Political Rivalry Board Game
Ages: 10+
Players: 2-4
Theme: Political (light theme)
Mechanic(s): Worker Placement / Take-That / Player Powers
Time: 75-90min
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The race is on to find the next political leader. Think you have what it takes to lead the UK or US? Are you a gentle politician or a cutthroat leader? Prepare yourself for a battle of wits and logical thinking, and get ready to set a winning campaign strategy.
The board is double sided: choose to compete in either the UK campaign or US election.
Political Rivalry is a worker placement game for 2-4 players where you must plan out your campaign strategy and choose your actions wisely. Each party controls a team of four Party Leaders, and eight potential members for assisting their political party. Aim to gain as many votes as you can, through political strength or cunning backstabbing. Do whatever it takes to earn your place as the Prime Minister (UK) or President (US) history will remember. Move your Party Leaders around different Campaign Areas in different regions, carrying out actions to earn votes, but you must always ensure enough funds are available. There are various routes you can take in your campaign and you must work out early on which is best suited to you and your objectives.
Players begin the game with money and 2 intent cards and a political card. Intent cards give players the option of meeting their secret objective that provides rewards or simply ignoring them to concentrate on gaining votes their own way. Your political party card outlines which policies and special ability your party has. Matching your own policies to those in each region will earn your members places in the Members Cabinet and win vital votes. Other tactical options include earning votes in regions and completing a rally, but there is a risk so choose your route wisely.
Cutthroat leaders can create scandals by blocking other Party Leaders, removing members from the Members Cabinet or moving members to a less lucrative lower rally. Votes can be removed from regions and changing policies will decrease the number of members your opponents will get into the Members Cabinet.
The press plays fundamental importance to the way politics works and it is no difference in the game. Players aim to increase their influence through the press and move up the influence tracker, which in turn allows you to place votes on the map.
The game ends after 6 rounds and the candidate with the most votes wins the game and becomes prime minister (UK) or president (US).
There are 5 action spaces in each Campaign Region Area, while the Scandalous Action Area has 8 action spaces. There are 10 different types of actions in total and 5 different ways to earn votes. The game provides a good level of depth without overwhelming players.
The board is double sided: choose to compete in either the UK campaign or US election.
Political Rivalry is a worker placement game for 2-4 players where you must plan out your campaign strategy and choose your actions wisely. Each party controls a team of four Party Leaders, and eight potential members for assisting their political party. Aim to gain as many votes as you can, through political strength or cunning backstabbing. Do whatever it takes to earn your place as the Prime Minister (UK) or President (US) history will remember. Move your Party Leaders around different Campaign Areas in different regions, carrying out actions to earn votes, but you must always ensure enough funds are available. There are various routes you can take in your campaign and you must work out early on which is best suited to you and your objectives.
Players begin the game with money and 2 intent cards and a political card. Intent cards give players the option of meeting their secret objective that provides rewards or simply ignoring them to concentrate on gaining votes their own way. Your political party card outlines which policies and special ability your party has. Matching your own policies to those in each region will earn your members places in the Members Cabinet and win vital votes. Other tactical options include earning votes in regions and completing a rally, but there is a risk so choose your route wisely.
Cutthroat leaders can create scandals by blocking other Party Leaders, removing members from the Members Cabinet or moving members to a less lucrative lower rally. Votes can be removed from regions and changing policies will decrease the number of members your opponents will get into the Members Cabinet.
The press plays fundamental importance to the way politics works and it is no difference in the game. Players aim to increase their influence through the press and move up the influence tracker, which in turn allows you to place votes on the map.
The game ends after 6 rounds and the candidate with the most votes wins the game and becomes prime minister (UK) or president (US).
There are 5 action spaces in each Campaign Region Area, while the Scandalous Action Area has 8 action spaces. There are 10 different types of actions in total and 5 different ways to earn votes. The game provides a good level of depth without overwhelming players.
While there are very subtle differences in how the UK and US versions play, most of the game play will remain identical.
What's Unique
The uniqueness comes in the way of traveling between regions, where you must use a matching travel token, and accessing the Scandalous Area requiring use of 2 political leaders; one to unlock this area and the other to use any of the available spaces to trigger the action.
In the Scandalous Action Area of the board there are bonus actions situated on an outer ring around the action spaces. When you complete an action from this area you also carry out the bonus beside it, however what is unique is that the outer bonus ring is flipped over at the end of each round so that the bonus actions will vary slightly each round; you can strategise from knowing what is on each side and which bonus actions will be made available on a given round,
In the Scandalous Action Area of the board there are bonus actions situated on an outer ring around the action spaces. When you complete an action from this area you also carry out the bonus beside it, however what is unique is that the outer bonus ring is flipped over at the end of each round so that the bonus actions will vary slightly each round; you can strategise from knowing what is on each side and which bonus actions will be made available on a given round,
Does the game resemble Politics
While the theme is not entirely strong, it will not put people off who are both into and not into politics, but the game creates a lot of realism in a fun and interesting way in how choices allow different strategic approaches. Much in the same way a political campaign will deploy a varying degree of tactics, scandals in politics and propaganda to influence the press. Press, just like in real politics, plays a fundamental part in winning votes in this game. The rally tracker also shows some similarities in how political parties will go out to rally for their party to sway voters their way. Finally, each Intent card (known as your objective) features famous political quotes that link with the objective, to give a sense of nostalgia and realism.
While the game does well to play on a lot of similarities, it does it in a way that is not overly heavy and makes it fun.
While the game does well to play on a lot of similarities, it does it in a way that is not overly heavy and makes it fun.
Playtesting
The game has been fully playtested, including blind playtesting from those who are not into politics. The game has received positive feedback and nothing negative has come from any recent feedback. The game has also been supported by the Cardiff playtesting group in assisting with the development.
It has taken 5 years to finish the game, ensuring all flaws have been removed, the game play flows and the mechanics work well together with tight game scoring.
Please join the Facebook group.
It has taken 5 years to finish the game, ensuring all flaws have been removed, the game play flows and the mechanics work well together with tight game scoring.
Please join the Facebook group.
