1960: The Making of the President FAQ
207 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
Rule Changes from Previous Editions
Components
The Political Capital Bag
- When does campaigning require a support check?
- Do events that add state support need support checks in a state the opponent carries or occupies?
- Do 'gain' and 'add' wordings on event cards change whether a support check is needed?
- Does an event that removes the opponent's state support require a support check?
- When an event adds state support in a state the opponent leads, what happens to their cubes?
- How do support checks work when campaigning into a state the opponent carries?
- Where do the cubes drawn for a support check go?
- How many cubes are drawn for an initiative check?
- What happens if the Political Capital Bag runs out of cubes before Election Day?
- Is the Political Capital Bag refilled if it runs out during Election Day?
- How do cubes get back into the Political Capital Bag between turns?
- Do cubes placed by campaigning or events come from the Political Capital Bag?
- Can players count the cubes in the Political Capital Bag?
- Does holding media support in a region exempt you from support checks there?
- When you spend Campaign Points on media support, do you choose regions before drawing cubes?
Setting Up The Game
Sequence of Play
- How do several CP-changing effects on one played card combine?
- Who is dealt the first card at the start of a turn?
- Does an event that places state support cost CP or move my candidate token?
- Do events that add state support need support checks in states my opponent carries or occupies?
- If an event grants campaign points, do support checks and travel still apply?
- Can cubes placed by an event remove opposing cubes, and do they count toward a per-state limit?
- When an event grants issue support, does each cube cost CP like a bought cube?
- Do you get a card's rest cubes when you play it for its event or for Campaign Points?
- Do you get rest cubes when you trigger, retrieve or reveal a card's event?
- When an event says to add support or cubes anywhere, can they go outside my candidate's region?
- Can Lyndon Johnson's extra South support include cubes in Texas, giving four there?
- Do candidate symbols limit which opponent events I can trigger?
- Does triggering an opponent's event cost me my own action or my next turn?
- Can I trigger an event from an earlier phase later in the same turn?
- How do I stop an opponent triggering the event on a card I play for CP?
- Can I pre-empt an event on my opponent's card, and can a persistent event be pre-empted?
- In an event I trigger on my opponent's card, what does 'the opponent' mean?
- What happens when I trigger a persistent Debate or Election Day event?
- Can several persistent events of the same type, such as two Debate events, be in play at once?
- Can a persistent event card go into the Campaign Strategy stack?
- What happens when I play a Debate, Prevention or Election event card for Campaign Points?
- Can I play a card for its Campaign Points when its event would favour my opponent?
- If the opponent triggers my event, does it resolve before or after the card's Campaign Points?
- Can a card played as an event be retrieved from the discard pile later?
- Must I show a card I retrieve from the discard pile to my opponent?
- After retrieving a card with Great Seal Bug or Adlai Stevenson, do I play it immediately?
- Can Tricky Dick retrieve and play a card whose event has been voided?
- Does Nixon's Pledge apply when Nixon triggers an event on a card Kennedy played?
- Does playing a Candidate card for Campaign Points count as playing a card for restrictions that refer to playing cards?
- If Nixon plays a card as an event through Tricky Dick while Nixon's Pledge is active, does Kennedy gain a momentum marker?
- Does playing a card from the discard pile through Tricky Dick cost a third momentum marker while Jackie Kennedy is active?
- Is 'spend' a momentum marker the same as 'expend' a momentum marker?
- If I have no momentum marker, does an event that makes me lose one still resolve?
- Does Nixon's Knee apply when the Nixon candidate card is played for 5 CP?
- Can Nixon play a card without momentum when Nixon's Knee leaves him with only opponent event cards?
- If Nixon's Knee and Joe Kennedy are both in effect, can Nixon still campaign that turn?
- Does Nixon's Knee apply when Whistle Stop is played as an event to get a Campaigning action?
- Do Hurricane Donna and Nixon's Knee both move the candidate without travel costs?
- Does High Hopes trigger a revealed card that has both candidate icons?
- Do events on a card revealed by High Hopes resolve as Kennedy's even when they help Nixon?
- What happens to cards High Hopes reveals that are not Kennedy events, and can Nixon trigger them?
- Can a Candidate card be used as a Campaign Strategy card, or in the debates or on Election Day?
- When I play a Candidate card, does it give me an extra card, and where does the leftover card go?
- Can an exhausted Candidate card be used again later in the game?
- Do I reshuffle the discard pile when the draw deck runs out?
- What happens to cards left in hand at the end of a turn?
- How many cards go into the Campaign Strategy stack each turn?
- Do extra drawn cards let me play more than one card per phase, or play events from them?
- What does the Card 91 Political Capital event do?
- Can I choose the event half of a card and then not resolve it?
- Does playing a prevention event cancel an event that was already played?
- Must an event's listed rewards be resolved in the printed order?
- Can an event that places cubes bypass an opponent's event that bars spending CP in a region?
- Does a 'may not spend CP on Campaigning Actions in the South' restriction stop me moving into or out of the South?
- Does Congressional Summer Session's -2 CP reach CP or state support an event gives?
- Do Congressional Summer Session and Ken-Air combine, and what is the net effect?
- Does Bobby Kennedy's +1 CP apply to Nixon's cards, events, or events played as cards?
- Does Old South bar only the player leading Civil Rights when the card is played, or whoever leads at any time in the turn?
- Can Baptist Ministers take support from both the South and the Midwest?
- When do support checks apply to campaigning in a state?
- Can I spend CP in a state in stages, stopping after a check succeeds, or return to it later?
- If every support check fails in a state I spent CP in, does it still count as campaigning and move my candidate?
- After campaigning in a region, must my candidate token end in a state where I spent CP?
- Must my candidate token move to every state I campaign in, or only to the last one?
- Must my candidate be in a region before I spend CP to place support there, and can I move between regions?
- What counts as a Campaigning action?
- How does travel to and from Alaska and Hawaii work?
- Can both players' cubes sit in the same state, issue or media space?
- Can both candidates occupy or campaign in the same state?
- How do I add state support where the opponent already has cubes?
- Does 'add' support limit me to my own states, or may I place cubes in unclaimed states or remove opposing cubes?
- Can leftover removals from an event become my own cubes, or the opponent's, and does removing support need a check?
- Is there a limit on support cubes in a state, cubes on an issue or media box, or media cubes placed by one draw?
- Does media support in a region exempt me from support checks, including those an event imposes?
- Do events that place media or issue cubes skip the normal costs and support checks?
- Do positioning actions on the issue track, or placing issue support, require support checks?
- How much CP does it cost to remove opposing issue cubes in a Positioning action?
- How much CP does it cost to remove two opposing issue cubes and add one of my own?
- What does it cost to place several cubes on one issue in one action?
- Does the 1 CP cost for the first issue cube apply to each issue, or only once per phase?
- During the Momentum Phase issue decay, do both players lose a cube from each issue, and do issue cubes decay between turns?
- When an event moves an issue up the track, what happens to the issues it passes, and do cubes move with it?
- How far does an event move an issue already near the top, and can a card with an issue-track effect be played if that issue is at the top?
- What counts as a Positioning action?
- Must I spend all of a card's CP on a Positioning action, and can I waste the leftover?
- Can a card's CP be split between issues, states and media advertising?
- Do media cubes stay on the board until removed, and how do I remove an opponent's media cube or endorsement?
- What does it mean to lead or carry a state?
- If no one has cubes on an issue, does anyone get that issue's reward?
- Does a tie in a region count as leading for Gathering Momentum and similar effects, and does initiative break ties?
- Can an event that benefits the player with media control be played if neither player has media in that region?
- When Hostile Press Corps and Advance Men are both in play, which support checks are still required?
- Does Hostile Press Corps apply to cubes placed by an event?
- Can a Gathering Momentum card go into the Campaign Strategy stack, and where does a leftover one go?
- Can I discard a Gathering Momentum card rather than play it when I have another card?
- What happens if a Gathering Momentum card is put into the Campaign Strategy pile by mistake?
- What are momentum markers used for?
- Can a player keep momentum markers hidden from the opponent?
- How many momentum markers do I keep when momentum decays?
- What counts as a failed support check, can an opposing cube be redrawn, and where does a redrawn opponent cube go?
- How is initiative determined at the start of a turn?
- Once the initiative winner picks who goes first, is that choice redone for each Activity Phase?
- When spending CP on advertising, do I draw all the cubes at once or one at a time?
- Can I move and campaign in several states in any order during one CP spend?
- Can I look through my Campaign Strategy pile?
- Does Stature Gap's -2 CP on Positioning actions also reduce CP spent on events or state support?
- How does an endorsement differ from media support, and can both be in one region?
- How are endorsement markers placed in a region, and how do I gain them?
- Does an endorsement count as support in a state that has no cubes?
The Debates – Turn 6
- Do support cubes won in the Debates need support checks, even in states the opponent carries or occupies?
- Are the 2, 3 and 4 state support rewards for debate issues given in the order the issues are won?
- After the Debates, are used persistent Debate Event cards removed from the game or discarded?
- In the Debates, when is an issue resolved?
- Can an issue in the Debates have three or more cards on one side?
- Does issue support on the Issues Track change who wins a debate issue or its reward?
- Can you place a Debate card on your opponent's side of an issue, and why would you?
- Who wins a debate issue that is tied, including 0 to 0, or that no one played a card to?
- How is the winner of a debate issue decided, and does a side need more cards to win?
- When two debate issues finish together, which one resolves first?
- If each player plays a persistent Debate Event, do both trigger?
- Do support cubes sitting on issue tiles affect the Debates, and where do they go?
- If your issue resolves after your opponent's in the Debates, do you still place your cubes?
- How are revealed Debate cards placed, and who decides for a card with both candidate icons?
- Can you play a Debate card for an issue that has already been won?
- If a Debate Event card is placed as Campaign Strategy and not played as an event, what happens to it?
Election Day – Turn 9
- Must you make every Election Day support check from your Campaign Strategy cards, even in states you already lead?
- On Election Day, who resolves their Campaign Strategy cards first, and who orders the Election Day events?
- In what order do you resolve your own Election Day support checks?
- If the Political Capital Bag runs out during Election Day, is it refilled, and what happens to the remaining checks?
- If an Election Day event is used for campaign points, is it discarded or resolved on Election Day?
- Can more than one Election Day campaign strategy card target the same state?
- In Unpledged Electors, do states the candidate leads but does not carry still award electoral votes?
- Does Unpledged Electors apply to a state Nixon wins by endorsement?
- Is the Unpledged Electors 4-cube requirement judged state by state, and does it last until the end of the game?
- If neither player reaches 269 electoral votes, can a player still win, or does the game go to the House?
- How is a tie in electoral votes broken?
- Do endorsements matter only as tiebreakers at the end of the game?
- Do endorsements protect a state from support checks, the way media control does?
- If an endorsement or edge cube is needed but the bag is empty, do you still win the state?
- Does a candidate token count as a cube when tallying a state at game end?
- What are the state seal tokens used for?
- In the Final Tally, do cubes for states with no support come from the Political Capital Bag or from the players' supplies?
- What is the 'Get Out the Vote' phase mentioned in the rulebook?
- Are Election Day event cards played face up or face down?
- What does the state selector on a Campaign Strategy card do on Election Day, and do candidate-card home-state icons give checks?
- Does the candidate symbol or card colour on an Election Day strategy card decide whose cubes count?
General
- Is there a limit on support cubes in a state, or on advertising, endorsement or issue cubes?
- Can Herb Klein's three issue support be split across different issues?
- Who chooses which Kennedy issue support is removed by Give 'Em Hell Harry?
- Should the New England card list New Hampshire rather than New York?
- Can players look through the discard pile?
- Where do event cards go after they are played?
- Can Nixon's candidate card be played three times using Lodge and The Great Seal Bug?
- Do card effects override the rulebook?
- Is playing with face-up (open) hands an official rule?
- What happens to the Old South card's five state support when it is played?
- Does a prevention event undo an event that is already in effect?
- When an event makes a player lose more support than they have, does the opponent gain the rest?
- Are you leading a state if you have no cubes in it?
- Can Kennedy play a card with both party icons when the Brat Pack reveals it?
- Does Ken Air waive travel costs, and does it add CP when Whistlestop is played as an event?
- What can the 7 CP from Whistlestop be spent on when it is played as an event?
- Can you play your Candidate card for Campaign Strategy?
- Can your opponent use momentum to trigger High Hopes when the revealed card has no Kennedy icon?
- When High Hopes reveals a card with both icons, does its event happen even if it helps the opponent?
- If Nixon runs out of momentum with Nixon's Knee in play, what can he still do, and does Knee affect events?
- If a Gathering Momentum card cannot fully place its cubes, is the momentum still gained?
- Which states can Swing State target, and can it carry one?
- Does Eisenhower's Silence ban on campaigning in states Kennedy leads also cover states Kennedy carries?
- How many support cubes can Harry F. Byrd remove?
- When you retrieve a card from the discard pile, where does it go?
- If a card rewards the player leading the most states and the count is tied, who gets the bonus?
- Do rest cubes accumulate during the Debates or on Election Day?
CDG Solo System Pack #2Expansion
- Does CDG Solo System Pack #2 work with the Z-Man edition of 1960?
- What does 'for any allowable purpose' mean on a CDG Solo fate die result?
- What does 'maintain facing' mean for the next drawn card in CDG Solo System Pack #2?
- Can a Leadership tactic card be selected for the lowest order-count option in CDG Solo?
- When a defender forms an Infantry Square in Command and Colors Napoleonics with the CDG solo system, is a replacement face-down card added?
- Is the card discarded to form an Infantry Square drawn only from face-up cards?
- Can CDG Solo System Pack #2 be used for Combat Commander?