Political Animals

The non-confrontational strategy game for financial conservatives, social liberals, financial liberals, and social conservatives alike ... in 20 minutes or less. Politics is not a game—unless you’re a politician. Players of Political Animals compete to pass Policies in order to advance their political Agendas. They advance their Agendas by voting strategically and anticipating how other players will vote. The player whose Agenda prevails at the end of the game is the winner. Every round has three phases: Draw (players gain Political Capital), Policy Rollout (players determine which policies will be up for vote), and Legislative Session (players lobby for their positions, make promises they may or may not keep, and then vote on Policies). All players vote (Yea, Nay, or Abstain) for all of the Policies in the Policy Rollout at the same time and simultaneously reveal all their votes after the Presiding Officer has called "Time!" The amount of Political Capital players use when voting will affect the outcome. Each Policy vote is resolved (Pass or No pass) in turn—with the Center of Gravity token (COG) moving on the game board as the Policy dictates. The Political Animals game board is a grid with the four quandrants and a Moderate center representing player Agendas. The COG starts the game in one of the four center locations that make up the Moderate center. The COG's location is always public and players can see every move it makes as a result of Policies being passed. The COG location represents the current prevailing Agenda. The final location of the COG on the game board identifies the winner of the game. Short-game and long-game variants are included along with the major Hidden Agenda variant, as well as Special Ability cards and Amendments that may be added in to change up play. —Description from publisher