We, The People

I love this!  Dan Walsh aka Vagabond, has created a game that allows you to run the United States of America.  The board game is detailed in his blog post Hail to the Chief – Soon You Too Can Be President.

It’s a great game that brings the truths and half-truths of Washington DC with all its filibustering, pork barreling, bribery, lobbying, campaign funding and more, to your playing table.  Who says that politics is dead?

Dan, with his frustration of the 2008 Presidential Election, put his creative energies to good use, and who can deny this new board game is a wonderful idea and superbly executed – just look at this image on the right and the wonderful artwork, colour and sleek lines.

I suppose the complexities of the political process are harder to compress into a single board with a single game ring on it, but no doubt the playability is still super fun and even if you start with multiple players or candidates, you will likely end up with just a two horse race, as one does in real life.

Recreating the political gesturing, the sidestepping of beliefs for political gain, and the general showmanship of politics might be trickier, but it seems like Dan does have those covered with voting cards and the like.  Something that will definitely make the game play much more engaging amongst the players, with, as Dan says, a lot of “name calling and finger pointing” that will  “give the players a little taste of what it’s like to be a politician.”

All this reminds me of the wonderful idea executed by the JFK Library, re-running the 1963 Presidential Campaign on Twitter, as covered in my post, On The Campaign Trail with JFK, and is ever useful in engaging with new generations that feel so disaffected.   Anyhow, as Dan reflects, no wonder kids no longer esteem to go into politics anymore.

Definitely check out the game, Hail to the Chief, and add your feedback!

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