Watergate FAQ
63 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
Round Structure and Initiative
- When do I reshuffle my discard pile: as soon as my draw deck is empty, or only when I need to draw?
- What if I can't draw a full hand because my deck and discard pile are both used up?
- Does having the initiative change how many evidence tokens Nixon draws each round?
- If I gain the initiative token mid-round, does turn order change for the rest of the round?
- What information can players look at: face-down tokens, discard piles, removed cards, draw decks?
Playing Cards: Value Part
- As the Editor, can I switch to the card's event after asking Nixon for a colour and being told no?
- Played for value as a joker with no face-down token of the named colour: can I move a face-up token of any colour?
- Can I move a token fewer spaces than the card's value, or split the value between two tokens?
- Can I play a card for value (or discard it) when there is nothing legal to move?
- What happens when a token reaches space 5 on my side with movement left over?
- When an evidence token reaches space 5 on my side, is it pinned right away or at the end of the round?
- If a reaction cancels a card that would have moved a token to space 5, is the token gained?
Moving Evidence Tokens
- Does moving a face-down evidence token always flip it face up?
- How does the Editor move a face-down evidence token with a card's value?
- Does a two-coloured evidence token count as both colours for cards and for pinning?
- How do evidence tokens enter the research track, and who can see the face-down ones?
Action Part, Events and Reactions
- If part of an event can't be carried out, can I still play it?
- Do I follow an event's instructions in printed order, and can one token satisfy two of them?
- When must a reaction card (John Mitchell, Ben Bradlee, Mass Demonstration, Follow the Money) be played?
- Can a reaction be answered by another reaction?
- In a chain of reactions, which cards are removed from the game and which are discarded?
- Can Ben Bradlee or Mass Demonstration stop a conspirator that Nixon plays for its value?
Evaluation Phase and Momentum
- If an evidence token with the red momentum symbol is pinned when no momentum token is on the track, does the bonus apply?
- Does the red momentum symbol work when the token is flipped or only when it is pinned?
- If an evidence token pinned in evaluation step 5 shows a red momentum symbol, what does it move?
- What if both players pin tokens with a momentum symbol in step 5?
- At the end of the round, who pins evidence first?
- If the momentum token is on the 0 space at the end of the round, is it removed from the game?
- If the momentum token is gained mid-round, is the replacement placed right away?
- Does Cancer on the Presidency skip the evaluation phase?
Pinning Evidence
- When Nixon pins evidence face down, does it still need a space of its colour?
- If Nixon pins a face-down token with the momentum symbol, does he get the momentum move?
- Does a pinned evidence token have to connect to an existing token?
- Can an evidence token be pinned onto Nixon's picture in the centre?
- When Nixon pins evidence from the research track, does it go face up or face down?
- Can the Editor get rid of face-down tokens Nixon uses to wall in the board?
Ending the Game
- Does Nixon win immediately on placing a fifth momentum token, even mid-round?
- If Nixon reaches 5 momentum and the Editor connects 2 informants in the same evaluation, who wins?
- Does the Editor placing momentum tokens end the game, and can Nixon win when the supply runs out?
- At 4 momentum each, if the Editor takes a fifth token that lets him connect, who wins?
- What counts as a connection for the Editor's win, and do colours matter?
- If Nixon has played all seven informants face down, can the Editor still win?
Specific Cards
- Can Nixon play A Brilliant Mood after a reaction was his first card of the round?
- Can Nixon play A Brilliant Mood right after Chuck Colson?
- Does A Brilliant Mood stop the Editor's reaction events such as Mass Demonstration?
- Whose turn is it after Chuck Colson?
- When must the Editor react to Howard Hunt?
- Howard Hunt: what if the momentum token was already gained?
- What does Mass Demonstration's "Remove THE card from the game" mean?
- If Nixon blocks The System Works with John Mitchell after the Editor picks a removed card, what happens?
- Can The System Works replay a reaction card, and can John Mitchell block a recruit event?
- Can Ben Bradlee cancel Chuck Colson?
- How does A Third-Rate Burglary Attempt work when tokens are on the 0 space or all on Nixon's side?
- Does Saturday Night Massacre move every evidence token, and what happens to tokens already on 0?
- Is the evidence token taken with Carl Bernstein placed face up on 0?
- What can The Rose Mary Stretch take?
- Does Gambit do anything if the momentum token is already claimed?
- Is the evidence token Pentagon Papers draws from the bag a random draw?