Electioneer US Guide
Setup
Getting started
The Presidential Election is just months away. You’ve won your party’s primaries and you are their best bet to become President of the United States of America!
One player will be the DEM Presidential candidate, the other will be standing for the REP party.
Battleground States
The outcome in many states is a foregone conclusion, so you will be focussing on seven battleground states. Each state has a different number of electors. The candidate that wins the states totalling the most electors wins the Presidency.
Shuffle the seven battleground states then set them out face up in a line between the two players.
Political Issues
Each state has its own political issues:
Economy
Immigration
Defense
Education
Healthcare
Crime
Environment
Some hot-button issues like the economy and immigration appear more often so addressing these is more important to winning votes across multiple states.
Setting The Scene
Shuffle the issues and deal two face down to each state. Every turn the issues in one state will be revealed for you and your opponent to campaign in.
Leave the spare issues face down to the side in a deck.
Theatrics
These are theatrics to gain political advantage over your opponent. Deal three to each player.
They can be played at any time, whether during the campaign turns or on election day itself at the end
*If you prefer a game with less luck and more raw skill you can deal just one theatric each, or leave them out altogether.
Policies
These are policies from which each player will make their platform. Deal each player three of their policies then leave the rest in a deck for each party.
Each policy has an effect on issues. This effect might be positive (wins votes) or negative (loses votes).
Some policies are more powerful than others, so it is down to you to decide which policies you will campaign on each turn and add to your party platform. Your opponent does not have the same policies as you!
Campaign Months
A New Battleground
There are 7 months remaining before election day. Each month you will be campaigning in each state in turn to influence voters and build your party’s platform.
Each month may have victories and losses but your whole platform addressing voters’ issues is what will win the election.
To play a month:
1
Reveal the issues in the next state in turn.
2
Both players draw two more policies from their deck at the same time.
3
Both players discard one of their policies to the bottom of their policy deck.
4
Both players choose a policy to campaign on this month and reveal it at the same time, placing it next to the state and its issues.
You are announcing your policy while campaigning in this month's state. Not only will it decide who wins this month of the campaign but it will also be used on election day to decide the votes in every state.
5
Whichever player has the largest total score on the issues in that state with the policy they have just played is the winner.
Count up the effect your policy has on the issues in this month's state while your opponent does the same. Whoever has the highest total wins.
In this example REP has +1 for Crime and DEM have +1 for Defense so it is a tie.
I there is a tie, the winner is decided by the colour of the state, in this case DEM.
6
The winner has changed voters’ minds and may now swap out any one issue in a state that has been revealed for one of their choice from the issue deck.
By changing the issues for one of your choice from the deck you are making sure that on election day the states are going to care about the issues you want them to.
Remember that you can change an issue in any previously revealed state, not just this month's.
On to the next month!
Election Day
Winning States
After the end of the 7th month, all of the issues in all of the states will have been revealed and each player will have 7 policies in their platform in total.
It is time for the election!
For each state in turn, add up the total score of your entire platform of 7 policies on the issues in that state.
In this example, Pennsylvania was won by DEM. For Georgia the total of all of the REP policies on the issues of crime and crime was +4. DEM has -2. This means Georgia is won by REP.
In case of a tie, the winner is decided by the colour of that state, in this case REP.
Counting Electors
After all states have been counted, the player who has the most electors across all of the states they have won has won the election. In case of a tie, the DEM incumbent wins.
