Si j'étais Président...
Si j'étais Président... Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
The players will try to form the best possible government by recruiting, for each ministerial post, a famous person (a "people").
The goal is to score the most POINTS over the game's 3 rounds (manches).
Components
- 42 People cards. Each People card has one or two fields of competence (each with a value from 0 to 4).
- 6 Popularity rating cards (cartes Cote de popularité).
- 3 Round cards (cartes Manche), double-sided.
- 6 tokens.
- 3 Rule cards (cartes Règle).
Setup
- Place the 6 Popularity rating cards side by side so that they form the polling curve (courbe des sondages).
- Each player chooses a token and places it to the left of this track.
Playing the Game
For your first game, use Round cards 1, 2 and 3 (Si j'étais président, Remaniement and Cohabitation), which describe the easiest rounds to play. Afterwards, you may draw 3 Round cards at random or choose your 3 favourites.
The game is played over 3 rounds. Each round consists of creating one's ideal government. The rounds differ from one another only in a few rule points, which are indicated on the Round cards. Play the rounds in the order shown by the numbers on the Round cards (in ascending order).
Round Procedure
1. Recruitment (Le recrutement)
The first Round card is placed where everyone can see it. The 42 People cards are shuffled and 7 are dealt, face down, to each player. With fewer than 6 players, the surplus cards are set aside for this round.
Everyone plays at the same time. The cards in a player's hand represent the people they can recruit for their government. Each player selects 1 card and places it face down in front of them.
When everyone has made their choice, the 6 remaining cards are passed simultaneously to a neighbour. The cards travel in the direction of the arrow shown on the corresponding Round card. For example, in round 1, called Si j'étais président, each player passes their cards to their left. Each player is then holding 6 new cards in hand.
Then, in the same way as before, each player selects 1 card, places it face down in front of them, and passes the remaining 5 cards to their neighbour. This continues until each player has received 2 cards from their neighbour. Then each player selects one last card, places it face down in front of them, and discards the remaining card face down into the centre of the table.
Note: A player may look at the cards they have already selected at any time, except when playing round 2, called Remaniement.
2. Presenting the Government (Présentation du gouvernement)
Once every player has recruited their 6 ministers, they reveal their ideal government to France and adjust their popularity rating.
In the order shown on the Round card (from top to bottom), each player presents, if possible eloquently, the minister they have chosen. Players then advance their token on the popularity rating by the value shown on the Round card.
For example: the pink player presents Eve as Minister of Culture and advances their token 2 spaces.
When a minister has two fields of competence, the player may choose to assign them to one or the other ministry, but not to both!
Each player may gain a bonus (or a penalty) that depends on the greater or lesser presence of women in their government. This adjustment differs from one Round card to another. For example, in round 1, each woman advances the token one space.
Finally, if a player has no people for a post, they receive the penalty shown on the Round card and move their token back (for example, -1 space per missing minister in round 1). However, a player can never drop below 0 on the popularity rating.
3. Scoring the Round
The round is over. The most popular player on the polling curve scores 3 POINTS and the second most popular scores 1 POINT. You may write these POINTS on a sheet of paper or simply memorise them. In case of a tie, each tied player scores the maximum POINTS.
For example, if two players finish tied for first, they each score 3 POINTS, and if two players finish tied for second, they each score 1 POINT.
4. New Round (Nouvelle manche)
- The tokens are returned to the left of the popularity rating.
- The next Round card is placed so as to cover the previous one. Read carefully the specific rules indicated on it.
- All 42 People cards are shuffled.
End of the Game
After the 3 rounds, the player who has accumulated the greatest number of POINTS wins the game!