insulation can make all the difference to a house sale.

“In our dry run, we also found that children really enjoyed colouring in the graphs.”

However, the new board game does have its critics. One member of an ordinary hard-working family who took part in the pilot, mother of five Lila Proof, said: “At first, I was reasonably enthusiastic. However, none of the other players wanted to see each other’s HIPs, which was a bit boring after all that effort and led to cheating.

“It also turned out that the game is really long and complicated. After playing for nine hours, I was not allowed to Pass Go just because I was one energy-saving lightbulb short of a wiring system.”