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Object Parties get VPs by winning seats in state elections, having influence over the National Media, having strong Party Membership, and having a strong

coincidence between their Party Platform and National Opinion. Game ends after the 7th round.

Party Setup – Each party gets the following:

4 Coalition tiles 1 Score Sheet €25,000

18 Meeting Markers

5 Media Markers 9 Party Markers

7 Shadow Cabinet Cards 1 Starting Marker

5 Contribution Cards

5 Party Policy Cards face up redeal any contradictory card

3 Party Policy Cards in hand deal face down

State Boards Setup Setup all 4 as shown at the bottom left.

Markers: In each state, each party puts:

1 Party Marker on their Popularity Scale (space 0)

1 Party Marker on the Vote Track (space 0) 1 Meeting Marker on a Meeting space

Public Opinion: Choose a state with a Party Membership Payout tile space to have the 1st election. Deal 4 Public Opinion cards to it, face up. Replace any which are identical or contradictory.

Give the remaining boards, clockwise:

1st Board: 3 face up, 1 face down 2nd Board: 2 face up, 2 face down 3rd Board: 1 face up, 3 face down

Replace any identical or contradictory.

Put the remaining cards, shuffled, on the Organization board.

State Cards: Shuffle the 16 State cards, place 1 on each state board, with its matching state tile.

Remaining cards go face down on the Organization board, along with the remaining state tiles.

Payout Tile: Put the Party

Membership Payout tiles for round 1 and round 3 on their spaces on the 1st and 3rd board.

All 4 State Boards

National Board Setup Each party puts a Party Marker on space 5 of the Party Membership track.

National Media Markers National Opinion Cards

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Organization Board Setup Tiles: Place the remaining State Tiles, Key Issue Tiles, No-Coalition Tile, Round 5 Party Membership Payout Tile on the top left, followed by the State tiles. Draw Piles: Place the Party Policy cards, Public Opinion cards, and Opinion Poll cards as face down draw piles in the center. Put the State cards draw pile in the top right. Each draw pile has a grayed-out discard area as well. Exchange Pool: Deal 6 Public Opinion cards face up along the bottom. Duplicate and identical cards are allowed within the Exchange Pool – place these on top of each other but slightly offset so all cards can be seen.

Preliminary Phase (Beginning of game only – then continue to the Election Round Sequence)

The score sheet has 2 columns, each with 3 or 4 boxes of options. Each party secretly chooses for free ONE box of options from each column by checking its circle, and for each option in the box, write down the state for which they want the selected option (Increase Party Membership does not correspond to a state). The same state may be chosen multiple times.

Column 1 Options

Increase Party Popularity +1 Gain Party Meeting Markers Gain Votes

Column 2 Options

Gain Media Markers Increase Party Membership

Column 1 Example: This party moves their Party Marker +1 on Bayern’s Party Popularity scale, places 6 Party Meeting Markers in Hessen, and moves their Party Marker to 6 on the Bayern board vote track

Column 2 Example: Party puts 2 of their Media Markers on Berlin board and moves their Party Marker from 5 to 9 on the Party Membership track.

This is the only time in the game when more than 5 Media Markers may be put into a state.

Election Round Sequence

Starting Party Bid Party Platform Conference Shadow Cabinet Actions Form Coalitions Buy Media Markers Organize Party Meetings Opinion Poll Auctions Convert Party Meeting Markers To Votes Score Current State (Round 7 ends here) Collect Money End Of Round

1. Starting Party Bid Procedure: Each party secretly writes an amount of money on their score sheet. Highest bidder pays their bid to the bank and chooses which party is the starting party this round. Place the starting party’s Starting Marker on the Organization Board starting party space.

If all parties bid zero then each rolls a die – highest roll chooses a starting party.

Ties: Tied parties secretly bid again. Each must bid at least as high as previously. If still tied then each party rolls 1 die – high roll pays their last bid to the bank and chooses the starting party.

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2. Party Platform ConferenceParty Platform: A party’s platform is defined by the 5 Party Policy cards they have face up in front.

Procedure: Beginning with the starting party, then continuing clockwise, each party may do the following.

If Party Policy hand size is less than 3 cards then draw to 3 from the draw pile.

Discard as many cards as desired from the hand. Again draw to a hand size of 3. Party may now discard a face up Party Policy card and replace it face up with a card from their hand.

Coincidence Rating: The number of coinciding Party Policy cards to Public Opinion cards helps determine the number of votes obtained in a state.

3. Shadow Cabinet ActionsProcedure: In turn, each party plays up to 4 Shadow Cabinet cards, each face down next to a state, not more than 1 card per state per party each round.

After all cards are placed by all parties, turn them all over; each party pays the card’s cost to the bank.

In turn each party carries out 1 action per card for each of their cards. Remove played cards from the game.

Coalition Icon: A telephone symbol in the top right of a card enables a party to join a coalition in the state – place a coalition tile for that party there.

Shadow Cabinet Card Actions

Move your Party Marker up the Vote Track in the state by the indicated amount.

Return another party’s Media Marker from the state to that party and replace it with one of your

own. Pay that party €4,000 and pay the bank €4,000.

Move your Party Marker up the Popularity Scale in the state by the amount indicated. Popularity

may never be greater than +3.

Move another party’s Party Marker down the Popularity Scale in the state by the indicated

amount. Popularity may never be less than –3. Control of the media does not protect against this.

Designate 1 issue in the state as a key issue – put a Key Issue tile on 1 of the state’s face up

Public Opinion cards. OR Remove a Key Issue tile in the state, reducing a Public Opinion card back to a normal issue.

Key Issue: Double the importance of this issue when converting Meeting Markers to votes. Only 1 Key Issue Tile may be in effect in a state at any time. An issue with a Key Issue Tile on it can't be removed until it is reduced to a normal issue.

4. Form CoalitionsOverview: Coalition partners add their votes together this election. Coalitions may only be formed in the current state, only involving 2 parties – though there may be multiple coalitions. Only parties with a Coalition Tile on the current state board may join a coalition.

Voluntary: 2 parties may form a voluntary coalition if at least 2 of their Party Policy cards are identical. Both parties must agree to form the coalition.

Forced: If at least 3 of their Party Policy cards are identical then a party may force a coalition on another.

Procedure: Beginning with the starting party then continuing clockwise, each party decides if they wish to request a voluntary coalition or force a coalition on another. Stack the Coalition Tiles of the 2 coalition partners together.

A party already in a coalition may not enter into a 2nd, whether voluntary or forced.

Cleanup: Parties not in a coalition take back their Coalition Tiles; parties in a coalition leave their tiles stacked on the Board.

5. Buy Media Markers (Party with plurality in a state may exchange 1 Public Opinion card)Procedure: In turn, each party may buy a Media Marker for €4,000 and place it in any state. A party may pass – this does not prevent them buying a Media Marker later this phase. Continue until all parties successively pass. 1 party may continue to buy Media Markers even if all others have passed.

Max: Each state has 5 Media Marker spaces – once full no further Media Markers may be placed there.

Media Control: Once all have passed, see if any party has a plurality of markers in each state (more Media Markers than any other). Starting with the last state in line for elections then counterclockwise, a party with control of the media may exchange 1 face up Public

Opinion card in the state with 1 in the Organization Board’s Exchange Pool that is neither identical nor contradictory to any face up cards already in the state. A card with a Key Issue tile may not be exchanged.

Exchange: Take a Public Opinion card from the State Board, place it in the Exchange Pool, then take a card from the Exchange Pool and place it in the empty space on the State Board. Place duplicates within the Exchange Pool on top of each other but slightly offset. There will be 6 cards in the Exchange Pool at any time.

Protection Against Opinion Polls: A party who controls the media in a state is protected against the negative effects of published opinion polls.

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6. Organize Party MeetingsProcedure: In turn, each party may buy up to 4 Meeting Markers per state, for €1,000 each.

Max: Each state has 10 Meeting Marker spaces per

party – once full a party may not buy any more in that state. Existing Meeting Markers can be converted into votes during phase 8.

7. Opinion Poll AuctionsSetup: Deal 1 face down Public Opinion Poll card to the bottom of each State Board.

Bidding: Starting with the current state, starting party may initiate bidding on the card or pass. Initial bid may not be zero. Bidding continues clockwise until all pass – each party must bid higher than previous bid or pass. Parties who pass may not bid again for that state. If all pass then discard the card face down with no effect, without being revealed. High bidder pays their bid to the bank – take the Public Opinion Poll card, look at it and decide whether or not to publish the results.

Publish Poll: A party who publishes the results may carry out up to 2 of that poll’s results. Move the Party Markers for affected parties up or down the Popularity Scale by the amount indicated. A party with a plurality of Media Markers in a state is immune to negative Opinion Poll effects there.

Do Not Publish: A party who does not publish rolls 2

dice – move its Party Marker up the Party Membership Track by an amount equal to the dice total.

Example

Publish: Adjust either 1 or 2 party’s trends by the amount indicated on the top half of the card for each party.

Do Not Publish: Gain party membership by an amount equal to the total of 2 dice.

Cleanup: Put the Public Opinion card face down on the Organization Board’s Public Opinion card discard pile. Bidding then proceeds to the next state until all 4 cards have been auctioned off. When the draw pile is empty, reshuffle the discards to make a new draw pile.

8. Convert Party Meeting Markers To Votes (Central Point Of Game!)Procedure: In each state in turn, starting with the 4th state then counterclockwise, each party with at least 5 Meeting Markers decides whether to convert these markers into votes. Starting party decides 1st in each state, othes follow clockwise. A party may convert some, none, or all of their markers. Converted markers return to their party. Stack the Vote marker on top of any party with the same score – last one scored goes on top. Don’t convert Meeting Markers in the current state; this state will be scored later this round anyway.

Votes = Meeting Markers x (Coincidence + Popularity)

Popularity Rating: Position on the Popularity Scale, ranging from +3 to -3.

Coincidence Rating: For every Policy that agrees with Public Opinion the party earns +1 Coincidence (+2 if it’s a Key Issue). For each Policy that disagrees the party earns -1 Coincidence (-2 if it’s a Key Issue). Any Party Policy card which doesn’t correspond to any Public Opinion cards is worth 0.

Example

Public Opinion Cards

Party Platform (Policy Cards)

In this example, Coincidence is +1, Popularity is +2, Total = 3.

Red has 8 Meeting Markers so the total votes gained are:

3 x 8 = 24 Votes.

Minimum Multiplier: A party always receives a minimum of 1 vote for every 2 Meeting Markers regardless of how low their Coincidence + Popularity actually is. Coincidence + Popularity can never go below 0.5; round down any resulting vote fractions.

Maximum Votes: Any votes above 50 are not counted. A party with 50 or more votes stays at 50 on the Vote Track. A party who later also gets 50 or more votes puts their marker on top of any previous markers

on the Vote Track. The last party to reach the 50 space is the leader of the election.

Cleanup – Public Opinion Exchange: Immediately following marker conversion in each state, a party with more votes there than all other parties combined may exchange 1 face up Public Opinion card there with 1 in the Exchange Pool on the Organization Board that is neither identical nor contradictory to any face up cards already in the state.

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9. Score Current State (The Election!) Determine Seats

Beginning with the starting party then clockwise, convert remaining Meeting Markers (even if less than 5) in the current state into votes as described in phase 8 above.

Votes = Meetings x (Coincidence + Popularity)

Use the State card to convert the number of votes into seats. Note the number of seats on the back of each party’s score sheet.

Decide Election Winner in Current Election Party with the most votes wins. If more than 1 party ties then the last party to get to that number of votes wins by a nose. If 2 parties have formed a coalition then add together the votes for both parties. A coalition wins if it has more combined votes than any single

party or other coalition. A coalition is allowed a total of more than 50 votes. If a coalition ties with another coalition then the coalition with the highest Party Marker on the Vote Track wins; if 2 or more Party Markers tie for highest then the party or coalition whose Party Marker is on top wins by a nose.

Election Victory Results

Single Party Victory: A single party who won by a number of votes (not by a nose) may place 1 Media Marker on the National Board. The party must already have at least 1 Media Marker on the current state board – place that marker on the top row of the National Board corresponding to the current round.

The party may also move 1 or 2 Public Opinion cards from the state to the National Board’s National Opinion row, in the 1st free leftmost space(s). Either card may be placed on an occupied space, even if open spaces are available, to Secure or Replace a card, as below.

11.. Secure a card which is already a National Opinion, making it more difficult to remove. Put a Public Opinion card from the current state on top of an identical existing card. A secured National Opinion card can only be removed by a contradictory Public Opinion card.

22.. Replace an existing National Opinion. Put a Public Opinion card from the current state on top of a contradictory existing card, even if it is secured. Discard the previous National Opinion card(s).

In either above case there can never be 2 identical or contradictory opinions on the National Board.

If all 5 National Opinion spaces are full, the party may replace any one of the cards (if not secured) with a Public Opinion card from the current state. A secured card can only be replaced by its opposite.

Single Party Victory – By a Nose: The party may place 1 Media Marker on the National Board as above. They may also move 1 Public Opinion card from the current state to the National Opinion spaces as above.

The party that was beaten by a nose may also place 1 Media Marker on the National Board as above, but may not place a National Opinion card.

Victory By Coalition: Each partner may place 1 Media Marker on the National Board if they had 1 in the state, and may also move 1 Public Opinion card from the state to the National Board as above, starting with the party that gained the greater number of votes. If both parties had the same number of votes then the party whose Party Marker is on top places 1st.

The coalition/party that lost by a nose does nothing.

Increase Party Membership All parties see if any of their Party Policy cards match any National Opinion cards. For each matching card, the party moves its Party Marker up the Party Membership Track by an amount indicated above the matching National Opinion card. Treat secured opinions as if they are normal opinions in this case.

Example 1 of the party’s Policy cards matches a National Opinion card. Party moves their Party Marker up the Party Membership track by 2.

Nuclear Power Economic

Development Social Security

Speaker of the House Finance

Minister

Taxes

Genetic Engineering

Foreign Affairs Minister Justice

Minister

Wages

War On Global Terrorism Party

Whip

Backbencher

Chancellor

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10. Collect Money (not on round 7)Seats Gained Payout: Party receives €1,000 for each seat just gained in the current election.

Party Membership Payout (Rounds 1, 3 and 5 only): Parties receive €1,000 for each national party member.

11. End Of Round (not on round 7) Setup For Next Round

1. Discard all cards on the current State Board. Reset all markers to their starting positions.

2. Draw the top State card from the Organization Board, place it on the cleared State Board along with its corresponding State Tile.

3. Deal 4 new Public Opinion cards to the cleared board, 1 face up and 3 face down.

4. Each of the other 3 State Boards now has one more Public Opinion card turned face up. If this results in identical/contradictory opinions then put the last turned over card on the bottom of the deck and deal a new one. Each face up card must be a different issue.

The board with 4 face up Public Opinion cards is now the current state, the board with 1 face up is last.

Special Cases

End of Round 1: After setup, place the Round 5 Party Membership Pay Out tile on its State Board.

End of Round 3: When dealing new Public Opinions to the prior State Board, deal 2 face up and 2 face down. Put the No Coalition Tile on its Coalition space (no coalitions may be formed in the 7th and final round).

End of Rounds 4, 5 and 6: After the current State is cleared, remove its board from the game. Continue with step 4 above for each of the next State Boards.

End of Round 6: Round 7 is very short. Immediately after setup, proceed to phase 9, Score Current State, for the final election.

Outside Contributions (end of Round 1 – 5) Each party in turn places 1 of their Contribution cards in front of themselves – face up if intending to accept the contribution; face down if intending to refuse it.

Face Up: Each party in turn takes the amount of money shown on the card from the bank. Roll the amount of dice shown below the contribution amount – reduce the Party Membership Track Marker by the largest single number showing on the dice.

Face Down: Each party in turn turns over their card and rolls the amount of dice shown on the declined contribution amount – increase the Party Membership Track Marker by the total amount on the dice. The decliner of the largest contribution may roll 3 more dice and increase their Party Membership by the total, in addition to the increase already received. No one gets this bonus if the highest declined contributions are tied.

Remove used Party Contribution cards from the game.

12. End Of Game – Final Score Sheet Scoring Total Seats

Enter the total number of seats won over 7 state elections here.

National Media Rating Enter the sum of points for any National Board Media Markers, given in the silver star. Later round Media Markers may score less than those placed earlier.

Party Membership Enter total Party Membership as shown on the National Board at the end of round 7.

Bonus: Highest Party Membership gets +10, party with 2nd highest gets +6. Any who tie get 16 points divided evenly among them (rounded down), all others get nothing. Any parties who tie for 2nd highest get nothing.

Party Platform & National Opinion Coincidence Each of a party’s Party Policy cards that coincides with a National Opinion card earns the points given in the silver star below the National card.

Bonus: Earn +5 bonus points for each coinciding card that is secured.

Total Score Sum all points and enter the total in the last row. The Party with the highest total wins the game!

Author: Karl-Heinz Schmiel Publisher: Valley Games, 2006 Players: 3 – 5 Duration: 4+ hours Transcriber: Chris Conboy (Liumas)