Founding Fathers Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setting Up the Game
• Sequence of Play
• Playing
• A. The Issues
  • The Issues Deck
  • Resolving Issues Procedure
  • Passing and Repealing Taxes
  • Passing and Repealing Tariffs
  • Admitting New States
  • The Offices
  • The Vice President
• B. The Treasury
• C. The Election
  • Two-Party Election (2)
    • 2Pre-12: Pre-passage of the 12th Amendment
    • 2Post-12: Post-passage of the 12th Amendment
  • Single Party Dominance (1)
    • 1Pre-12: Pre-passage of the 12th Amendment
    • 1Post-12: Post-passage of the 12th Amendment
  • Implementing the Result
• D. The People
  • 1. Receive Influence
  • 2. Draft Action Cards
  • 3. Control Newspapers
  • 4. The Round
  • 5. Auction for Extra Initiative
• Goal of the Game
  • End of the Game
  • Determining the Winner
• Special Rules
  • 1. Death
  • 2. Elbridge Gerry
  • 3. Optional Rules
• Notes
  • Player Notes
  • Design Notes
  • Acknowledgments

Components

The components list below is for the Print and Play edition.

1 Main Board	50 statesman cards
1 Treasury Secretary's Report	22 Era A issue cards
40 candidate cubes (10 each of red, blue and two other colors)	25 Era B issue cards
24 player cubes (4 each in six colors)	22 Era C issue cards
30 white one-point "popularity" cubes	22 Generation I action cards
10 larger white five-point "popularity" cubes	8 Generation II action cards
10 black cubes (markers/unpopularity)	6 Generation III action cards
30 green "influence" cubes	12 tax and tariff cards
2 natural "elected" cubes	9 state cards
5 player aid cards	8 office cards
1 six-sided die	1 President's Agenda sheet

Each statesman card, labeled "Statesman" at the top center, includes the person's name and a historical note. There are also seven attributes:

• AB - Ability, an "M" after the number indicates military ability
• POP - Popularity upon entering the political arena
• AGE - relative Age – lower numbers are older
• CONG - Votes in Congress
• C or L - L(iberal) or C(onservative)
• state abbreviation - Home state, e.g. VA for Virginia
• I, II or III - Statesman Generation

Setting Up the Game

1. Place the boards on the table.
2. Agree on a first player with later players following clockwise and deal Statesmen:
   • 3-player game:
     • 1st player: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington
     • 2nd player: John Jay, Alexander Hamilton
     • 3rd player: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Aaron Burr
   • 4-player game:
     • 1st player: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams
     • 2nd player: John Jay, Alexander Hamilton
     • 3rd player: Thomas Jefferson
     • 4th player: Aaron Burr
   • 5-player game:
     • 1st player: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington
     • 2nd player: Alexander Hamilton
     • 3rd player: Thomas Jefferson
     • 4th player: Aaron Burr
     • 5th player: John Jay, John Adams
   • 6-player game:
     • 1st player: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington
     • 2nd player: John Jay, Alexander Hamilton
     • 3rd player: Thomas Jefferson
     • 4th player: Aaron Burr
     • 5th player: John Adams
     • 6th player: James Madison, James Monroe
3. Shuffle the remaining statesman cards numbered 1-24 (all those labeled Generation I). Deal out, face up, enough of these so that each player, including the statesman cards already received, now has a total of 3. These are all to be placed face up in front of their owners.
4. Mix what remains in this deck with the Generation I action cards. These cards form the starting Action deck. From it, deal 2 cards to each player face down, to be held undisclosed in hand.
5. Assign Office cards to Statesmen as follows. President: George Washington (place an Elected cube on his card) Vice President: John Adams (Players do not add Popularity for these starting Offices.)
6. Each player takes 3 influence point markers.
7. Each player takes 3 player cubes in a single color. He sums up all the numbers next to the "Cong" labels on his statesmen cards and uses one to record his total on the Votes in Congress Track. He places another on the "0" space of the Victory Points track. (The remaining one is kept in front of him to show which color he is using.)
8. The Vice President player shuffles the Era A Issues cards and places them on the indicated area of the Treasury Secretary's Report.
9. The President player examines and places all of the tax, tariff and emergency bonds cards in the Inactive Taxes part of the Treasury Secretary's Report.
10. Set up the map area by arranging the Original State cards so that they are adjacent to one another. The abbreviations around the margins of each state card must be placed adjacent to the corresponding state. For example, the north edge of the Virginia card reads "MD". Thus, place the Maryland card along Virginia's northern edge.

Sequence of Play

Each turn consists of these four stages, conducted in this order:

A. The Issues · B. The Treasury · C. The Election · D. The People

Playing

A. The Issues

The president player performs the following actions. These may be done in any order and office appointments and deals may be interspersed.

• Draw 4 issue cards. Reveal and complete one at a time.
• Pass/repeal taxes.
• Pass/repeal at most one tariff.
• Office appointments.
• Delegate power to the vice president.

Example of how an office appointment may be interspersed: An issue requiring the Special Envoy comes up and there is no Special Envoy at present. The president appoints a statesman to the office of Special Envoy before resolving the issue.

The Issues Deck

By the end of the Issues the president must have drawn exactly 4 issue cards (and sometimes more if replacement issues are required). After each draw he must first complete the issue before proceeding to the next one.

Issues deck exhausted. When the original (Era A) Issues deck is exhausted, players shuffle the Hand of Time cards from the Era A deck into the Era B Issues deck and this constitutes the new Issues deck. Similarly, when the Era B Issues deck is exhausted, players shuffle the Hand of Time cards into the Era C Issues deck and this constitutes the new Issues deck.

Issue Requirements. Some issue cards state one or more requirements. These are other issues or taxes which must be in effect in order for this issue to be considered. If the requirements for an issue have not been met, the card is shuffled into the issues deck for the next era (if using the Era C deck, see below). A replacement issue is drawn in this case.

When such an issue from the Era C Issues deck is drawn, the issue is placed nearby. Then, when the Issues Deck has been exhausted, the game ends immediately after the next Election. If fewer than four cards were available, the President draws at random from the cards previously removed because their requirements were not available. Cards are drawn until the player has had four useable cards for the turn or these cards run out, whichever comes first.

Resolving Issues Procedure

An issue is a challenge facing the nation. The president makes the initial decision about an issue and further decisions may be taken by one or more office holders, Congress and the Chief Justice. Before taking on the next one, every issue eventually gains one of three states: Resolved, Failed or Ignored.

1. President assigns. First the President decides if the Issue is to be addressed at all. He may instead decide to ignore it. If so, the results of the Ignored option are applied, with Popularity losses applied only to the President, and the rest of the steps below are skipped. Otherwise, the President hands the Issue card to a listed Office Holder, possibly adding a suggestion on how to resolve the issue when there is a choice. Some Issues, such as State Admissions, are handled by the president himself. When an Issue offers a choice of Office Holders, the president decides.

2. Office holder acts. To resolve an Issue, its Difficulty Rating must be equalled or exceeded by the combination of the Office Holder's Ability and Influence Points to be spent by the player controlling the Office Holder. (If multiple Office Holders are listed, e.g. "President + General", they compare their combined Ability Ratings with the Difficulty.) If the Difficulty Rating is not at least equalled, apply the Failed results and the rest of the steps below are skipped. The result "Cancelled" may never be chosen by Office Holders; it is only possible when the Chief Justice intervenes.

   Deals. Players are permitted at any time to negotiate the exchange of influence points, unplayed cards and promises to do favors. However, players are not required to follow through with promises. Let the buyer beware. Already played cards and influence points on cards may never be exchanged, except that the President may transfer IP from his card to that of the responsible officer for the current Issue (but the officer is not required to spend it for that purpose).

   Example: The issue is END SLAVERY, which has a difficulty of 7 and must be solved by the president himself. The president player decides to resolve the issue. The president's ability is 3 so he must expend 4 influence points to reach 7.

3. Congress votes. Many issues also require the approval of Congress, which is listed on the card. Only after Congressional ratification are the office holder's influence points spent. If Congress fails to ratify, only half of the influence points the office holder would have spent are lost.

   When it is time to present an issue to Congress, the office holder hands it back to the President. Starting with the player to the left and continuing clockwise the President player asks each player to vote in turn. Each player casts all of his votes either in favor of or against resolution, or abstains. If a majority of the votes are in favor, apply the relevant Resolved result. Otherwise apply the Failed result.

   Buying Votes. At the time he votes, each player may also spend influence points which are counted as votes on a one-time basis only. Each influence point spent is worth 3 votes.

   Tied Vote. If the vote in Congress is a tie, then the player controlling the vice president must decide whether the issue counts as resolved or failed. If there is no vice president, the issue counts as failed.

Final issue status. Unless an issue's results section directs that it is to be placed into the next era's issue deck, put successfully resolved issues into the Resolved Issues area, but remove Failed or Ignored issues from the game.

Passing and Repealing Taxes

A tax card is a special kind of issue which is always available (some of them are called "bonds"). Just as with other issues, each tax card may only be attempted once per turn. A tax may not be repealed on the turn it is passed and vice-versa. A tax issue does not count as one of the four issues the president must draw each term.

Resolved. When a tax is passed, the Treasury Secretary player increases the amount on the revenue track by the amount indicated for the tax. Place the tax card on the Active Taxes box of Treasury Secretary's Report.

Repeal. When a tax is repealed, the Treasury Secretary player decreases the amount on the revenue track by the amount indicated for the tax. Place the tax card on the Inactive Taxes box of Treasury Secretary's Report.

Tax Outrage. Whenever a tax is passed, the Treasury Secretary player adds together the following three numbers and consults the Tax Outrage Table (below):

• the number of currently active taxes
• the outrage modifier of the new tax
• one die roll

Tax Outrage Table:

Roll total	Effect
1-7	no effect
8-9	President and Treasury Secretary each lose 1 popularity
9-10	President and Treasury Secretary each lose 2 popularity
11+	President and Treasury Secretary each lose 3 popularity. Tension +1

Passing and Repealing Tariffs

A Tariff is a kind of tax. A president may only operate on one tariff per term. Either a new tariff may be passed or an existing one repealed. Tariffs are not rolled for on the Outrage Table. A tariff issue does not count as one of the four issues the president must draw each term.

Admitting New States

Any drawn state card is also treated as an issue, representing the admission of that state into the Union.

When the issue has been passed, the Secretary of State places the state card on the map so as to border the states named around its edges, if possible. Certain states such as California might not border any current state and are placed at a little distance from the rest to indicate this.

Should a state admission issue fail or be ignored, shuffle the card into the next deck.

The Offices

The president must appoint his Cabinet by assigning the Cabinet offices: Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of War. He also appoints the office of Special Envoy.

In addition he must appoint the offices of General and Chief Justice, should they become vacant. As with other offices, these appointments need not be completed immediately, but must be resolved by the end of The Issues. Exception: should an issue on which the Chief Justice could intervene appear, e.g. Sedition Act, the president must appoint a Chief Justice before continuing with the issue.

Eligibility. No statesman can be forced to accept an office and if he is already holding one, he must first resign the existing office before accepting a new one. The president may not appoint himself or the vice president. No statesman may be appointed to more than one office at the same time.

Each statesman card (except Elbridge Gerry) is designated as belonging to one of the two parties, Liberal or Conservative. The Cabinet offices and Envoy are Partisan offices. At any given time at most one Partisan office can be held by a statesman not of the president's party. However, if there are insufficient eligible statesman to meet this requirement, the president may appoint the statesman of his choice after all the members of his own party already hold any office.

Resignations and Replacements. Office holders (including the president and vice president) are not permitted to resign except when appointed to an office vacated by death. Death is also the only reason why office holders can be replaced (an exception is made for the General, see below). However, at the start of The Issues phase all Cabinet members and the Special Envoy automatically resign.

General. A statesman may only be appointed to the office of General when the office is vacant or if the new nominee has higher ability. Appointment to this office requires that the statesman have military ability, indicated by an "M" after his ability number. If no such statesman is available, this rule is temporarily relaxed so as to make all statesmen other than the president and vice president eligible until such time as such a statesman is available. If all such statesman are already holding an office, the president decides which of them must take this office instead.

Popularity boost. Each statesman appointed (or re-appointed) to an office increases his popularity as instructed by the card.

The Vice President

The president may delegate some of his power to the vice president, if he chooses. Once per term the vice president can be made responsible for an issue as if he were the president.

B. The Treasury

The player controlling the Treasury Secretary adjusts the Treasury Secretary's Report as follows:

1. Adjust Reserves. Reserves are adjusted in a positive or negative direction by the amount indicated on the Revenue track.

   Example: Reserves are at 0, Revenue at -7. Therefore Reserves are adjusted to -7, Revenue remains at -7.

2. Pay Interest. If reserves are negative, multiply the reserves amount by 3, divide by 10 and round down to the nearest whole number. The reserves become more negative by this amount.

   Example: Reserves are at -7. Multiply this by 3 to get -21. Divide this by 10 to get -2.1. Round -2.1 down to get -3. Reduce reserves by 3.

3. Check for Effects. If Reserves are negative and exceed 100, divide the amount in Reserves by 100 (omitting any remainder) and apply this total to a die roll on the Economic Crisis Table.

   Example: Reserves are at -340. Dividing this by 100 yields 3.4 which is converted to 3. The die result is a 2. Subtracting 3 yields a -1. As a result a Monetary collapse occurs and the game is over.

4. Economic Crisis Table:

Total	Result
-1 or less	Monetary collapse. Game ends.
0	President's party loses 3 Public Support. President loses 3 popularity.
1	President's party loses 2 Public Support. President loses 2 popularity.
2	President's party loses 2 Public Support. President loses 1 popularity.
3	President's party loses 1 Public Support. President loses 1 popularity.
4	President's party loses 1 Public Support.
5-6	no effect

C. The Election

Note for rules explainers: Ninety-nine percent of players only need to know the election rules that pertain at the start of play, i.e. Two-Party Election with Pre-Passage of the 12th Amendment. For the rest you can safely save yourself time and trouble by only mentioning that if Public Support swings to either end there can be up to four candidates, but only from that party, and that if the 12th Amendment issue is resolved, the election rules change, and then only cover Single Party Dominance or The 12th Amendment as they arise.

Resolving the election is a matter of claiming states on the map to gain their votes. The number of votes offered by each state depends on the era. The game begins in Era A. On succeeding turns, the current era is that of the latest issue card that has ever been drawn.

Except for a twice-elected president, all statesmen are eligible to become president.

The first cube is always placed on the statesman's home state, unless there is no vacancy. In this case, if a presidential candidate, the cube is placed as close to the home state as possible. In the case of a vice presidential candidate without a vacancy, the cube is placed adjacent to that of his running mate (the player choosing one if he has multiple running mates); if there is no adjacent vacancy, the vice presidential candidate may only place in a state which is not contiguous with those of the east coast, e.g. California.

For the very first cubes only, the player who has the right to place the first presidential cube may instead place his first cube after all other first presidential cubes. The same applies for the vice-presidential cubes.

On subsequent rounds each player places a cube on any state having a vacancy adjacent to one where he already has a cube. If there is no such state, the player may not place a cube except on unattached states.

But first players must determine two conditions: whether Single Party Dominance and also The 12th Amendment are in effect. Together these two questions form four sets of rules, only one of which must be followed in each election, as detailed below.

Single Party Dominance applies if one party's public support level has reached 9 or more. Otherwise the situation is termed Two-Party Election.

Post-passage of the 12th Amendment is in effect after the 12th Amendment issue has appeared and been resolved. Otherwise the situation is termed Pre-passage of the 12th Amendment.

Two-Party Election (2)

2Pre-12: Pre-passage of the 12th Amendment

The Nominees. Before the election can be conducted, each party – the Conservatives and the Liberals – choose nominees for president and vice president.

A party's nominee is the currently in play, eligible statesman of that party who has the highest popularity (determined by adding together starting popularity printed on the card to popularity cubes currently on the card). If there is a tie for popularity, the one having the oldest age number is the nominee. (It is possible that the same player control both nominees.)

The Running Mates. Once the presidential nominees are chosen, the players controlling the nominees choose vice presidential running mates, who must each be of the same party as their respective nominee. A statesman is not forced to accept the position of running unless he is the last unnominated eligible statesman.

The party which does not currently have Public Support announces its running mate first. If public support is currently at 0, the less popular candidate announces first. If these are also tied, the younger candidate announces first.

A sitting President may never be a vice presidential candidate.

Placing Cubes. First clear the states of any cubes left over from the last election. Then, players take turns placing their cubes. Each state has two vacancies and each of the four candidates (two presidential and two vice presidential) uses a unique set of markers. This is done in the following order:

1. Presidential candidate of the party which currently has the most public support.
2. Vice presidential candidate of the party which currently has the most public support.
3. Presidential candidate of the other party.
4. Vice presidential candidate of the other party.

If Public Support is at 0, cubes are placed in order of popularity, the most placing first. If still tied, resolve by age, the oldest candidate placing first.

A candidate may not place his two of his cubes in same state, even though there are two vacancies.

Finding the Winner. Each candidate receives votes for each of his markers equal to the state's total for the current era.

To win, a candidate must earn more votes than any other candidate. This candidate becomes president, even if originally nominated for the vice presidency.

The nominee receiving the second highest number of votes becomes vice president, even if originally nominated for the presidency or of a different party than the president.

If there is a tie for president, resolve it using the Tiebreaker rules below. The candidate receiving the second most states in this process becomes vice president. If this is tied, apply the additional tie breakers as in the presidential tiebreaker, i.e. first Chief Justice, then popularity, then age.

If there is a tie for vice president, employ the presidential Tiebreaker rules to resolve it.

2Post-12: Post-passage of the 12th Amendment

The Nominees. Before the election can be conducted, each party – the Conservatives and the Liberals – choose nominees for president and vice president.

A party's nominee is the currently in play, eligible statesman of that party who has the highest popularity (determined by adding together starting popularity printed on the card to popularity cubes currently on the card). If there is a tie for popularity, the one having the oldest age number is the nominee. (It is possible that the same player controls both nominees.)

The Running Mates. Once the presidential nominees are chosen, the players controlling the nominees choose vice presidential running mates, who must each be of the same party as their respective nominee. A statesman is not forced to accept the position of running unless he is the last unnominated eligible statesman.

The party which does not currently have Public Support announces its running mate first. If public support is currently at 0, the less popular candidate announces first. If these are also tied, the younger candidate announces first.

A sitting President may never be a vice presidential candidate.

Placing Cubes. First clear the states of any cubes left over from the last election. Then, players take turns placing their cubes. Each state has one vacancy. Nominees of the same party use the same set of markers and are elected as a team. However, the presidential and vice presidential placements are still separate and if one candidate's options are hemmed in by the opposition, he is not permitted to make placements based on his colleague's positions. This is done in the following order:

1. Presidential candidate of the party which currently has the most public support.
2. Vice presidential candidate of the party which currently has the most public support.
3. Presidential candidate of the other party.
4. Vice presidential candidate of the other party.

If Public Support is at 0, cubes are placed in order of popularity, the most placing first. If still tied, resolve by age, the oldest candidate placing first.

Finding the Winner. Each team of candidates receives votes for their markers equal to the state's total for the current era.

To win, a team must earn more votes than the other team. This team becomes president and vice president as originally nominated.

If there is a tie, resolve it using the Tiebreaker rules below.

Single Party Dominance (1)

1Pre-12: Pre-passage of the 12th Amendment

The Nominees. Should a party's public support level reach 9 or higher, it has so dominated the political scene that the other party is not allowed to field a candidate. In this case, the most popular eligible statesman (determined by adding together starting popularity printed on the card to popularity cubes currently on the card) of the dominant party must run for president, plus any or all of the three next most popular candidates of the dominant party may also run. If there is a tie for popularity, the one having the oldest age number takes precedence.

The Running Mates. Any statesman of this party who does not run for president is eligible to be nominated for vice president by one of the presidential candidates. It is permissible for more than one presidential candidate to name the same running mate and a statesman who has agreed to run for vice president for one candidate may not refuse any other candidate. In the event no other statesman wishes to run, the last unnominated eligible vice presidential candidate is forced to accept nomination.

A sitting President may never be a vice presidential candidate.

Placing Cubes. First clear the states of any cubes left over from the last election. Then, players take turns placing their cubes. Each state has two vacancies and each of the candidates (presidential and vice presidential) uses a unique set of markers.

Cubes are placed in order of popularity, the most placing first. If still tied, resolve by age, the oldest candidate placing first. Borrow unused cubes for any candidates beyond the first two.

Finding the Winner. Each candidate receives votes for each of his markers equal to the state's total for the current era.

To win the presidency, a presidential candidate must earn:

• more votes than any other candidate
• more than 50% of the vote total determined by adding up the number of votes available in each state

This candidate becomes president, even if originally nominated for the vice presidency.

The nominee receiving the second highest number of votes becomes vice president, even if originally nominated for the presidency.

If no nominee has a majority or there is a tie for either president or vice president, resolve using the Tiebreaker rules below.

The candidate receiving the second most states in this process becomes vice president. If this is tied, apply the additional tie breakers as in the presidential tiebreaker, i.e. first Chief Justice, then popularity, then age.

If there is a tie for vice president, employ the presidential Tiebreaker rules to resolve it.

1Post-12: Post-passage of the 12th Amendment

The Nominees. Should a party's public support level reach 9 or higher, it has so dominated the political scene that the other party is not allowed to field a candidate. In this case, the most popular eligible statesman (determined by adding together starting popularity printed on the card to popularity cubes currently on the card) of the dominant party must run for president, plus any or all of the three next most popular candidates of the dominant party may also run. If there is a tie for popularity, the one having the oldest age number takes precedence.

The Running Mates. Any statesman of this party who does not run for president is eligible to be nominated for vice president by one of the presidential candidates. It is permissible for more than one presidential candidate to name the same running mate and a statesman who has agreed to run for vice president for one candidate may not refuse any other candidate. In the event no other statesman wishes to run, the last unnominated eligible vice presidential candidate is forced to accept nomination.

A sitting President may never be a vice presidential candidate.

Placing Cubes. First clear the states of any cubes left over from the last election. Then, players take turns placing their cubes, each candidate for an office using markers of a different color. Each state has two vacancies, one a presidential vacancy and one a vice presidential vacancy. To make this clear, presidential candidates place cubes only on the left side of a state card and vice presidential candidates only on the right side of a state card.

Cubes are placed in order of popularity, the most placing first. If still tied, resolve by age, the oldest candidate placing first. Borrow unused cubes for any candidates beyond the first two.

Finding the Winner. To win the presidency, a presidential candidate must earn:

• more votes than any other presidential candidate
• more than 50% of the vote total determined by adding up the number of votes available in each state

Winning the vice presidency works in the same way.

If no nominee has a majority or there is a tie for either president or vice president, resolve using the Tiebreaker rules below.

Implementing the Result

The winning candidates take office as soon as the election results have been determined. The nominee who has a majority of the votes available wins the election. An elected cube is placed on the newly-elected president to indicate this. Popularity cubes are added to the winning president and vice president as described on the cards for these offices (even in the case of re-election).

Changing offices. If a winning candidate is holding an office other than the one to which he has been elected, he must resign it by handing in the office card.

Retired presidents. If the newly out of office president has already been elected to two terms, the popularity cubes on his card are added to the owner's victory points total and his card removed from play. Any influence on his card is returned to the supply. Similarly, if a sitting president is not re-elected, the popularity cubes are scored, the card removed from play and its influence returned to the supply. This occurs even if he has been elected to the office of vice president. (The vice president office is simply vacant until the next election.)

Tiebreaker. In the event that the election is indecisive, any fourth placed vote getters drop out of consideration. Then the president is chosen by the following procedure:

• One by one each state is considered in the order decided by the president.
  • The state's votes are decided by the statesmen who come from that state, i.e. have that state's abbreviation on their card. In the usual voting order each statesman casts his Congressional votes for the nominee of his choice.
  • A statesman may vote for any of the nominees involved in the tiebreaker – he doesn't have to vote for the nominee of his party.
  • The candidate who receives the most Congressional votes wins the state.
  • If the votes in a state are tied, that state is not counted.
  • States which have no associated statesman in play are not counted.
• The nominee who wins the most states (rather than the most votes) wins the tiebreaker and the presidency.
  1. If there is a tie for the most states, the Chief Justice player decides who wins.
  2. If the Chief Justice office is vacant, the nominee with the most popularity wins.
  3. If still tied, the nominee with the oldest age number wins.

D. The People

1. Receive Influence

1. Each player receives 1 influence point.
2. Players controlling the party leaders receive 1 influence each. This influence is placed on each statesman's card. The party leaders are the currently most popular statesmen of each party, Liberal and Conservative. It's possible that a statesman other than the president be the party leader of the president's party. If there is a tie for the most popular statesman, the player controlling the one having the lowest age number receives the influence.
3. Players receive additional influence points as per the rules found on their cards. This influence is placed on the statesman cards.

Influence on cards may not be given to another player or taken in hand. They may only be spent in solving issues or on the three activities below.

2. Draft Action Cards

From the Actions deck, deal seven cards, face down. Players take turns, picking up the cards, secretly taking one into hand, and passing the rest to the next player, in the following order:

1. Player having fewest Victory Points plus Popularity cubes.
2. If tied, tied player having fewest votes in Congress.
3. If tied, tied player having the oldest Statesman.

Discard cards not drafted.

Hand limit. A player may only hold 4 action cards at any one time. If a player holds more than 4, the first thing he must do is discard to get down to four.

Statesman prerequisite. A statesman card may be played if the state listed has been admitted to the nation. (Statesmen dealt face up during Setup are not required to have their states in play.)

When the Action deck is exhausted for the first time, shuffle the Generation II action cards (including Generation II statesmen numbered 24-39) in with the discards to form a new deck.

When the Action deck is exhausted for the second time, shuffle the Generation III action cards (including Generation III statesmen numbered 40 and above) in with the discards to form a new deck.

After that simply re-shuffle the deck.

3. Control Newspapers

The party leaders each adjust the Fund Newspapers tracks for their parties. Cubes on the left hand side of the track may be moved to the right or left alone. Cubes on the right hand side of the track must be moved downward and the results of this applied. The party which currently holds the presidency acts first.

Note that on turn 1 there is nothing to do since the tracks begin empty and nothing can appear there until the "Fund Newspapers" phase later in the turn.

Example: On turn 2 there are two C party cubes and one L party cube. The C party is holding the presidency and so goes first. The C party leader decides to move one cube to the right and so the C party receives 1 public support movement on the public support track. This cube is returned to the supply. The C party leader leaves the other cube in place. The L party leader also leaves the L party cube in place.

By this point in turn 3, players have purchased and moved some cubes so that now there is one C party cube and one L party cube in the box above the start box. In the start box there is one more C party cube and two more L party cubes. Once again the C party leader happens to be acting first. He moves both of his cubes to the right and the C party receives 3 public support, 2 for the upper box and 1 for the lower one. The cube in the bottom right box is returned to the supply. The L party leader leaves the cubes in place.

On turn 4, no new cubes have been purchased, but there is an L party cube in the top left box and two more in the box above the start box. There is still a C party cube in the "Receive 2 Public Support" box. The C cube is moved down automatically and the C party leader receives 1 more support. The L party cube in the top left box is automatically moved to the right and the L party receives 3 public support. The L party leader leaves the other cubes alone.

On turn 5, no new cubes have been purchased, but two more L party cubes are in the top left box. This cube is moved down, earning 2 public support. The two cubes in the top left are automatically moved to the right, earning 3 public support each.

4. The Round

First the player controlling the president performs the next phase. Then the player to his left does the same. This continues until each player has had a chance to do so.

The Influential. For these activities players may expend influence from their general supply or from influence on their cards. Each may only be performed by a player once per turn:

• Make a speech. The player expends an influence point, indicates one of his statesmen and rolls the die. After the roll he may spend extra influence. Each one spent adds 1 to the result. When the result is 6 the statesman receives a point of popularity.
• Whip up support. The player expends an influence point and indicates one of his statesmen. He then rolls the die and divides by 3, rounding the result down. This statesman's party receives movement on the public support track equal to this amount.
• Fund newspapers. The player indicates a statesman and can support friendly newspapers by placing influence points on the corresponding track. The player can spend 1 influence to start a cube in either party's color on the Newspapers track. Or he may spend 2 influence to move a cube of the party's color which is already on the track up by one level.

5. Auction for Extra Initiative

Starting with the player left of the president, continuing left and ending with the president, each player may bid any of his influence tokens for the extra initiative, or pass. Each bid must exceed the last one. Bidding goes around only once.

The winner of the extra initiative receives the top card from the action deck and the chance to perform one of the three actions: Make a speech, Whip up support or Fund newspapers.

If no one bids, there is no extra initiative.

Goal of the Game

End of the Game

The effects of certain cards cause the increase of Tensions which threaten the Union. Each time this occurs the marker on the Tensions Index is moved one box to the right. If the marker ever reaches the last box, civil war has occurred and the game is over.

The game can also end as a result of Monetary Collapse on the Economic Crisis table.

Otherwise, on the turn in which the last Issues card is drawn, a final election is conducted (without any Cabinet members being appointed) and then the game is over.

Determining the Winner

Players add the number of popularity cubes on their statesmen to their victory point totals.

If the game ends due to Monetary Collapse or Civil War, each player must deduct the number of Congress plus Influence points he holds from his score.

The player having the highest victory points total wins.

Special Rules

1. Death

1. When a statesman dies, if the statesman held an office, first perform the following special steps depending on the office in question:

   • President: The vice president automatically becomes the president. He does not receive extra popularity for this and does not take an elected cube. The Cabinet remains intact.

     If there was no vice president, follow this procedure to select the new president:

     1. First, determine which party controls Congress. For each party, add up the Congressional votes from each statesman of that party who is not an office holder. If tied, both parties are eligible.
     2. The new president is the statesman from that party not already having an office and who has the most Congressional votes.
        • If there is a tie, each player having a candidate puts influence in hand and they are revealed simultaneously. The one who reveals the most spends them and takes the office. Others keep their influence. Influence on cards may be spent for this purpose.
          • If there is still a tie, the oldest candidate wins and is the only one to spend influence.
     3. If the new president is of a different party than the deceased one, he may immediately re-appoint Cabinet officers, the Special Envoy and the General if they are not of his party. These re-appointments do receive the Popularity gain that comes with the office. Otherwise the current office holders remain in place.

   • Vice president: no additional effects

   • Other office holder: The president immediately appoints any statesman in play as a replacement, using the usual rules. Should this statesman already be in the Cabinet, a new Cabinet member may be appointed to his old position, etc. until all offices are once again filled. No popularity is granted for these replacement appointments.

2. Congressional vote totals for the affected player are updated.
3. Any influence points on the statesman are returned to the supply.
4. The owning player receives victory points equal to the number of popularity cubes on the card (or loses the amount if they are negative). (When a player's total exceeds 29, he adds a second cube to the track to indicate that 30 is to be added to his score)
5. The dead statesman is removed from the game.
6. If a player loses his last statesman and is not holding any currently playable Statesman in hand, he reveals all of his hand cards to the other players and names another player who has or is tied for the most statesmen. This player must give the former player one of his statesmen.
7. Issues. Should a death occur in the middle of deliberations on an Issue, the following rules apply, depending on what has changed and whether they are named on the Issue:

2. Elbridge Gerry

As this statesman is considered to belong to either party, he is never a party leader, even if president. Also, as president he need not pay attention to party alignment in appointing officers. He can only run for president in the event of single party dominance. In the event of economic crisis, public support moves only toward 0 instead of away from a party. When running for president, he always announces his running mate first. In resolving elections, he always places markers last unless Public Support is at 0, in which case he places first. If he is president, the order of control of newspapers is conducted first by the party with the most public support, failing that the party leader with more popularity, following that the party leader with the lower age number.

3. Optional Rules

1. Reduced Faction: If a player is down to one statesman and is not holding any in hand, he may reveal all of his hand cards to the other players, pay 1 influence and name another player who has the most statesmen. This player must give the player who paid one of his statesmen.

2. Black Reputation: Each time a player performs an action that causes tensions to rise, he puts one of his cubes on the Tensions Index track. If the game ends because of civil war, any player with a cube on this track is excluded from the possibility of winning.

   With respect to Issues, a cube is taken by the faction of the last person able to prevent the Tension increase.

   Example 1: Choosing to Ignore the Pay Off War Bonds Issue increases Tension. Since the President made this choice, his faction takes a cube.

   Example 2: The President assigns the Pay Off War Bonds Issue to the Secretary of the Treasury, who fails to spend the Influence necessary to solve it. Since the Treasury Secretary could theoretically have prevented the Increase, his faction receives the cube.

3. Variant: Less Negotiation. This option is especially good for three-player outings or if players want to experiment with their own solo and two-player variants.

   With this variant a Division of Spoils phase is added just before The Issues during which players take turns drafting the vacant offices, which are no longer assigned by the president. The drafting order is in most to least votes in Congress. In the case of ties, the player having more votes in the president's party takes precedence (Coalition Building cards do count for this). If still tied, the tied player having the oldest statesmen takes precedence.

   At most one office may be assigned to a statesman of the party not the president's.

   If an office holder other than president or vice president should die, it is assigned to the player having the fewest Congressional votes. If this player cannot take it, to the player having the next most votes, etc.

   If the president dies and is replaced by a statesman from the other party, there is a new draft of offices.

Notes

Player Notes

Reading these instructions, some players have asked if it's my intention is that the president withhold appointments until needed or should he appoint the cabinet as the first thing, even before the first issues.

I don't think I want to prescribe too much in this area, but prefer to leave it to the creativity and political abilities of the president, and players. Maybe a president can convince his coalition from the start that he will distribute all the offices from the beginning and whoever happens to get an issue will help him to solve it. Or maybe he doubts the level of cooperation he can get from other players and feels the need to reward them with offices to gain their cooperation. Or probably you can imagine other approaches; a compromise of some early appointments with some later ones, for example. Influence is another reward a president can bestow. I'm curious to learn what schemes and approaches folks can devise.

There is also the Less Negotiation variant in which offices are instead claimed by players rather than assigned.

Design Notes

Recently, and just for fun, I read a spate of books on the founding of the country and its early days. What struck me was how strongly the founding fathers were inspired by the ancient Romans. They prided themselves on their knowledge of the Classics. They named one of the houses of Congress "Senate". They built Washington DC along classical lines. And these are just a few of the examples. So, having been a longtime fan of Richard Berthold's Republic of Rome, I thought, why couldn't such a game work for the founding days of the American Republic?

Of course there are many differences between the two states and these are reflected in the game. Statesmen did not change parties very much (Madison and Burr being exceptions perhaps) so that part is omitted. They faced many issues besides wars so this changed as well. Plus it seemed a good idea to reduce some of the complication (which I hope has succeeded without losing any fun).

Added are the concept of a political party and a more detailed handling of an election, which should provide new concepts for players to figure out how to manage. It may seem strange to players that they can control statesmen from both parties, but consider that divisions within parties were frequent during the period 1789 - 1860.

One difficulty was that during this era the parties changed and re-formed quite often, using different names. Thus I settled on simply putting every statesman into either party A or party B, or as I ended up naming them, Liberal or Conservative. But difficulties did not end here either as making these assignments was hardly easy. This is because the dividing issues tended to change across the eras. Originally the discussion was about the form the new nation itself was to take. Should it be a mercantile, manufacturing nation close to Great Britain as Hamilton wanted or the country of small farmers which looked to republican France as Jefferson wanted? Eventually compromises were found, but then the opening of the West added new dimensions. Issues of slavery and the tariff, which it had been hoped would go away, were re-opened. Andrew Jackson is a straddling figure who was not against slavery, but against the Bank of the United States and a fierce unionist. Eventually, of course, the north-south divide becomes all important.

Three of the most important founding ladies, every president, vice president and most of the losing candidates as well are included in the game. The commentaries that go along with them take an atypical approach in discussing their darker sides. Of course every country needs its national myths and this one is no exception. But also, for historians and those who want it, there is a more Whole version of the Truth than one finds in, say, the History Channel documentary of the War of 1812, a virtually unrelenting tale of honor and heroism. Considering such factors not only humanizes the founding fathers, it helps us to put our modern politicians in a more correct light.

Hope you find the game interesting and thanks for reading.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Doug Garrett, Stephen Poindexter Harris, Thomas Heaney, Gordon Hua, Alex Ringgaard, Ken Tidwell, John Weber, Greg Wilmoth.

---

Copyright (C) 2007-14 Richard M. Heli