The Presidential Game Review

We LOVE board games! So when I found out that we would be receiving a new board game called The Presidential Game, we were all very excited!!

This game is geared toward ages 11+ to adults and can be played with two or more people, so it is perfect for us!

It arrived in a beautiful box and includes the following:  1 20" x 30" GAME Board, 1 Score Pad, 3 Blue Dice, 3 Red Dice, 80 Politics Cards, 40 "Write-Your-Own" Politics Cards, 150 Republican Votes (red chips), 150 Democrat Votes (blue chips), and 1 Electoral WebMap™ Calculator Access Code.

I quickly opened it, laid everything out, and read the directions aloud to Funny Bunny and hubby...then I read them again to myself at least two more times.  I wasn't totally understanding it all so I figured it was the type of game you have to just play to understand what to do...so we just played and thankfully got it!!

It did take playing through a few turns to grasp the strategy of it all.  And there is strategy for sure!

Here's how it's played.

You first split into two teams, so as long as you have at least 2 people, you can play this game.  Funny Bunny and hubby played on the Democrat side and I played on the Republican side.  The object is to win the election by getting at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes. 

The number of weeks until the election determines how long your game will last.  It was noted that 30 weeks {or 30 turns} takes approximately an hour, so since our first game was close to bedtime, we went with 10 weeks.

You have to decide if you want to go Campaigning or Fundraising on each turn, and although there is plenty of strategy involved, there is chance as well.  Included are Politics Cards and those offer different scenarios that either hurt or help your team.  They even include several blank cards to add your own situations.  Here's one that Funny Bunny made and hid toward the top of the deck to surprise us:

News gets out that your dog's name is Maisy.  Soon, everyone in Florida is naming their dogs Maisy too!  Add 3 votes to Florida.

To score, there is a score pad included, but I found it a bit challenging to add and subtract scores on every turn, so we used the Electoral WebMap™ Calculator on our iPad while playing.  It was much easier and we liked the visual.   

In the end *I WON*, even though hubby and Funny Bunny fundraised and won California, Texas, and Florida.  California went back and forth between us until I finally gave up and started campaigning other places. 

We've really had a fun time playing this game and Funny Bunny is learning a lot from it, even if she doesn't realize it. 

Thoughts of a 10-Year Old:  I like The Presidential Game a lot.  It seems like now that I've played it I understand how things work more.  I think that it was a really good game and it's fun to play.

Find Out More:  You can find out more online at The Presidential Game.  The Presidential Game is $35. 

My Crewmates are also reviewing The Presidential Game, so you can check out what they think HERE.

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