Campaign Trail Rulebook

Table of Contents

The Electoral College
About This Rule Book
Components
- Action Card Anatomy
Setup
Candidates
Game Overview
Scoring
Actions
- Travel
- Fundraise
- Register
- Advertise
- Campaign
- Politick
Debate
Election Day
- Month End
- Declaring a Winner
Appendix A: Solo Play
Appendix B: Politick Action Clarifications
Appendix C: Candidate Ability Clarifications
Supplement: Dirty Politics
Supplement: Advanced Solo Deck
A Note from the Designers
Credits and Acknowledgments

The Electoral College

In the United States, the president is elected indirectly by the electors that make up the Electoral College. These electors are delegates chosen from all 50 states plus the location of the U.S. Capital, the District of Columbia (also known as Washington DC). Each state has two electors, plus additional electors based on population. Therefore, more populous states end up with more electoral votes (e.g., California has 55) and less populous states end up with fewer (e.g., Wyoming has only 3).

During the popular election, the people of the United States actually vote for electors who have pledged to support their preferred presidential candidate. When a candidate wins the popular vote in a state, it means that the electors from that state have pledged to vote for that candidate in the Electoral College election. Most state's electors are chosen by a "winner-take-all" approach, so the candidate that wins the popular vote in a state wins all the electors for that state. There are a total of 538 electors, or electoral votes, available over all the states. Therefore, a candidate needs to win 270 electors to win the general election.

In Campaign Trail, the popular vote in each state is represented by the cubes placed on the board. However, the victory condition is collecting the most electoral votes, indicated by the counters on the Electoral College track. To win, a candidate must compete for popular vote majorities in states that add up to a majority of the Electoral College.

About This Rule Book

Throughout this rulebook, you will see callout boxes. These boxes provide useful information and are color-coded so that you can reference the exact information you want easily.

Definitions: Orange boxes will provide definitions of terms used throughout Campaign Trail.

Clarification: Green boxes provide an additional explanation or clarification of a certain rule.

Tips: Purple boxes provide strategy tips and hints that you can use during play. These boxes also contain our recommendations for various decisions throughout play.

Reminders: Yellow boxes provide reminders of easily forgotten rules.

Examples: Gray boxes show examples of play.

Components

1 Game board
105 Action cards
12 Candidate cards
42 Money cards
63 Solo Play cards
3 Party Reference booklets
3 Turn Order markers
1 Four-part Debate Arena
30 Debate Topic cards
6 Candidate tokens
6 Home State markers
1 Three-part Register Track on reverse side of Debate Arena tracks
18 Debate Issue markers
180 Voter tokens: 60 blue, 60 red, 60 yellow
60 Three-count Voter tokens: 20 blue, 20 red, 20 yellow
10 Debate City markers
90 Five-count Voter tokens: 30 blue, 30 red, 30 yellow
1 Four-part Electoral College Track
51 Electoral College Counters

State Banners: Each state on the board has a state banner. This icon shows the 2-letter state abbreviation as well as the total electoral votes for that state. Additionally, the stars on the state banner indicate the tiebreaker should there be a tie for the number of voters in the state. The star on the left of the icon is the color of the party that is the first tiebreaker. The star on the right of the icon is the color of the party that is the second tiebreaker (for ties not involving the first tiebreaker).

Callout Hexes: Certain geographically small states have callout hexes associated with them. Voters should be placed into these callout hexes during setup and gameplay instead of in the actual state on the map.

Action Card Anatomy

Each action card contains the following elements: a reference state, the "remove for 2-player" icon, debate issues, the card number, support actions (Travel, Fundraise, Register) on the left side, and direct actions (Advertise, Campaign, Politick) on the right and bottom sides.

Support actions set your party up to take other actions, such as gaining resources or strategically positioning your pawn. Direct actions place voters out on the board.

Setup

Setup for 6-player game shown

Candidates and Parties

You will play as a member of one of the three political parties: Democrat, Libertarian, or Republican. Depending on the number of players, you might have a partner.

In a game with 4 or more players, the role of Vice President is added to create teams. The President and Vice President are equal in this game, as both have the same goals: win the election for the party.

The structure of the teams is determined by the player count, as such: 2 players/2 parties, 3 players/3 parties, 4 players/2 parties, 5 players/3 parties, 6 players/3 parties.

In a 2- or 4-player game you may choose to be any of the three political parties (you are not limited to only Democrat and Republican).

Players in a team will win or lose together. Your partner is your running mate. Members of the same party are free to discuss their plans and the cards in their hands.

Setup Steps

Unfold the game board and place it in the center of the play area.
Assemble the Electoral College track and place it above the game board.
Place each Electoral College counter in the groove of the party matching its state's primary tiebreaker, as shown in the state banner on the back of the counter.
Place all voter tokens (1-count and 3-count) next to the board. This will form the undecided voter supply. Each undecided voter supply should be within easy reach of the party it belongs to but kept separate from the play area of the party.

Undecided Voters: The voters in the general supply that are available for registering. Undecided voters can never go directly on the board unless specifically instructed to do so.

In each state on the board, place 2 voters of the party matching it's primary tiebreaker (left star on the state banner). Voters located on states on the board are referred to as committed voters.

Committed Voters: The voters in states that contribute to a party having a majority in that state and winning its electoral votes.

See the reference booklet for a visual guide on placing committed voters.

Separate the money cards into two separate stacks (one for each denomination) then place them on the indicated spaces on the board.
Shuffle the candidate cards and deal two to each player. Each player chooses one to keep and returns the other one to the box. Return the remaining candidate cards to the box.

In a team game, it is recommended that running mates discuss and select their candidates together.

Shuffle the action cards and deal a hand of five to each player.

Reminder: Be sure to adjust any starting resources (cards, starting committed voters, etc.) for any applicable candidate abilities.

Divide the remaining action cards into three equal stacks and place one on each of the indicated month spaces.
Give one party reference booklet, the corresponding home state markers, and corresponding candidate pawns to each party playing.
Each party takes the number of voters shown on their candidate card(s). These voters are doubled if there is only one player in the party. This party resource is referred to as its registered voters.

Registered Voters: The voters in each party's personal supply that are available to be placed on the board.

These voters are doubled if there is only one player in the party.

Each party takes the amount of money shown on their candidate card(s). These funds are doubled if there is only one player in the party. This party resource is referred to as its war chest.

War Chest: The money available to each party during the campaign.

These funds are doubled if there is only one player in the party.

The supplies of voters and money are assumed to be unlimited. If at any time either should run out, substitute any appropriate bit or token.

Each party's resources are shared by all candidates from that party.

The number of a party's registered voters and the size of its war chest is considered public knowledge. Campaign financing laws require you to accurately reveal this information any time your opponent asks.

Place the debate arena center piece beside the board. Select only the track pieces corresponding to each party in play and position them equidistant around the circle.
Shuffle the debate topic cards and randomly select two. Place one on each indicated space on the board. Return the remaining debate topic cards to the box.
Randomly select two debate city markers and place one on each indicated space on the board. Return the remaining debate city markers to the box.
Place the six debate issue markers corresponding to the icons shown on the first debate topic card on the center circle of the debate arena. Place the remaining 12 debate issue markers next to the debate arena.
Each player chooses a home state from among the reference states shown on the cards in their hand. Players must show that portion of their card to verify they have it. Each player places their home state marker and candidate pawn on the chosen state, and then places two of their party's voter tokens (from the undecided voters) onto that state.

Multiple players may have the same home state (even if from the same party – in which case you would add a total of 4 voter tokens).

Reminder: Be sure to update the Electoral College track if applicable.

In addition to the extra starting voters, your choice of home state has two other effects on the game:

Your candidate pawn starts the game in your home state.
Some card actions will affect a candidate's home state.

Note: For game balance purposes, California, Texas, and any state with fewer than seven electoral votes do not appear as reference states.

The party with the player who voted most recently goes first. Turns are taken by party in clockwise order. Place the turn order markers in the correct sequence on the indicated spaces on the board.

It is recommended that players of the same party sit together.

Setup Changes for Special Cases

In a 2-party game (2- or 4-player) make the following changes when setting up:

Do not place any counters in the groove of the party not in play. Instead, place counters of states with a primary tiebreaker of the unused party in the groove of the party matching its state's secondary tiebreaker.
Do not place any voters for the party not in play. Instead, in states with a primary tiebreaker of the unused party, place one voter of the party matching its secondary tiebreaker.
In a 2-player game, before shuffling the action cards, remove the 15 with the "remove for 2-player" icon.

In a 5-player game, the 5th player plays both roles of one party. However, they play with only 1 candidate pawn, 1 candidate card, 1 hand of cards, and 1 home state marker. Treat the 5th player as if they were a single player in a party: they get double the starting war chest and double the starting registered voters specified on their candidate card.

Candidates

Each candidate comes with a unique advantage as well as a disadvantage. Each advantage and disadvantage affects a specific aspect of the game as indicated by the icon to the left of the text.

We recommend playing with the following candidates for your first game (in the following order, depending on player count):

The Incumbent
The Party Favorite
The Establishment Candidate
The Outsider
The Experienced Candidate
The Wealthy Candidate

Each candidate card is double-sided with the only difference being artwork. Use whichever artwork you prefer when playing your candidate.

For more information on specific candidate abilities see Appendix C on page 21.

Game Overview

Campaign Trail is played over the span of three months: August, September, and October. Each month is represented by 1/3 of the action card deck. After the final card is drawn from each of the August and September decks, a debate is held. After the final card of the October deck is drawn, Election Day occurs – any final voters are placed (due to cards played throughout the game) and the winner is declared.

Each month is divided into "rounds". In each round, every party takes one turn, going in turn order according to the turn order track on the board. When it is your party's turn, if there are two candidates in your party, you choose which candidate goes first and which goes second: each candidate in the party gets their own turn. After all candidates in the party have had their turn, the next party takes their turn(s).

When it is your turn, you must play one card from your hand, then:

Choose one action from that card
Carry out that action
Discard the played card
Draw up to 5 cards (if you are already at 5 cards, do not draw)

In the 5-player game, the 5th player (the one playing both roles of one party) takes two turns in a row during their party turn. They will play a card, take an action from that card, then draws up to 5 cards. They will then repeat that process for their second turn.

After both candidates from a party have finished their individual turns, the two players may exchange cards in their hands (after both candidates have drawn to refill their hands). In order to exchange cards:

Both candidates must be in the same region on the game board;
Each candidate must receive the same number of cards in the exchange (for example, if you give 2 cards, you must get 2 cards back, no more and no less).
The candidates may exchange no more than 3 cards each turn.

Region: The Campaign Trail map is divided into 9 geographic regions. They are indicated on the board via different coloring on the states and are identified in the party reference booklet. The nine regions are: Pacific, Mountain, Great Plains, Great Lakes, Gulf Coast, Appalachian, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast.

Note: Though both candidates from a party take their turns together, they still have to take their own separate, individual turns. They cannot alternate actions between them: the first candidate must complete their entire turn before their running mate begins their turn.

Example turn: Shannon and Ryan are on a team playing the Libertarians. Lisa and Heather are on a team playing the Democrats. Joe is the 5th player playing the Republicans.

It is the Democrats' turn. They need registered voters so that they can do a campaign action. Lisa has a card with a good register action so together they decide that for this round Lisa will go first. She plays her card and takes the register action getting the party more registered voters. She then discards the played card and draws back up to 5 cards. Her turn is now over and Heather immediately takes her turn, playing her card and taking the campaign action.

Next, the Libertarians take their turn. They are in desperate need of resources – both money and registered voters. They decide it doesn't really matter who goes first since both are going to play cards to gain resources and they will not be using those resources on this turn.

When their turn is finished, Ryan realizes that he and Shannon are both in the Great Plains region and suggests they trade some cards. Shannon has a debate coming up, so Ryan gives 2 of his useful debate cards to her, while she gives him 2 cards of her own.

Finally, it is the Republicans' turn. Joe wants to go to IL to campaign but he is currently in OK. For his first turn, he plays a card and takes a travel action, moving his candidate pawn to IL. After his second turn, play then continues to the next party in turn order – the Democrats.

Scoring

Campaign Trail uses real time scoring via the Electoral College track. Each Electoral College counter is scaled such that it represents an accurate depiction of the relative value of the state's real electoral votes (at the time of the game's printing).

The Electoral College counters for each state are placed in the track of the party that has the majority of committed voters in that state (see page 2 for how tiebreakers work).

Majority: A party is said to hold a majority in a state if that party has the most committed voters in that state or is tied for the most and holds the applicable tiebreaker.

Whenever any voters are placed on the board, players should determine if the majority in that state has changed. If so, the Electoral College counter is immediately moved to the track of the new party holding the majority. All other counters are adjusted within the tracks so that there are no gaps in the track.

Scoring example: Greg is playing the Democrats and Megan is playing the Republicans. The current Electoral College track shows CT with a tie between the parties.

Greg is down by 2 voters in CT, so he takes an action that places 2 voters there. Both parties now hold a tie for majority in CT. Since the Democrats own the tiebreaker in CT, Greg now holds the majority there. He moves CT's counter to the Democrat track. The counter for OH (in the Republican track) is then shifted to the left so there are no gaps.

Actions

There are six different actions in Campaign Trail. They are divided into two groups:

Support actions: Travel, Fundraise, Register Direct actions: Campaign, Advertise, Politick

Support actions set your party up to take other actions, such as gaining resources or strategically positioning your pawn. Direct actions place voters out on the board.

Each card only contains four of the possible six actions – you can only choose to take one of the actions contained on the card you play. You may not take an action that is not shown on the played card. The support actions are found on the left side of the card (as seen in the following illustration) and the direct actions are found on the right and bottom sides of the card.

Travel

Traveling is how you move your candidate pawn around the board to set yourself up for other actions (those that depend on location).

Most travel actions contain a number under the travel icon. To take a travel action that shows a number, simply move your candidate pawn up to the number of states indicated.

Notes on adjacency:

CA is adjacent to HI; WA is adjacent to AK, as noted by the arrows on the board.
The states in the "Four Corners" area (UT, CO, AZ, NM) are all adjacent to each other.
DE is adjacent to NJ.
You may move to Washington DC (DC). It is adjacent to MD and VA. However, DC is not a "city" in the sense of using a travel action with a plane icon. It is treated like a state in all respects.

There are a few travel actions that contain a plane icon. These indicate travel to a city.

City: There are 10 cities in Campaign Trail. They are marked on the board with a circle in the general location of the city as well as a plane icon to the upper left of the state banner. When you are instructed to put voters in (or move to) a city, place the voters in (or move to) the state that contains the city.

The 10 Cities are: Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA; Denver, CO; Minneapolis, MN; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Cleveland, OH; Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; New York, NY.

Plane – You may move to any city.

Plane + 1 – Move your candidate pawn to any city on the board, then you may move up to 1 additional state. Alternatively, you may move the "+1" first then move to any city.

5 or Plane – You may choose to either move up to 5 states OR you may move to any city.

Fundraise

Fundraising is how you gain money into your war chest. This money can later be used for other actions.

Fundraise actions contain a number under the fundraise icon. To take a fundraise action, simply take the amount of money indicated from the supply on the board and add it to your party war chest.

Register

Registering is how you gain registered voters for your party. These voters can later be used for other actions.

Register actions contain a number under the register icon. To take a register action, simply take the number of voters indicated from the undecided voter supply and add them to your party's registered voter supply.

Undecided voters are all of the voter tokens of your party that are next to the map board. When a voter becomes registered to your party, you simply move it from the pile near the map to the pile in front of you.

Support action example: In a 3-party game, Ben is playing the Republicans, Jordan is playing the Libertarians, and Lauren is playing the Democrats.

Ben needs some money in his war chest so he plays card #87 and takes the Fundraise action. He then takes $70M from the board and adds it to his war chest.

Jordan needs to get his candidate pawn to Maryland for a future campaign action. He plays card #10 and uses the plane travel action, since it will take him straight to Baltimore, MD.

Lauren needs to register voters for a future advertise action she is planning. She plays card #29 and takes 10 voters from the undecided voter supply and adds them to her registered voter supply.

Advertise

Advertising is one way to place voters on the board. It is meant to place small numbers of voters in states which are geographically separated, at a reduced cost.

Advertise actions contain a list of issue icons under the advertise icon. Cards will have 2, 3, or 4 issues. These are the issues that you can advertise on. To take an advertise action you need to perform the following:

You must pay $20M per issue in which you want to advertise (you many choose any number of the issues shown on the card).
For each issue you pay for you must have registered voters available to place a voter in each state containing that issue.
Place exactly 1 voter (from your registered voters) into each state that contains the issue(s) you paid for.

In some advertise actions, an issue icon appears twice. You may use these as if they were separate issues, paying $20M for each time you use it and placing 1 voter each time (for a total of 2 voters) in each state containing that issue.

The card also has a map in the center which indicates the states in which you can advertise. These states are colored in orange on the map and are also marked with the icon so that you can identify which states contain which issue.

Campaign

Campaigning is another way to place voters on the board. It is meant to place large numbers of voters in states which are geographically connected, but at a higher cost.

Most campaign actions contain a list of states under the campaign icon. These are the states that you can campaign in. To take a campaign action you need to perform the following:

Your candidate pawn must be located in one of the states listed under the campaign icon.
You must pay $60M.
You may place up to 6 voters (from your registered voters) into the states shown under the campaign icon (they can be distributed among these states in any manner and do not have to go where your candidate pawn is located).

Region: There are two campaign actions that contain a home state icon. These indicate the ability to campaign in the region in which your home state is located. Your candidate pawn must be in the region, you must pay $60M, and the states available to place voters are every state in that region.

The card also has a map in the center which indicates the states in which you can campaign. These states are colored in brown on the map.

Politick

Politicking is the act of engaging in partisan political activity. It is meant as a miscellaneous action which can do a number of things: place voters on the board, change other's actions, set up resource gathering engines, and more.

Politick actions are carried out using three different methods. Each method has a different icon associated with it. To take a politick action you need to perform the following:

Instant – Carry out the text as written on the card. After carrying out the text, discard the card at the end of your turn.

Reminder: You can replace sets of 3 voters on the board with the 3-count voter token.

Ongoing – Play this card on the table in front of you (do not discard). Starting at the beginning of your next turn, you may carry out the text on the card.

Your running mate does not get to carry out the text of ongoing politick actions you may have in play.

In general, politick actions are cumulative. Carry out the text for each one individually.

Response – This type of politick action is only played when it is not your turn. It is played in response to something an opponent does (the timing will be indicated in the text on the card). Play the card and carry out the text, then discard the card.

You do not immediately draw to refresh your hand. You will do that at the end of your next turn.

For more detail on the politick actions see Appendix B on page 20.

Direct action example: In a 3-party game, Ben is playing the Republicans, Jordan is playing the Libertarians, and Lauren is playing the Democrats.

It is the Democrat's turn. Lauren has her 10 voters from her last action and is ready to take the advertise action she was planning.

She plays card #11 and chooses to advertise on Taxes twice and Energy Costs once. She cannot advertise on the second Energy Costs since she only has 10 registered voters and does not have the 4 voters required to advertise on Energy Costs again.

She pays $60M ($20M for each issue: two Taxes and one Energy Costs) and places 1 voter in MT, AR, WV, and PA (for Energy Costs) and 2 voters in GA, SC, and OH (for Taxes). She then discards the card and draws another to end her turn.

It is now the Republican's turn. Ben previously raised $70M through his fundraise action but is looking for ways to not require as much money. He plays card #23 and takes the politick action which is Super PAC. This is an ongoing politick action so he plays it on the table in front of him.

Starting at the beginning of his next turn, he only has to pay $10M per issue when he takes an advertise action. He then draws to refresh his hand to 5 cards and ends his turn.

Finally, it is the Libertarian's turn. Jordan had taken a travel action before to set himself up for a campaign action in MD. He decides to take that action now.

He plays card #97 and declares he is going to campaign in MD, VA, WV, DC, and KY. He can do this because his candidate pawn is located in MD due to his previous travel action. He starts to pay the $60M when Lauren jumps in with a response politick action.

Lauren plays Local Funds Dry Up (card #73) which requires Jordan to pay $20M per voter he puts out instead of the usual $60M flat rate.

Since Jordan has a sizeable war chest he decides to still place the 6 voters and pays $120M. He places 4 voters in VA, 1 voter in WV, and 1 voter in KY to complete his action.

Lauren and Jordan both discard their cards. Jordan draws back up to 5 cards to end his turn. Lauren will not refresh her hand until the end of her next turn.

Debate

Month End

During August and September the parties continue to take turns until the last card is drawn from the current month's deck. When this happens, continue to take turns until the end of the current round (i.e., until the last party on the turn order track has completed its turn – so that all parties have an equal number of turns). You may count the number of cards remaining in a month's deck (without looking at them or rearranging them) to see how many rounds will be left that month.

If you need to draw cards when the deck is empty, draw them from the next month's deck instead (if August runs out, draw from September. If September runs out, draw from October).

When the round in which the August deck runs out is complete, proceed to the first debate. If this is a 4-6 player game, the first debate will take place among the Vice Presidential candidates. When the round in which the September deck runs out is complete, proceed to the second debate. The second debate is always among the Presidential candidates.

In a 2- or 3-player game the first debate is also held among the Presidential candidates. In the 5-player game, the 5th player participates in both debates.

1. Prepare for Debate

Reset the turn order – use the turn order markers and the turn order track on the board to set the turn order for the debate. The party that currently has the most electoral votes will go first, and the party with the fewest goes last. (This will also be the turn order that the players will follow for the next month.)
All players participating in the debate must move their candidate (for free) to the city where the debate is being held, shown on the debate city marker for the current debate.
If any Unprepared politick actions have been played, resolve them now.
If any Debate Prep politick actions have been played, resolve them also.

2. Debate Rounds

Each debate is divided into three debate rounds. In each debate round, every candidate in the debate will have a turn to play one action card to influence the issues in their party's favor.

In turn order, each participating candidate may play 1 card from their hand that has at least one debate issue icon that matches an issue already on the debate arena. If the player does not have any cards showing a matching symbol, they pass for that turn without playing a card.

Some of the debate icons present on the card might not be on the debate arena. When this happens, add the matching marker for that issue to the center of the debate arena. This is called a rabbit trail.

Rabbit Trail: When your candidate really wants to bring up an issue that no one else is talking about, they do so by creating a rabbit trail. Be careful though, other players will now be able to "go down the rabbit trail" and play cards using that symbol.

For every debate issue icon on the card you played, move the matching issue marker one space towards your party's side of the debate arena: If the marker is in the center of the arena, move it onto the track that matches your party's color; if the marker is already on your party's track, move it higher, away from the center of the arena; and if the token is on another party's track, move it towards the center of the arena. Move each marker one space (the center of the arena counts as one space) for each time the issue appears on the card you played.

After creating a rabbit trail, you still move that marker according to the number of times it appears on the card you played.

Once all candidates in the debate have played one card, the first debate round ends. Then, play two more rounds with each candidate, in turn order, playing one card in each round (you will play a total of 3 cards).

You will not draw cards between turns. Going into a debate requires that you be prepared!

If you place your cards near your party's track during the debate, it will be easier for players to check for rabbit trails and verify that all of the debate issue markers are on the correct spaces.

3. Voter Reaction

After all three debate rounds are complete, it's time to see how the voters react to the performance of the candidates. Starting with the first player and going in turn order, each candidate that participated in the debate places voters (taken from the undecided voter supply) on the board for each issue marker on their party's track in the debate arena.

For each of the markers in the first space of your track, place 1 voter in each state that has the matching icon. For each marker in the second space, place 2 voters in each state containing those icons. For all the markers in the third space, place 3 voters in the matching states, and for the markers in the fourth space, place 5 voters in the states containing those icons.

After all parties have placed their new committed voters, each candidate that participated in the debate refreshes their hand to their hand limit.

Debate example: In a 3-party game, Shannon is playing the Democrat, Michael is playing the Republican, and Jen is playing the Libertarian.

This debate is on the topics of Policies & Programs and The Economy.

Debate Round One

Shannon goes first since she had the most electoral votes at the beginning of the debate. She chooses to play card #55 containing the topics of Taxes, Energy Costs, and Jobs (which appears twice). She then moves the marker for Taxes one space toward her party's track (blue for Democrat). She also moves Energy Costs one space and moves Jobs two spaces since it appears twice on the card.

Michael goes next and wants to counteract some of Shannon's points. So he plays card #79 addressing the issues of Energy Costs and Jobs. He moves the marker for Jobs one space toward his side which puts it in the first slot of the blue track. He then moves the marker for Energy Costs two spaces toward his side (one space to the center and one space to the first slot on his track).

Jen takes the last turn in round one. She wants to get in on the issues that haven't been addressed yet so she plays card #82. She moves the markers for Health Care and Gun Control one space toward her side of the track.

Debate Round Two

Shannon opens round two by playing card #72. She moves the marker for Gun Control back to the middle and moves the marker for National Debt to her track. She has also opened up a rabbit trail on Drug Trafficking. She gets to place the Drug Trafficking marker on the first space of her track, however she does open up the possibility for her opponents to play cards based off of Drug Trafficking as well as the original topics.

Michael goes next and plays card #100. He moves the markers for Jobs and Taxes away from the Democrat and back to the middle.

Jen takes the final turn in round two and plays card #93. She is glad Shannon opened up a rabbit trail as she did not prepare well for the debate and had no more cards containing the original topics. She places the markers for Affordable Housing and Immigration on space 1 of her track (these are new rabbit trails) and moves the marker for Drug Trafficking back to the middle (once a rabbit trail marker is in the arena it acts as any other marker).

Debate Round Three

For the final round, Shannon plays card #47, Michael plays card #17, and Jen plays card #67. Each moves the appropriate markers.

Voter Reaction

Now the players place voters from the undecided supply into the states that contain the issues that show up on their tracks.

Shannon places 1 voter in each state containing Education and 2 voters in states containing National Debt. Michael then places 1 voter in each state containing Taxes, Jobs, Energy Costs, Gun Control, and Health Care. Finally, Jen places 1 voter in states containing Affordable Housing and International Trade and 3 voters in states containing Immigration. All players then refresh their hands to their hand limit (in turn order).

Reminders:

Voters awarded for debates always come from the undecided voter supply.
Each debate lasts three rounds. Turn order is set at the beginning of the debate, and the candidates play cards in this order.
Each player is always moving markers toward their party's track. So, if any issue marker is on a high space of an opponent's track, playing a card with the matching icon may only move it down to a lower space of that opponent's track.
Each issue only has one (or no) winner. The party that wins the issue (i.e. has that issue's marker on their track at the end of the debate) earns voters for that issue based on where the marker sits on their track.
An issue can never go above the fourth space on a track. If an issue is on the fourth space and a card with that issue is played by the player winning the issue, the issue marker is not moved.

Election Day

Month End

During October, the parties continue to take turns until the last card is drawn from the October deck. When this happens, continue to take turns until the end of the current round (i.e., until the last party on the turn order track has completed their turn – so that all parties have an equal number of turns). You may count the number of cards remaining in a month's deck (without looking at them or rearranging them) to see how many rounds will be left that month. Unlike August and September, in October you will not draw cards to refresh your hand when the deck is empty.

Declaring a Winner

At the end of the round, resolve any "End of Game" politick actions, such as October Surprise or Recount, in turn order. The campaign is now over! Make sure that the Electoral College track accurately shows which party controls each state.

The party with the most electoral votes is declared the winner and the next President and Vice President of the United States!

If the electoral college counters are too close to show a clear winner (within 3 EV), recount the actual electoral votes by adding them on a calculator to determine the winner.

If there is a tie, the tied party with the majority in the most individual states (regardless of size) is the winning party.

Runoff election: In a game with three parties, if two parties tie for the most states during the tie-breaker, remove all voters from the party in last place from the board. Give control of any states that party had the majority in to the new majority holder, updating the Electoral College track as you go. The party that now has the most electoral votes is the winner. If they are still tied, then the party with control of the most states is the winner.

Note: In the unlikely event that a state has no voters from any party, that state is treated as a 0-0 tie, and goes to the party with the tie-breaker in that state.

Appendix A: Solo Play

You can play Campaign Trail as a solitaire or 2-player co-op game instead of the normal competitive version. There are a few different ways you can play:

Solo vs. 1 AI party
Solo vs. 2 AI parties
Co-op vs. 1 AI party
Co-op vs. 2 AI parties

AI party: The AI party is the party (or parties) played by the Solo Play deck. In the Solo Play mode the Solo Play deck will "take actions" to put voters on the board and challenge you for states.

Game Components

In order to play solo or co-op, in addition to the normal components, you will need to use:

63 Solo Play cards
Register track (found on the back of the debate arena tracks)

Setup

Choose the parties for all human and AI players. Place voter tokens for those parties near the game board. Set up the Electoral College track and committed voters on the board as normal (use 2-party rules for committed voters if playing against one AI player)
Assemble the register track (lay out pieces consecutively in number order) and place near the game board.
Place 12 voters for each AI party on the register track, three in each of the first four spaces (use the top of the space for one AI party and the bottom for the other AI party).
Shuffle the Solo Play cards:
- For one AI party, count off 40 cards and place them on the August deck space.
- For two AI parties, count off two decks of 30 cards each. Place one on the August deck space and one on the September deck space.
- Return any leftover AI party cards to the box without looking at them.
Set up the other cards and resources as normal, including candidate cards and starting resources for the human players.
There are no debates in the Solo Play variant so you do not set up the debate arena, debate topic cards, debate city markers, or debate issue markers.
When setting up the action card deck, shuffle and place the entire deck on the October space.
The AI August deck goes first, followed by the AI September deck (if applicable), followed by the human player.

Solo Play Cards

The Solo Play card has two sections, a register action section and a direct action section (can be advertise, campaign, or politick). The register action section shows how many voters you will place on the register track if the AI player takes a register action. The register action section also shows a diagram of the register track with a number of spaces filled with voter tokens. You will use this to determine if the AI party will take a register action or a direct action.

The direct action section shows how many voters will be placed in each state on the board. It also shows the threshold value for each state (given as a number on the state). A state will only receive voters from the register track if the AI party's lead in that state is less than the threshold value. If the AI player's lead is greater than or equal to the threshold value then no voters are placed in that particular state.

Note: The type of direct action on the Solo Play card does not affect the AI party turn at all. The type varies from card to card so that the human player may make use of politick actions that give bonuses when an opponent plays a specific type of direct action.

Register Track

The register track is where the registered voters for the AI parties are stored. Assemble the track by turning the debate arena tracks over to their opposite side and placing them sequentially in numerical order.

The register track is divided into 10 spaces (separated by dark lines. Each space is then subdivided into two spaces (one for each AI party, separated by a horizontal dashed line). Each space on the track can hold up to 3 voters from each party. A space with three voters is "full" for that party. If all of the register track spaces are full, any additional voters are lost.

When adding voters to the register track, always start from the left and move to the right. When removing voters from the register track, always start from the right and move to the left.

AI Party Turn

Draw the top card of the AI party deck
Determine register or direct action
- Compare the filled in (with gray cubes) spaces on the card with the spaces on the register track.
- If the highest completely filled space (contains 3 voters) on the physical register track is less than the highest filled space on the register track section of the card, the AI party takes a register action.
- If the highest completely filled space (contains 3 voters) on the physical register track is greater or equal to the highest filled space on the register track section of the card, the AI party takes a direct action.

In the example card on the left, if the physical register track has the first three spaces filled (3 or more voters), the AI party will take a direct action. If it has less than 3 completely filled spaces, the AI party takes a register action.

Register action: Take the number of voters shown on the register action of the card from the supply and place them on the register track (3 voters per space starting with the leftmost empty space and going left to right). After registering, the AI party's turn ends.
Direct action: For each state that is colored on the map on the card, determine if the AI party has the majority and leads by a number of voters equal to or greater than the threshold value (the number given on each state). If the AI party is losing the state or winning by fewer voters than the threshold, move the amount of voters shown on the card (number of cubes shown directly below direct action icon) from the register track to that state. If the AI party is leading by the threshold or more, do nothing with respect to that state. After taking the direct action the AI party's turn is over.
If you are playing with a second AI party, repeat steps 1-4 with the next AI deck. Each AI party has its own voters on the register track, and only those voters are counted during that AI party's turn.

See the flowchart below for a graphical description of the AI party turn.

AI party turn example: Phil is playing the human vs. two AI parties Solo Play variant. He is playing Libertarian and has assigned the Democrat to the first AI party and the Republican to the second AI party.

Phil draws the top card of the first AI deck for the Democrat turn. The card shows the fifth space on the register track as the highest with cubes filled in. He compares this to the physical register track and sees that the Democrats only have four spaces with the required 3 cubes.

Since there are less than 3 Democrat voters in the fifth space, this will be a register turn. He adds 6 voters to the register track (1 in the fifth space, 3 in the sixth space, and 2 in the seventh space).

Next is the Republican turn. Phil draws the top card of the second AI deck. This card shows three spaces filled in on the register track. The Republicans currently have voters up to the seventh space in the register track so this will be a direct action turn.

The states shown on the card are AZ, WA, and CA with threshold value of four, four, and five, respectively. He compares these thresholds with the Republican lead in each of these states.

CA (5): Dem - 3 voters, Rep - 2 voters, Lib - 2 voters; Dem up by 1
WA (4): Dem - 0 voters, Rep - 3 voters, Lib - 1 voter; Rep up by 2
AZ (4): Dem - 1 voter, Rep - 5 voters, Lib - 0 voters; Rep up by 4

In CA the Republican is behind, and therefore does not meet the threshold. Phil places 3 Republican voters from the register track into CA. In WA, the Republican is ahead by 2 voters, but this does not meet the threshold of four so Phil takes 3 Republican voters from the track and places them in WA. In AZ, the Republican is up by 4 voters, which meets the threshold so Phil does nothing.

Direct Action Happens Automatically

A few of the Solo Play cards will not have the register track section but will instead say "Direct action happens automatically". In this case you do not compare anything with the register track. Instead follow all rules for a direct action; however, place voters on the board from the undecided voter supply (you will still evaluate each state's threshold individually).

Human Player turn

After all of the AI parties have taken their turns, the human player takes their turn following the rules from the standard game with the following modifications.

Politick actions

The following politick actions cannot be played in Solo Play:

Debate Prep
Local Funds Dry Up
Sabotage
Travel Costs
Unprepared

The following politick actions are modified when used in Solo Play:

Backlash – If the AI party takes a direct action with the advertise icon, the Backlash politick action takes effect and you gain 3 registered voters.
Campaign Advisor – If the AI party takes a direct action with the campaign icon, the Campaign Advisor politick action takes effect and you draw one card.
Committed Donors – If the AI party takes a direct action with the politick icon, the Committed Donors politick action takes effect and you gain $30M.
Connections – If the AI party has the majority in your home state, no player gets the $10M.
Change of Plans – You may play Change of Plans on the AI turn to force the AI party to take a register action instead of taking a direct action (even if there are enough voters on the register track). Add the voters shown on the card to the register track. If all of the spaces on the track are full, do not place any more voters – the extra voters are lost. You may not play a Change of Plans on the "Direct action happens automatically" cards.

Candidates

Some candidates will make for an easier Solo Play game and some will make for a more difficult game as described below:

The Newcomer – The Newcomer will result in a more difficult Solo Play game due to its disadvantage of starting behind in voters on the board and available resources.
The Party Favorite – The Party Favorite will result in a more difficult Solo Play game due to only being able to place 3 voters in a state for each campaign action.
The Orator – The Orator will result in a more difficult Solo Play game due to its advantage being in the debate and there is no debate in Solo Play. If you play with this candidate you will be playing with a disadvantage and no advantage.
The Strategist – The Strategist will result in an easier Solo Play game due to its disadvantage being in the debate. If you play with this candidate you will be playing with an advantage and no disadvantage.

Debate

There are no debates in Solo Play.

Election Day

The game ends after the AI parties have played the last card from their decks. The human player(s) gets one last turn, then the game is over. The party with the most electoral votes is the winner!

Cooperative Play

To play a co-op game, take turns as described above, with the AI parties going first. But, each AI party takes two turns in a row each turn (draw 2 cards and resolve them in order). After the AI parties are done, each human player takes one turn, then the AI parties go again, and so on.

Dirty Politics

When playing a Dirty Politics card, the following actions are modified when used in Solo Play:

Flip Contributors – Take the money from the board instead of from another player
Sway Minds – Remove the number of voters shown from the register track and add that same number to your registered voters.
Scandal – You must always choose for the AI party to lose registered voters and voters in ethically minded states.
Intimidation – If the AI card shows a direct action marked with the campaign icon and one of the states (no matter if it's under the threshold or not) is in the region you are in, then the action takes affect. Remove 2 voters from the register track, and gain 2 voters to your registered voters.

Dirty Politics is an optional supplement that can be purchased directly from www.GreyFoxGames.com

Appendix B: Politick Action Clarifications

Backlash – Gaining registered voters in this way does not count as taking a register action.
Campaign Advisor – The Campaign Advisor will allow you to temporarily go over your 5 card hand limit. However, you will still only refresh your hand to 5 cards. If you have 5 or more cards at the end of your turn, you will not draw any cards.
Change of Plans – This card can only be played after the first card played on an opponent's turn (you may not play it against a card played as a result of Diverse Strategy, Re-strategize, etc) and cannot be played on your turn (you may not play it against another Change of Plans).
Committed Donors – Gaining money in this way does not count as taking a fundraise action. If Sabotage is played to discard this card, the party with this card in play still gets the money before it is discarded (it is then immediately discarded).
Connections – This is an individual politick action so the money is given at the start of your individual turn, not your party turn (your running mate could take an action that changes the majority in your home state before you take your turn and then the money would go to the new majority holder when your turn starts).
Debate Prep – This is always resolved after any Unprepared politick actions in play. You will still only refresh your hand to 5 cards. If you have 5 or more cards at the end of the debate, you will not draw any cards.
Diverse Strategy – Immediately draw 2 cards from the current draw deck (if you run out, draw from the next draw deck or shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck if at the end of October).
Favorite Son – This refers to the brown and orange colored states on the map. "Playing a card" refers to the first card played on your turn, excluding debates.
Frequent Flyer – This card is a choice, if you choose to move you may move one extra state. If you are playing a team game and you choose not to move, you may move your running mate up to the number of states given on the card. If you move your running mate with a voter suppression card (Dirty Politics) you still remove the specified number of voters from the state in which they end their movement.
Grassroots – You may take any of the actions listed in any order. The "colored states" refers to those states colored either orange or brown on the map.
Local Funds Dry Up – Does not affect smear campaign actions.
October Surprise – There are two versions of this action. One gives voters for money left at the end of the game, the other gives voters for registered voters left at the end of the game. These voters are added only after the round in which the October deck runs out is completed and are added from the undecided voter supply.
Poll Win – You must hold the majority in the most states in the region. However The Genius candidate ability does refer to ties in determining number of states in each region (if a player is tied for most states with The Genius, The Genius wins the tie and controls the most states).
Recount – This card is resolved in much the same way as October Surprise.
Re-strategize – If this causes you to have 5 or more cards in your hand at the end of your turn, you do not draw any cards at the end of your turn. If you choose to play it immediately, you may choose any action on the card. If there is no discard pile, you may not take this politick action.
Sabotage – If you discard any card that has another card beneath it, you also discard the face-down card.
Stadium Rally – You must place the 2 voters where you are located. It is optional to place any other voters.
Super PAC – Does not affect the mudslinging actions.
Travel Costs – This does not apply to the "free" travel to get to the debate city or when you move via other politick actions. It does apply to any travel action taken by using candidate abilities.
Unprepared – Resolve this before any Debate Prep card in play is resolved.

Dirty Tricks:

Bribes – Voters removed from the board are always returned to the undecided supply. This is always a one-for-one swap of voters for every $40M spent.
False News Story – This affects all opponents equally.
Intimidation – The opponent gets to choose whether to give you the money or registered voters. They do not have to actually place voters in the region you are in. They just have to play a card whose campaign action contains one of the states of the region you are in and take that campaign action.
Scandal – Each party gets to decide what to do. If they choose to pay the money, they pay it directly to your party.

Appendix C: Candidate Ability Clarifications

The Clean Candidate

Advantage – Convert means to remove 1 voter of any party from the state (return it to the undecided voter supply) and replace it with a voter of your own party from the undecided voter supply. You may not "convert" a voter if your opponents have no voters to remove.

The Establishment Candidate

Advantage – The voters you place must come from your registered voters. You may place voters in any state you move through, including using the Plane +1 travel action and taking the +1 first before you move to a city.
Disadvantage – When playing sway minds, you gain 2 fewer voters but your opponent still loses the full amount shown on the card.

The Experienced Candidate

Advantage – If you run out of cards in the middle of drawing, you draw 1 card from the current deck and 1 card from the next month's deck. When you place 1 card back, put it on the bottom of the deck you most recently drew from (i.e. next month's deck).
Disadvantage – You may not play the 5/Plane travel action even if you choose the 5.

The Genius

Advantage – In the case of a 0-0 tie (no voters are in the state) you only win that tie if you are the first or second tiebreaker in the state.
Disadvantage – You may still play cards such as Super PAC to decrease your advertising costs. The $10M extra cost is added after all other adjustments (Super PAC, etc); you must discard 2 additional voters from any of your ethically minded states when taking a mudslinging action.

The Orator

Advantage – You do not have to have participated in the debate in order to use this ability.

The Outsider

Disadvantage – $80M is your starting cost for a campaign action. It may be modified through use of other politick actions; you must discard 1 additional voter from your ethically minded states when taking a smear campaign action.

The Party Favorite

Advantage – You always take 2 voters from the undecided voter supply. You may include these two when determining if you have enough voters to fill every state in an issue for an advertise action.
Disadvantage – When taking a smear campaign action you may only remove up to 3 voters in any one state.

The Populist

Advantage – You must advertise in at least one issue in order to use this advantage. You can then advertise in another issue of your choice (must be an issue not on the card, place 1 voter in each state containing that issue). You do not pay any additional money for this issue. You may mudsling in one additional issue when you take a mudslinging action.

The Strategist

Advantage – When taking a smear campaign action, you may remove up to 10 voters.
Disadvantage – The "top row" refers to the first three issues shown on the debate topic card. You may still start your own rabbit trails and respond to them as if they were in the top row.

The Wealthy Candidate

Advantage – The $20M discount is taken off after all other adjustments (Super PAC, Local Funds Dry Up, etc.); for mudslinging and smear campaign actions, you remove 1 fewer voter from your ethically minded states.
Disadvantage – When taking a smear campaign action, you must remove a voter where you are located and are limited to removing voters in states adjacent to your pawn.

Supplement: Dirty Politics

Dirty Politics is an optional supplement that can be purchased directly from www.GreyFoxGames.com

The Dirty Politics module is a way to add a more cutthroat attacking style of play. If you do not want this style of play you can remove the Dirty Politics cards from the deck before setup.

The Dirty Politics cards have the same basic structure of other action cards, however the actions work in slightly different ways. Each Dirty Politics action will give you the opportunity to attack your opponent(s) by removing registered voters, war chest funds, or committed voters.

A Dirty Politics action card differs from a standard action card in three ways:

The background color is different
The action icons have a different lettering scheme
There are no debate issue icons on the Dirty Politics cards. Instead they are identified as Dirty Politics in that space.

Some of the Dirty Politics actions affect ethically minded states. When a card or rule refers to "your ethically minded states" it is referring to those states that are marked with the ethics icon corresponding to your party.

Ethically Minded State: Ethically minded states are those states that are concerned with a particular candidate's ethical behavior. Each party has their own unique ethically minded states.

They are marked on the board with the following icons (in each party color) to the upper right of the state banner.

The five ethically minded states for each party are:

Democrat: Maryland (MD), Massachusetts (MA), New Jersey (NJ), Connecticut (CT), Washington (WA)
Libertarian: North Carolina (NC), Virginia (VA), Colorado (CO), Minnesota (MN), Oregon (OR)
Republican: Georgia (GA), Kentucky (KY), Missouri (MO), Arizona (AZ), Alabama (AL)

Each Dirty Politics action corresponds to — and is a subset of — the actions on the standard action cards. While these actions have a different name to make them easily distinguishable, they still count as the action they are a subset of for the purposes of politick actions that refer to players playing certain types of actions.

Example: A player who plays a smear campaign action is also playing a campaign action, a player who plays a mudslinging action is also playing an advertise action, and a player who plays a dirty tricks action is also playing a politick action.

Voter Suppression (VS)

Voter suppression is the act of moving around among the states and threatening or intimidating voters from other parties. You will move your pawn and remove opponents' voters from the state in which you end your movement.

Voter suppression actions all contain an indicator of how many states you may move as well as the number of voters you remove from the state in which you end your movement. To take a voter suppression action, move your candidate pawn up to the number of states indicated, then remove voters (from any party) equal to the amount shown on the gray cube icon from the state where you end your movement.

If a voter suppression action contains a plane, you may move to any city then remove voters from that city.

Flip Contributors (FC)

Flip contributors is the act of convincing your opponents' financial backers to support your candidacy instead. You will be taking the money that they earned from their contributors.

Flip contributors actions all contain a number to indicate how much money you take from your opponent. To take a flip contributors action pick a party and take money from their war chest equal to the number shown on the action.

Sway Minds (SM)

Sway minds is the act of convincing potential voters to switch their party registration. You will take your opponent's registered voters through trickery and deceit.

Sway minds actions all contain a number to indicate how many registered voters you take from your opponent. To take a sway minds action pick a party, they must discard registered voters equal to the number shown on the action, then you gain registered voters equal to the number shown on the action.

Mudslinging (Ms)

Mudslinging on your opponents, using radio and tv ads, will convince their voters to abandon their campaign. Mudslinging is one of the Dirty Politics actions that will take voters off the board.

Mudslinging actions contain a list of issues under the mudslinging icon. These are the issues that you can remove voters from, however you will pay for the action a little differently. To take a mudslinging action you need to perform the following:

You must "pay" (discard to undecided voter supply) 2 voters from among your ethically minded states per issue in which you want to mudsling (you may choose any number of the issues shown on the card).
For each issue you pay for you remove 2 voters (from any party) from each state showing that issue and return them to the undecided voter supply.

Smear Campaign (SC)

Running a smear campaign in a local area is a great way to convince voters to stop supporting your opponent. Smear campaign is one of the Dirty Politics actions that will take voters off the board.

Smear campaign actions contain a list of states under the smear campaign icon. These are the states that you can remove voters from, however you will pay for the action a little differently. To take a smear campaign action you need to perform the following:

Your candidate pawn must be located in one of the states listed under the smear campaign icon.
You must discard 4 voters from among your ethically minded states.
You may remove up to 8 voters (from any party) from the states shown under the campaign icon (they are placed back in the undecided voter supply).

Dirty Tricks (DT)

Dirty tricks provide you a variety of ways to affect your opponents and mess up their plans. Dirty tricks is a miscellaneous action that can remove voters from the board or provide an ongoing attack.

There are two types of dirty tricks actions: Instant and Ongoing. There are no response dirty tricks actions. To take a dirty tricks action, carry out the text on the card. See Appendix B on page 20 for more information on specific dirty tricks actions.

Dirty politics example: In a 3-party game, Ben is playing the Republicans, Jordan is playing the Libertarians, and Lauren is playing the Democrats.

It is the Libertarian turn. Jordan remembers that Lauren made him pay extra for his campaign action so he wants to retaliate.

He plays Card #108 and takes a smear campaign action. He must remove 4 voters from his ethically minded states. He chooses to remove 3 from NC and 1 from OR. He then removes 6 Democrat voters and 2 Republican voters from CA and takes CA away from Lauren.

Next comes the Democrat turn. Lauren has just lost CA and unfortunately cannot do a whole lot right now. She was planning on traveling this turn to set herself up for a campaign action.

She plays card #112 and takes the voter suppression action. At least she will be able to affect Jordan a little bit. She moves her candidate pawn one state into NY and then removes 2 Libertarian voters from NY.

Now the Republican has a turn. Ben wants to get in on the Dirty Politics action as well. He plays card #106 and takes the mudslinging action. He doesn't want to lose 8 voters from his ethically minded states so he chooses to only use two of the issues (Gender Equality and Health Care). He pays with 4 total voters from his ethically minded states (1 from AL, 2 from GA, and 1 from KY). He then removes 1 voter from each opposing party from CA (Gender Equality); and 2 Libertarian voters from FL, 1 each from ND, and 2 Democrat voters from HI (Health Care).

Supplement: Advanced Solo Deck

The Advanced Solo Deck is an optional supplement that can be purchased directly from www.GreyFoxGames.com

You can play Campaign Trail as a solitaire or 2-player co-op game instead of the normal competitive version. You can play against 1-3 AI parties as a single player or incorporate them into a multiplayer game.

Game Components

In order to play solo or co-op, in addition to the normal components, you will need to use:

1 Solo Play Deck (50 cards total) for each AI party you want to play against
5 Register Track Cards
For playing against the green party, you will need the green party components from Campaign Trail: Green Party expansion

Setup for solo Democrat vs. Republican AI party shown

Setup

Choose the parties for all human and AI players. Place voter tokens for those parties near the game board. Set up the Electoral College track and committed voters on the board as normal (use 2-party rules for committed voters if playing against one AI player)
Assemble the register track using the 5 register track cards (lay out cards consecutively in number order) and place near the game board.
Place 12 voters for each AI party on the register track, three in each of the first four spaces.
Shuffle each solo play deck that you are playing with. Return any unused solo play deck to the box
- Place 10 cards of the solo deck in each month space (Aug, Sep, and Oct)
- Place 10 cards off to the side of the board where the debate track will go
- Return the remaining 10 cards to the box. They will not be used this game.
- For additional AI parties, repeat the previous steps. You will have to place the 3 stacks of 10 cards off the board below the month spaces.
Set up the other cards and resources as normal, including candidate cards and starting resources for the human players.
Set up the debate arena and debate topic cards and debate cities as appropriate for the number of parties.
When setting up the action card deck, shuffle and place the entire deck to the side of the board within easy reach.
All AI players go first, starting with the first one set up, and continuing in the order of setup. The human player takes the last turn each round.
The game flow is just like the multi-player game. You will play the month of August, then do a debate, then play September, then do a debate, then play October, then the game is done.

Solo Play Cards

The Solo Play card has three sections, a register action section, a direct action section (can be advertise, campaign, or politick), and a debate section. The register action section shows how many voters you will place on the register track if the AI player takes a register action. The register action section also shows a diagram of the register track with a number of spaces filled with voter tokens. You will use this to determine if the AI party will take a register action or a direct action.

The debate section is only used in the two debates. It shows which topics the AI player will move on its debate track and which (if any) rabbit trails the AI player will introduce or respond to.

Register Track

The register track is where the registered voters for the AI parties are stored. Assemble the track by placing the 5 register track cards (they will have a different back than the party decks) in numerical order.

The register track is divided into 10 spaces. Each space on the track can hold up to 3 voters from each party. A space with three voters is "full" for that party. If all of the register track spaces are full, any additional voters required to be placed on the track are not placed and are lost.

When adding voters to the register track, always start from the left and move to the right. When removing voters from the register track, always start from the right and move to the left.

AI Party Turn

Draw the top card of the current month deck for the AI party.
Determine register or direct action
- Compare the filled in (with gray cubes) spaces on the card with the spaces on the register track.
- If the highest completely filled space (contains 3 voters) on the physical register track is less than the highest filled space on the register track section of the card, the AI party takes a register action.
- If the highest completely filled space (contains 3 voters) on the physical register track is greater or equal to the highest filled space on the register track section of the card, the AI party takes a direct action.
Register action: Take the number of voters shown on the register action of the card from the supply and place them on the register track (3 voters per space starting with the leftmost non-full space and going left to right). After registering, the AI party's turn ends.
Direct action: For each state that is colored on the map on the card, determine if the AI party has the majority and leads by a number of voters equal to or greater than the threshold value (the number given on each state). If the AI party is losing the state or winning by fewer voters than the threshold, move the amount of voters shown on the card (number of cubes shown directly below direct action icon) from the register track to that state. If the AI party is leading by the threshold or more, do nothing with respect to that state. After taking the direct action the AI party's turn is over.
If you are playing with additional AI parties, repeat steps 1-4 with each AI deck. Each AI party has its own voters on the register track, and only those voters are counted during that AI party's turn.

See the flowchart on page 18 for a graphical description of the AI party turn.

Phil draws the top card of the Democrat AI deck for the Democrat turn. The card shows the fifth space on the register track as the highest with cubes filled in. He compares this to the physical register track and sees that the Democrats only have four spaces with the required 3 cubes.

Next is the Republican turn. Phil draws the top card of the Republican AI deck. This card shows three spaces filled in on the register track. The Republicans currently have voters up to the seventh space in the register track so this will be a direct action turn.

The states shown on the card are AZ, WA, and CA with threshold value of four, four, and five, respectively. He compares these thresholds with the Republican lead in each of these states.

CA: Dem - 3 voters, Rep - 2 voters, Lib - 2 voters; Dem up by 1
WA: Dem - 0 voters, Rep - 3 voters, Lib - 1 voter; Rep up by 2
AZ: Dem - 1 voter, Rep - 5 voters, Lib - 0 voters; Rep up by 4

Direct Action Happens Automatically

Human Player Turn

After all of the AI parties have taken their turns, the human player takes their turn following the rules from the standard game with the following modifications.

Politick actions

The following politick actions cannot be played in Solo Play:

Local Funds Dry Up
Sabotage
Travel Costs

The following politick actions are modified when used in Solo Play:

Backlash – If the AI party takes a direct action with the advertise icon, the Backlash politick action takes effect and you gain 3 registered voters.
Campaign Advisor – If the AI party takes a direct action with the campaign icon, the Campaign Advisor politick action takes effect and you draw one card.
Committed Donors – If the AI party takes a direct action with the politick icon, the Committed Donors politick action takes effect and you gain $30M.
Connections – If the AI party has the majority in your home state, no player gets the $10M.
Change of Plans – You may play Change of Plans on the AI turn to force the AI party to take a register action instead of taking a direct action (even if there are enough voters on the register track). Add the voters shown on the card to the register track. If all of the spaces on the track are full, do not place any more voters – the extra voters are lost. You may not play a Change of Plans on the "Direct action happens automatically" cards.
Unprepared – Shuffle any cards set aside for the debates and draw 1 at random. Put this card in the box. It will not be used in this game.

Dirty Politics

When playing a Dirty Politics card, the following actions are modified when used in Solo Play:

Flip Contributors – Take the money from the board instead of from another player
Sway Minds – Remove the number of voters shown from the register track and add that same number to your registered voters.
Scandal – You must always choose for the AI party to lose registered voters and voters in ethically minded states.
Intimidation – If the AI card shows a direct action marked with the campaign icon and one of the states (no matter if it's under the threshold or not) is in the region you are in, then the action takes affect. Remove 2 voters from the register track, and gain 2 voters to your registered voters.

Candidates

Some candidates will make for a more difficult game as described below:

The Newcomer – The Newcomer will result in a more difficult Solo Play game due to its disadvantage of starting behind in voters on the board and available resources.
The Party Favorite – The Party Favorite will result in a more difficult Solo Play game due to only being able to place 3 voters in a state for each campaign action.

Debate

Refer to the section on debates in the main rule book for all debate rules. This section will just cover the AI debate turn. The AI player will use the 10 cards previously set aside for its debate. Shuffle these cards and draw 1 each turn to see which issues get moved on the debate track. The AI player(s) will always go first, in the same turn order as the game.

The debate section of the Solo Play card has 2 sections: the debate topic section and the rabbit trail section. For the AI debate turn, evaluate the debate topic section first followed by the rabbit trail section.

Debate topic section

This section shows a grid (2 rows, 3 columns) which corresponds to the 2 rows and 3 columns of issues on the Debate Topic card. The AI player will move the issue that corresponds to each check in this grid. If there are 2 checks in a particular place in the grid, then the AI player moves that issue 2 spaces.

Debate topic section example: Given the following solo play card and Debate topic play card. The AI player would move the "taxes" issue (first row, first column) 1 space on its track and would also move the "foreign aid" issue (second row, third column) 1 space on its track.

Note, if one of these had had 2 check marks the AI player would have moved that issue 2 spaces on its track.

Rabbit Trail section

This section shows consists of a row of 3 to 6 issue icons as well as a number under the first icon. The number indicates how many rabbit trail issues the AI player will either put out or move up on its track.

After the debate topic section is fully resolved, examine the rabbit trail section. The AI player will activate the number of rabbit trails given by the number below the first icon. A rabbit trail is always defined as an issue not in the original set of topics. Starting with the first icon and moving down the row left to right, evaluate each issue to determine if it is a valid rabbit trail. If the issue is not part of the original 6 debate topics then place that token on the first space of the AI player's debate track if it is not already on the debate arena. If it is on the debate arena, then move that token 1 space on the AI player's debate track. Repeat this process until you have placed or moved the number of tokens equal to the number given under the first icon.

Rabbit trail section example: Given the following solo play card and debate topic card. The AI player will get 3 rabbit trails. The first issue is "surveillance state". It is not part of the original debate topics so is a valid rabbit trail. The AI player will place that token on space 1 of its track. The second issue is the same so the AI player will now move that issue 1 space.

For the third rabbit trail, the AI player will place (or move if already on the debate arena) the "reproductive rights" issue since the third and fourth issues are both part of the original debate topics.

Note, if an issue appears twice it counts as 2 of the total rabbit trails and is moved (or placed and moved) twice.

Election Day

The game ends after the AI parties have played the last card from their October decks. The human player(s) gets one last turn, then the game is over. The party with the most electoral votes is the winner!

Cooperative Play

See the flowchart on page 18 for a graphical description of the AI party turn.

A Note from the Designers

Campaign Trail is the culmination of more than thirty years of work. It is truly the realization of a life-long dream for Nathan and me. My father introduced me to the world of gaming when I was only a kid, and one of my earliest memories is of playing this game that he had created. Back then, it was called "Hit the Campaign Trail," and I was so excited because he actually listened to the input that I provided!

Throughout the years of junior high and high school, I watched (and helped) the game grow and evolve. As we collaborated and connected over the game, I told my dad that someday this should be a fully published game that others could enjoy. Throughout my college years and beyond, I became less involved, but my brother, Nathan, picked up the slack. It was he who brought the game into the modern form it's in today.

Nathan and I have worked over the past six years to develop Campaign Trail into a complete product. The core system of the game is simple, yet the way it unfolds is deep and elegant. The choices presented to the player and the opportunity costs associated with each are what really make the game shine.

Campaign Trail is about hope - hope that a Democrat can connect with those in red states, hope that our political differences don't matter as much as the greater good, hope that a game about politics will not destroy relationships. We've seen all this throughout the development of this game.

It is our hope that you experience in Campaign Trail the beauty and enjoyment that we have experienced all these years.

Credits and Acknowledgments

Designed by: David Cornelius, Nathan Cornelius, Jeff Cornelius

Developed by: Jeff Cornelius, Nathan Cornelius

Illustration & Graphic Design by: Chris Strain, Nathan Cornelius

First Edition Copy Editing by: William Niebling

Second Edition Editing by: Bryan Gerding

Playtesters: Robert Ewing, Adam Carter, Andrew Smith, Brandon Stover, Christopher Schultz, Curtis Fulmer, Dan King, David Bray, Eva Glattner, John Shulters, Raymond Mullen, Rob Huddleston, Theron Mergott, Luke Laurie, Daniel George, JR Honeycut, Dave Armstrong

David: Thanks to my Grandfather Ewing and my brothers, Allan, Don, and Phil, for teaching me the joy and the value of playing board games. Thanks to my wife, Peggy, for supporting me and even offering suggestions during the coming of age of Campaign Trail. Thanks to my sons, Jeff, Timothy, and Nathan, for encouraging me and even prodding me to get the game ready for Gen Con and for shaping it into what it is today.

Jeff and Nathan: First of all we would like to thank our Dad for giving us a love of gaming from early on, and for designing such a great game. We would also like to thank Betsy and Amanda. Without you both by our sides we would never have completed this. And finally to our boys, Bryce, Caden, Evan, and Ryan, we are incredibly happy to pass this legacy on to you.

We would also like to thank our 977 Kickstarter backers. Without you this game would not be possible. Thank you so much.

Campaign Trail Rulebook

Table of Contents

The Electoral College
About This Rule Book
Components
- Action Card Anatomy
Setup
Candidates
Game Overview
Scoring
Actions
- Travel
- Fundraise
- Register
- Advertise
- Campaign
- Politick
Debate
Election Day
- Month End
- Declaring a Winner
Appendix A: Solo Play
Appendix B: Politick Action Clarifications
Appendix C: Candidate Ability Clarifications
Supplement: Dirty Politics
Supplement: Advanced Solo Deck
A Note from the Designers
Credits and Acknowledgments

The Electoral College

About This Rule Book

Throughout this rulebook, you will see callout boxes. These boxes provide useful information and are color-coded so that you can reference the exact information you want easily.

Definitions: Orange boxes will provide definitions of terms used throughout Campaign Trail.

Clarification: Green boxes provide an additional explanation or clarification of a certain rule.

Tips: Purple boxes provide strategy tips and hints that you can use during play. These boxes also contain our recommendations for various decisions throughout play.

Reminders: Yellow boxes provide reminders of easily forgotten rules.

Examples: Gray boxes show examples of play.

Components

1 Game board
105 Action cards
12 Candidate cards
42 Money cards
63 Solo Play cards
3 Party Reference booklets
3 Turn Order markers
1 Four-part Debate Arena
30 Debate Topic cards
6 Candidate tokens
6 Home State markers
1 Three-part Register Track on reverse side of Debate Arena tracks
18 Debate Issue markers
180 Voter tokens: 60 blue, 60 red, 60 yellow
60 Three-count Voter tokens: 20 blue, 20 red, 20 yellow
10 Debate City markers
90 Five-count Voter tokens: 30 blue, 30 red, 30 yellow
1 Four-part Electoral College Track
51 Electoral College Counters

Action Card Anatomy

Support actions set your party up to take other actions, such as gaining resources or strategically positioning your pawn. Direct actions place voters out on the board.

Setup

Setup for 6-player game shown

Candidates and Parties

You will play as a member of one of the three political parties: Democrat, Libertarian, or Republican. Depending on the number of players, you might have a partner.

The structure of the teams is determined by the player count, as such: 2 players/2 parties, 3 players/3 parties, 4 players/2 parties, 5 players/3 parties, 6 players/3 parties.

In a 2- or 4-player game you may choose to be any of the three political parties (you are not limited to only Democrat and Republican).

Players in a team will win or lose together. Your partner is your running mate. Members of the same party are free to discuss their plans and the cards in their hands.

Setup Steps

Unfold the game board and place it in the center of the play area.
Assemble the Electoral College track and place it above the game board.
Place each Electoral College counter in the groove of the party matching its state's primary tiebreaker, as shown in the state banner on the back of the counter.
Place all voter tokens (1-count and 3-count) next to the board. This will form the undecided voter supply. Each undecided voter supply should be within easy reach of the party it belongs to but kept separate from the play area of the party.

Undecided Voters: The voters in the general supply that are available for registering. Undecided voters can never go directly on the board unless specifically instructed to do so.

In each state on the board, place 2 voters of the party matching it's primary tiebreaker (left star on the state banner). Voters located on states on the board are referred to as committed voters.

Committed Voters: The voters in states that contribute to a party having a majority in that state and winning its electoral votes.

See the reference booklet for a visual guide on placing committed voters.

Separate the money cards into two separate stacks (one for each denomination) then place them on the indicated spaces on the board.
Shuffle the candidate cards and deal two to each player. Each player chooses one to keep and returns the other one to the box. Return the remaining candidate cards to the box.

In a team game, it is recommended that running mates discuss and select their candidates together.

Shuffle the action cards and deal a hand of five to each player.

Reminder: Be sure to adjust any starting resources (cards, starting committed voters, etc.) for any applicable candidate abilities.

Divide the remaining action cards into three equal stacks and place one on each of the indicated month spaces.
Give one party reference booklet, the corresponding home state markers, and corresponding candidate pawns to each party playing.
Each party takes the number of voters shown on their candidate card(s). These voters are doubled if there is only one player in the party. This party resource is referred to as its registered voters.

Registered Voters: The voters in each party's personal supply that are available to be placed on the board.

These voters are doubled if there is only one player in the party.

Each party takes the amount of money shown on their candidate card(s). These funds are doubled if there is only one player in the party. This party resource is referred to as its war chest.

War Chest: The money available to each party during the campaign.

These funds are doubled if there is only one player in the party.

The supplies of voters and money are assumed to be unlimited. If at any time either should run out, substitute any appropriate bit or token.

Each party's resources are shared by all candidates from that party.

Place the debate arena center piece beside the board. Select only the track pieces corresponding to each party in play and position them equidistant around the circle.
Shuffle the debate topic cards and randomly select two. Place one on each indicated space on the board. Return the remaining debate topic cards to the box.
Randomly select two debate city markers and place one on each indicated space on the board. Return the remaining debate city markers to the box.
Place the six debate issue markers corresponding to the icons shown on the first debate topic card on the center circle of the debate arena. Place the remaining 12 debate issue markers next to the debate arena.
Each player chooses a home state from among the reference states shown on the cards in their hand. Players must show that portion of their card to verify they have it. Each player places their home state marker and candidate pawn on the chosen state, and then places two of their party's voter tokens (from the undecided voters) onto that state.

Multiple players may have the same home state (even if from the same party – in which case you would add a total of 4 voter tokens).

Reminder: Be sure to update the Electoral College track if applicable.

In addition to the extra starting voters, your choice of home state has two other effects on the game:

Your candidate pawn starts the game in your home state.
Some card actions will affect a candidate's home state.

Note: For game balance purposes, California, Texas, and any state with fewer than seven electoral votes do not appear as reference states.

The party with the player who voted most recently goes first. Turns are taken by party in clockwise order. Place the turn order markers in the correct sequence on the indicated spaces on the board.

It is recommended that players of the same party sit together.

Setup Changes for Special Cases

In a 2-party game (2- or 4-player) make the following changes when setting up:

Do not place any counters in the groove of the party not in play. Instead, place counters of states with a primary tiebreaker of the unused party in the groove of the party matching its state's secondary tiebreaker.
Do not place any voters for the party not in play. Instead, in states with a primary tiebreaker of the unused party, place one voter of the party matching its secondary tiebreaker.
In a 2-player game, before shuffling the action cards, remove the 15 with the "remove for 2-player" icon.

Candidates

Each candidate comes with a unique advantage as well as a disadvantage. Each advantage and disadvantage affects a specific aspect of the game as indicated by the icon to the left of the text.

We recommend playing with the following candidates for your first game (in the following order, depending on player count):

The Incumbent
The Party Favorite
The Establishment Candidate
The Outsider
The Experienced Candidate
The Wealthy Candidate

Each candidate card is double-sided with the only difference being artwork. Use whichever artwork you prefer when playing your candidate.

For more information on specific candidate abilities see Appendix C on page 21.

Game Overview

When it is your turn, you must play one card from your hand, then:

Choose one action from that card
Carry out that action
Discard the played card
Draw up to 5 cards (if you are already at 5 cards, do not draw)

Both candidates must be in the same region on the game board;
Each candidate must receive the same number of cards in the exchange (for example, if you give 2 cards, you must get 2 cards back, no more and no less).
The candidates may exchange no more than 3 cards each turn.

Example turn: Shannon and Ryan are on a team playing the Libertarians. Lisa and Heather are on a team playing the Democrats. Joe is the 5th player playing the Republicans.

Scoring

The Electoral College counters for each state are placed in the track of the party that has the majority of committed voters in that state (see page 2 for how tiebreakers work).

Majority: A party is said to hold a majority in a state if that party has the most committed voters in that state or is tied for the most and holds the applicable tiebreaker.

Scoring example: Greg is playing the Democrats and Megan is playing the Republicans. The current Electoral College track shows CT with a tie between the parties.

Actions

There are six different actions in Campaign Trail. They are divided into two groups:

Support actions: Travel, Fundraise, Register Direct actions: Campaign, Advertise, Politick

Support actions set your party up to take other actions, such as gaining resources or strategically positioning your pawn. Direct actions place voters out on the board.

Travel

Traveling is how you move your candidate pawn around the board to set yourself up for other actions (those that depend on location).

Most travel actions contain a number under the travel icon. To take a travel action that shows a number, simply move your candidate pawn up to the number of states indicated.

Notes on adjacency:

CA is adjacent to HI; WA is adjacent to AK, as noted by the arrows on the board.
The states in the "Four Corners" area (UT, CO, AZ, NM) are all adjacent to each other.
DE is adjacent to NJ.
You may move to Washington DC (DC). It is adjacent to MD and VA. However, DC is not a "city" in the sense of using a travel action with a plane icon. It is treated like a state in all respects.

There are a few travel actions that contain a plane icon. These indicate travel to a city.

The 10 Cities are: Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA; Denver, CO; Minneapolis, MN; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Cleveland, OH; Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; New York, NY.

Plane – You may move to any city.

Plane + 1 – Move your candidate pawn to any city on the board, then you may move up to 1 additional state. Alternatively, you may move the "+1" first then move to any city.

5 or Plane – You may choose to either move up to 5 states OR you may move to any city.

Fundraise

Fundraising is how you gain money into your war chest. This money can later be used for other actions.

Fundraise actions contain a number under the fundraise icon. To take a fundraise action, simply take the amount of money indicated from the supply on the board and add it to your party war chest.

Register

Registering is how you gain registered voters for your party. These voters can later be used for other actions.

Support action example: In a 3-party game, Ben is playing the Republicans, Jordan is playing the Libertarians, and Lauren is playing the Democrats.

Ben needs some money in his war chest so he plays card #87 and takes the Fundraise action. He then takes $70M from the board and adds it to his war chest.

Jordan needs to get his candidate pawn to Maryland for a future campaign action. He plays card #10 and uses the plane travel action, since it will take him straight to Baltimore, MD.

Lauren needs to register voters for a future advertise action she is planning. She plays card #29 and takes 10 voters from the undecided voter supply and adds them to her registered voter supply.

Advertise

Advertising is one way to place voters on the board. It is meant to place small numbers of voters in states which are geographically separated, at a reduced cost.

You must pay $20M per issue in which you want to advertise (you many choose any number of the issues shown on the card).
For each issue you pay for you must have registered voters available to place a voter in each state containing that issue.
Place exactly 1 voter (from your registered voters) into each state that contains the issue(s) you paid for.

Campaign

Campaigning is another way to place voters on the board. It is meant to place large numbers of voters in states which are geographically connected, but at a higher cost.

Most campaign actions contain a list of states under the campaign icon. These are the states that you can campaign in. To take a campaign action you need to perform the following:

Your candidate pawn must be located in one of the states listed under the campaign icon.
You must pay $60M.
You may place up to 6 voters (from your registered voters) into the states shown under the campaign icon (they can be distributed among these states in any manner and do not have to go where your candidate pawn is located).