Election 2016

Bruce dropped by last week and brought with him a favourite game (1960: The Making of a President) with a new skin allowing us to refight the 2016 US election. Sadly, this meant one of had to play President Marmalade and I lost the flip. The game is one of area control with card-driven play. The only real changes to the base game were (1) a redistribution of the Electoral College votes, (2) easier travel between regions of the country, and (3) new text on the cards (card effects remained the same)

I think this was close to the opening set-up with the Donald in red and Hillary in blue. There are four or five rounds of campaigning, then a debate, then a few more rounds before election day. Bruce had played more recently and Hillary had a much better strategy (staying ahead on the issues, getting media endorsements, and prepping for the debate). Donald concentrated on the ground game and locking up the south and the fly-over states.

The redistribution of electoral votes made for an interesting change from the base game. We both fought for California, Texas and Florida. Hillary did a good job in the end of getting all of these states as well as the northeast.

I managed to win the debate but Hillary really impeded my campaigning towards the end.

Election day was a total crap shoot, with a few unexpected block draws giving Donald key rustbelt states and, in the end, denying Hillary enough seats to win.

Overall, a fun re-skin of Election 1960 that I would totally play again.