How to Play

How to Play

Why? Pretend to be an American presidential candidate of a new political party for 15 minutes.
Objective

  1. Win the most electoral votes to become the nominee of your new political party
    1. Bet on state cards that have different electoral votes 
  2. Win 270 electoral votes to become the President and Vice President of the USA
    1. Add your electoral votes and runner up’s electoral votes

Set-Up

  1. Place state labels 1 through 9 in the middle of your playing area
  2. Give each player a player mat.
  3. Give each player a voting booth.

How to Play

  1. Start the 15 minute timer!
  2. Is this a “Fundraising Round?” Collect money right away for Round 1, 4 and 7. The rounds are labelled on the player mat and the state labels. The money symbols on the player mats indicate which round you collect money and how much.  
  3. Draw State Cards to bet on: Draw three state cards for Round 1, draw four for Round 2, and so on. Place cards under the state labels starting with “State 1,” then “State 2,” then “State 3” and so on.  
  4. Cover yourself with the Voting Booth (for privacy), bet money on the state that you want to campaign in by placing your bet on the corresponding state number on your player mat. If you are done betting, place your hand on the table to indicate that you are done betting and ready to reveal your bets
  5. Once every candidate is ready, remove Voting Booths. Whoever spent the most money on a state, wins the state. If tie, the State Card stays. For the next round, stack another state card on top of the state card that tied. Now you bet on the stack of states! Keep tying? Keep stacking. Win or not, any money spent is cashed in. 
  6. Score your electoral votes by tucking cards behind the player mat starting from 0 on the electoral vote bar (found at the top of the player mat). To keep the order, slide in the next state card you win to the right (building a bar of electoral votes). The electoral vote bar helps you estimate how many points you have. 
    1. Important, everyone must show their stack of cards and keep the same order.
  7. Repeat 2-6 until time is up or you run out of state cards. If dealt correctly, the deck of state cards will run out on Round 8. The game is done after all cards have been dealt or the timer runs out. 
  8. Swing States: Winning “Swing States” help turn the tide for Presidential candidates. In this board game, Swing States are special State Cards. Players get to steal the last State Card won from any one player (effective immediately). Everyone must wait until the player is done stealing. 
    1. If a Swing State gets stacked on because of a tie, then the “steal a state” ability cannot be used.

 Fundraising Rounds: 

  1. Round 1 - Collect $10MM
  2. Round 4 - Collect $20MM plus $2MM for each State Card you have 
  3. Round 7 - Collect $30MM plus $2MM for each State Card you have 

 How to Win? Similar to the US elections, you need to first win the nomination for your political party. Thus, the player who collected the most electoral votes becomes the Presidential Nominee and the player with the second most electoral votes becomes the Running Mate. At the end of 15 minutes, if the Presidential Nominee and the Running Mate have 270 or more electoral votes, then they Win the White House!

Rule: Filibustering is not allowed! Filibuster is when a player tries to purposely run out the game timer. Mathematically speaking, you need to go through the entire deck of states to have a good chance of becoming President. If you want to sabotage your party to just win the presidential nominee, then you are just a selfish politician!
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Alternative Game Plays

  1. If you are playing one versus one, then the Presidential Nominee needs to collect 270 or more electoral votes by themselves to win the game. 
  2. For casual players who want to play a more casual Buy the Vote!
    1. Instead of cashing in your money for ties, keep your money during ties. Only the players who tied for a state get to keep their money. Other players who bet less than the tied players, have to cash in their money to the center.
  3. ​For more intense players with no timer
    1. ​Remove 3 state cards from the deck randomly before the game starts
    2. Skip the first round where 3 state cards are dealt and go directly to round 2
    3. The game continues as normal without the timer.
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