1988: Chirac contre Mitterrand Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Playing a Turn
  • 1. Draw
  • 2. Political Action
  • 3. Discard / Power Erosion
  • Final Turn
  • Electoral Campaign Cards
• End of the Game
  • 1. End by Power Erosion
  • 2. End by Electoral Victory
• Solo Mode
  • Solo Setup
  • Solo Turn Sequence

Goal of the Game

The two players take on the roles of one of Jacques Chirac and the other François Mitterrand, during the period from March 1986 to May 1988.

Your objective is to win the 1988 presidential election. To do so, you must convince public opinion that you possess the required qualities:

• Charisma (le Charisme)
• Courage (le Courage)
• Integrity (l'Intégrité)

The candidate who, at the end of the game, has the most qualities in the eyes of public opinion wins the election.

Setup

1. Sit side by side (player François Mitterrand on the left, player Jacques Chirac on the right).
2. Place the Public Opinion card between you and place a Vote token on the icon at the centre of each row (the white icon).
3. Place 4 Event cards at random in the discard pile, then shuffle the 20 remaining cards. Place a pile of 10 cards on each side of the Public Opinion card: these are each candidate's draw pile.
4. Place the 9 Electoral Campaign cards on top of the Public Opinion board.
5. The candidate Mitterrand takes the Media token (jeton Médias) and places it in front of him.

Playing a Turn

The candidates take turns, with Chirac always the first player.

1. Draw

On your turn, draw 3 cards from your own pile.

2. Political Action

Choose one of the cards, announcing aloud the event and the action of that card that you wish to trigger.

Warning: actions on a pink background may only be chosen by the candidate Mitterrand, and those on a blue background only by the candidate Chirac.

For each quality icon associated with the triggered action, move the token one space along the row of the matching quality:

• towards the right for Chirac
• towards the left for Mitterrand

Whenever you cannot move a token because it is already at the end of the row, you may:

a) if you do not already own it, take the Media token;

b) if you already own the Media token, place one card drawn at random from the discard pile in front of your opponent, face up. This card represents Power Erosion (Usure du pouvoir).

3. Discard / Power Erosion

• If you selected a neutral political action (white background), place the corresponding card in the discard pile.
• If you selected an action that is your own (blue for Chirac, pink for Mitterrand), place the card face up in front of you. It is added to your own Power Erosion (Usure du pouvoir).

Then place the two other cards from your hand under your opponent's draw pile, in the order of your choice.

Translator's note: the printed rules place this final sentence directly after the own-action case without a separate heading, so it is transcribed here as the closing step of step 3. The printed page does not say whether it applies to neutral actions as well.

Final Turn

When each candidate has only three cards left in their draw pile, each of them plays one final turn.

Electoral Campaign Cards

As soon as your opponent obtains their second or fourth Power Erosion (Usure du pouvoir), draw 3 Electoral Campaign cards at random.

Apply the effect of one of them of your choice (then remove it from the game, unless indicated otherwise), remove another one from the game, and return the remaining one to the pile.

Then shuffle the pile.

End of the Game

The game ends in one of two ways.

1. End by Power Erosion

When a sixth Power Erosion (Usure du pouvoir) card is placed in front of a candidate, the game stops immediately. The opponent is then declared the winner.

2. End by Electoral Victory

If no candidate has been defeated by Power Erosion, the game ends at the end of the final turn.

The winner is the candidate who is ahead in the greatest number of qualities.

In the event of a tie, victory goes to the candidate who holds the Media token.

Solo Mode

This mode lets you play alone, with the candidate of your choice, against an opponent managed automatically.

Solo Setup

Set up as in a two-player game, with the following adjustments:

1. Build a draw pile of 8 Event cards for your opponent as follows:
   • 2 cards at random, each showing two neutral political actions;
   • 2 cards at random, each showing one neutral political action and one action that is Chirac's own;
   • 2 cards at random, each showing one neutral political action on a white background and one action that is Mitterrand's own;
   • 2 cards at random, each showing one action that is Chirac's own and one action that is Mitterrand's own.
2. Build your own draw pile with the 16 remaining Event cards.
3. Remove the Electoral Campaign card "Débat d'entre deux tours" (Debate between two rounds) from the game.

Solo Turn Sequence

The game proceeds as in a two-player game, with a few adaptations:

1. On your turn, draw three cards. Play the political action of one of these cards, then remove another card from the game, and place the last card under your own draw pile.
2. On your opponent's turn, draw the first card from their pile. Your opponent benefits from all the icons of this card that correspond to a neutral political action (white background) or to an action that is their own.
3. Your opponent suffers Power Erosion if they use an action that is their own. However, if that action would make them lose the game, they use only the icons corresponding to a neutral political action.
4. Your opponent never draws Electoral Campaign cards.
5. Once per game, you may choose not to apply the effects of a neutral political action of your opponent. (Turn the Media token face down as a reminder for yourself.)
6. If your opponent must choose a quality, draw that quality at random, using the tokens provided for this purpose.
7. When only two cards remain in your draw pile and one card remains in your opponent's, play one final turn (draw only two cards for this turn).