Super PACS: The Game of Politics About the Game of Politics Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How to Win
• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Tokens
• Leaders
• Factions
• Events
  • Election Events
• Investments
• How to Play
  • Your Turn
  • End of Each Round
• Adding Factions to Your Coalition
• Sneaking Cards
• Exploiting a Card and Surprises
• Fundraising
• Leader Superpower
• Events and Elections
  • Play the Elections
• Destroying, Discarding and Paying
• The Game Ends
• Final Score
• Q&A

How to Win

The goal of the game is to have the most power when the game ends. You gain power by adding factions to your coalition, winning elections, and buying investments.

Game Components

• 12 Leader cards
• 62 Faction cards
• 19 Event cards
• 24 Investment cards
• 29 Money cards: 1 and 5 Megabucks
• 4 Aid cards
• 7 Tokens
• 1 Gameboard
• 1 Rulebook

Players: 2, 3 or 4. Playing time: 30-60 minutes. Age: 14+.

The printed rulebook lists 4 Aid cards among the components but does not describe them anywhere in the text.

Tip: Messages inside a yellow square contain suggestions and details for special cases.

Game Setup

1. Faction cards: Shuffle the faction cards and deal 5 to each player. Place the rest face down on the table.

2. Treasury: Give 2 megabucks to each player. Place the rest face up on the table to form the treasury, with a pile for 1-megabuck bills and a pile for 5-megabuck bills.

3. Event cards: Set aside HOUSE OF REP, SENATE and WHITE HOUSE. Shuffle the remaining event cards. Create the event deck by stacking event cards face down on the table. The 3 elections should be rotated 90 degrees.

   • Put the WHITE HOUSE on the bottom with 2 random events on top of it.
   • Next, add SENATE and 2 more random events.
   • Finally, add HOUSE OF REP and 3 random events.

   If you did this correctly you should have ten event cards, one for each round. Put the leftover event cards back in the box as they will not be used this game.

4. Investment cards: Shuffle the investments and place the pile face down on the table. Reveal the top 4 cards and leave them on the table, face up.

5. Leader cards: Shuffle the leader cards and deal 3 to each player. Each player picks one and puts the others back in the box. When all players are ready, everyone reveals the chosen leaders at the same time. Finally, each player places his/her leader face up, to the left or right side of his/her play area.

   First time players: Deal a random leader instead.

Tokens

• PROMOTED: +4 votes in elections.
• SMEARED: -4 votes in elections.
• RETIRED: Your leader cannot win elections.
• SCANDAL: You can't use your leader's superpower.
• FIRST PLAYER: You win election ties.
• BLESSED: Your leader's superpower costs 1 less megabuck.
• INVESTOR: Each investment you buy costs 1 less megabuck.

The first four tokens are listed on the setup page; the last three appear on the gameboard illustration page.

Leaders

Leaders are the figureheads of your coalition.

• Leader color: The icon and superpower box color designate the leader color. For colorblind players there is a notch on the leader card to help differentiate colors (see Q&A).
• Campaign action: This is one of the initial actions you can take on your turn. Some leaders have different campaign actions, but they generally allow you to draw factions.
• Leader superpower: Can be used once per round. Pay its cost (megabucks), and follow the instructions on the card. Some leaders may have a cost modifier.

Factions

Factions are the people and organizations that affect the political landscape.

Faction types (shown as icons on each card):

• Belief
• Criminal
• Financial
• Immune
• Justice
• Media
• Social

Faction values:

• Votes: Contributes to your total votes during election events.
• Wealth: Contributes to total megabucks collected during fundraising.
• Power: Contributes to your total score at the end of the game.

Faction colors: Faction cards are colored, and are organized in columns of the same color in your coalition (see Adding Factions to Your Coalition).

Exploit and surprise: Each faction card has either an exploit power or a surprise power.

• Exploit: One of the main actions you can take is "exploiting" a faction. Only cards with the exploit icon can be exploited.
• Surprise: Some factions have a surprise icon instead of the exploit icon. These cards can be discarded from your hand to create a sudden effect, surprising your opponents.

Events

Events are unexpected events that may benefit or harm players. One is revealed at the end of each round.

Example: the event "Whistleblower" (from The Laketown Herald) reads: "Each player with the Immune icon discards a faction."

Election Events

There are three elections in the game: HOUSE OF REP, SENATE and WHITE HOUSE.

When a player wins an election, the election card is added to that player's coalition. From then on it counts as a faction but since it has the Immune type, it can never be destroyed or moved from its place.

If there is a tie during an election, the winner is the one who first played in that round.

The election card text reads: "Players count and announce their votes. The winner adds this faction to his/her coalition and gets the FIRST PLAYER token."

Investments

Investments contribute to your total score at the end of the game and sometimes give you immediate benefits.

• Immediate benefits: Text that takes effect when the investment is bought (for example, "Draw one faction card" on the Cattle Ranch, which in this particular case is drawn after purchasing).
• Investment cost: The megabucks cost to buy the card.
• Benefits: The power the investment is worth at the end of the game. Some investments depend on other factors and their value varies from game to game.

Investment cards shown in the rulebook:

• Cattle Ranch: Cost 5 megabucks. Immediate benefit: draw one faction card. End of game: worth 3 power, or 5 power if your Leader is red.
• Bitcoin: Cost 3 megabucks. End of game: worth 2 power for each Criminal and 2 power for each Justice faction in your coalition.
• Junk Bonds: Cost 3 megabucks. End of game: worth 1 power for each remaining card in your hand (factions and megabucks).
• Majority Shareholder: Cost 6 megabucks. End of game: worth 2 power for each faction that matches your Leader's color (in your coalition).
• Insider Trading: Cost 9 megabucks. End of game: worth 1 power for each faction in your coalition.
• Gold Bars: Cost 6 megabucks. End of game: worth 2 power for each gold faction in your coalition.

How to Play

The last player to say "I AM NOT THE FIRST PLAYER" is the first player. (Except for winning ties in elections, going first is a disadvantage.) That player puts the first player token on his/her leader.

In a round each player takes a turn, starting with the first player, followed by the player to the left.

Your Turn

1. Choose an initial action:

   • a) Campaign
   • b) Embezzle (get 2 megabucks)

   See the Q&A section for what to do if the faction deck or the Treasury runs out of cards.

2. Choose a main action:

   • a) Exploit 1 faction: Add a card with the exploit icon to your coalition and execute its text.
   • b) Sneak 1 or 2 factions: Place one or two faction cards face down in the sneaked card zone.
   • c) Fundraise: Get megabucks equal to the total wealth of your coalition.

Once per round, during your turn or when stated on the card: Superpower. Pay the cost and perform the action at the bottom of your leader card.

Anytime during your turn: Investments. Buy one or more investments.

End of Each Round

a. All players reveal sneaked cards and add them to their coalition.

b. The first player reveals and reads the next event on the event pile.

c. The next round starts with the player who controls the first player token.

The game ends after the WHITE HOUSE event is resolved. At the end of the game, the player with the most power wins.

Adding Factions to Your Coalition

You add a faction to your coalition in the following cases:

1. When you exploit a faction, it gets added to your coalition, then you execute its text.
2. When you reveal sneaked cards at the end of a round. *
3. When a specific card power tells you to do so. *

* Ignore the text at the bottom of the card if the card was not exploited.

Faction cards should be placed next to your Leader, and should be organized in columns of the same color. Faction cards on the table are under your "control" and form your coalition.

Note: Don't worry about covering the lower text on factions. Once they are in your play area, the exploit or surprise ability does not matter anymore.

The rulebook's figure for this shows your play area with your sneaked card zone, and your coalition arranged in a RED column, a GRAY column, a BLUE column, a GREEN column and a GOLD column, with your Leader beside them.

Sneaking Cards

Sneaked cards are played face down. After all players have taken their turn for the round, sneaked cards are revealed and added to coalitions, then there is an event.

Examples of sneaking cards:

• It's the first round of the game and Alice has no cards on the table. Alice decides to sneak in the "Liberal Media" and the "Environmentalists" cards [1], and then at the end of the round both cards are revealed and go into her coalition [2]. Since both cards have high vote values she is probably going to fight for the elections.
• John controls The Hair Piece, a leader whose superpower becomes very strong when in control of green factions, so he decides to sneak 2 green cards from his hand [1]. At the end of the round both cards are revealed and added to John's coalition [2].

Exploiting a Card and Surprises

Each faction card has either an exploit power or a surprise power. Exploit powers take effect during your turn when choosing "exploit" as a main action. To exploit, choose a card in your hand and add it to your coalition, then execute its text.

Surprise powers do not require an action and are usually played when it is not your turn. To use a surprise, you interrupt the normal flow of the game. Discard a surprise from your hand (to the cemetery) and execute its text. Some surprises cancel another effect, some steal money, some change vote totals during an election.

Factions with a surprise cannot be exploited as a main action. They can, however, be sneaked. When you sneak a card, you give up the chance to use that card's exploit or surprise, and the text at the bottom of the card is ignored.

• The exploit icon allows you to add this card to your coalition and execute the instructions on the card.
• The surprise icon allows you to discard the card at any time when applicable, and execute its text.

Example of exploiting: Ruth chooses to campaign with Mr. Hope, so she draws a faction card and gets "Car Companies." For her main action, she exploits it [1]. She adds it to her coalition and reads the text at the bottom [2]. She collects 3 megabucks from the Treasury [3], and 1 megabuck from an opponent who has an immune faction [4].

Fundraising

Players can buy investments or use superpowers with the revenue from fundraising, and then collect any leftover revenue.

When you fundraise, add up the total wealth of all the factions in your coalition, then take that many megabucks from the treasury.

Example of fundraising and buying investments: Tom managed to add "Wealthy" factions to his coalition. As such, he decides to Fundraise. The first step of fundraising is to sum the wealth of all the factions in your coalition [1]. In this case Tom has a total of 7 wealth. Then, Tom decides to buy one investment and places it face up underneath its leader [2]. Since the investment cost was 3 megabucks, he takes the remaining 4 megabucks from the treasury to his hand [3]. Finally, Tom reveals a new investment so that exactly four remain [4].

Leader Superpower

Once per round, during your turn or when stated on the card: pay the cost and use the superpower at the bottom of your leader card. Some leaders may have a cost modifier.

Example of superpower: Anna has the Leader "MR. HOPE." She starts her turn and campaigns, drawing a faction card. Since she has a single faction card in her hand, she decides to use the superpower of her Leader [1] to get a second faction card, paying 2 megabucks [2]. Then, Anna proceeds with her turn and sneaks two factions for her main action [3].

Events and Elections

At the end of each round, after all players have played their turn, the top card of the pile of Events is revealed.

All players must follow the instructions described at the bottom part of the Event card.

After its effect is resolved, put the Event card in the "events revealed" discard pile, UNLESS the event was an election. Elections are a special case (see below).

Play the Elections

There are 3 elections: HOUSE OF REP, SENATE and WHITE HOUSE.

When an election event is revealed:

1. Each player counts up the votes in their coalition, and announces the total.
2. Leader superpowers and surprise cards that can influence elections can be played at this moment.

Once everyone agrees to conclude the election, the winner places the election card as a faction in his coalition.

Tiebreaks: In case of a tie, the player who played earliest in the turn order wins.

Destroying, Discarding and Paying

• Discard a faction: If you are instructed to discard a faction, choose a faction from your hand and put it in the cemetery.
• Destroy a faction: Choose a faction from a coalition (a card that is already on the table) and put it in the cemetery. You can choose an opponent's faction (unless the effect specifically refers to your own coalition).

Sometimes there is an event or exploit that instructs a player to pay megabucks (as a penalty) but that player cannot afford the penalty. In this case, the player first must pay as much as they can in megabucks, then discard a faction card for every megabuck they still owe. If/when the player has no cards left in his/her hand, no additional payment is required. If the payment is being made to another player, that player gets megabucks from the treasury to make up the difference if the payment falls short.

Players may not, however, discard factions to pay for optional costs, such as the cost of using a superpower or buying an investment.

The Game Ends

The game ends when the presidential election is over and someone has won the White House card. Then each player adds up their total power among factions and investments.

Note that the value of some investments depends on other factors and varies from game to game.

Final Score

At the end of the game, count the power of each player. The player with the most power wins.

Score example: Power from investments: Gold Bars 2 x 3 = 6, and Cattle Ranch 5, for a total of 11. Power from coalition: 6 + 2 + 6 + 7 + 15 = 36. Total final score = 11 + 36 = 47.

End of game tiebreaks: If there is a tie between winners, the country falls into civil war and everybody loses.

Q&A

Q: What happens if the faction deck runs out? A: Shuffle the cards in the Cemetery and use them to make a new faction deck. If the Cemetery is also empty, players can no longer draw faction cards.

Q: What if the Treasury runs out of money? A: If you are entitled to money and there isn't enough in the Treasury to receive the exact amount, all players must immediately discard down to 5 cards in hand, then you collect what you're owed.

Q: I just won an election, what happens now? A: If none of your opponents want to use a superpower or surprise to change the result, then you win! Move the election card to your coalition and add it to your column of gold factions. That card now counts as a faction in your coalition. Since its type is "immune," it cannot be moved or destroyed. Also, if you just won the HOUSE of REP or SENATE, move the FIRST PLAYER token to your leader.

Q: Can I defend against ORGANIZED CRIME by discarding TOO BIG TO FAIL BANKS as a surprise? A: No, ORGANIZED CRIME does not use the word "pay."

Q: What are those little triangular shaped notches on some of the colored boxes of the cards? A: If you are colorblind, the notches on faction cards can help you match colors. There are also notches on the bottom of the leader cards: a lower-left notch on blue (left-wing) leaders, a lower-right notch on red (right-wing) ones, and an upper-right notch on green (profit sector) ones.

Q: Do the colors correspond to anything? A: In general, blue = left-wing, red = right wing, gray = fringe/neutral, green = profit sector, and gold (yellow) = public sector.

Q: If two players want to do something at the same time, such as discard a surprise or use a superpower, which thing happens first? A: Whoever announces their intention first gets to go first. We encourage shouting. In the case of elections, the player about to win an election should ask if everyone else is ready to conclude the election and give players one last chance to play a surprise or use a superpower.

Q: When something gets nullified or a player gets immunity, what happens? A: When something is nullified, undo all the effects of that surprise or superpower (this may mean taking back a card that someone hastily put in the cemetery already). For immunity, the immune player does not participate in any changes caused by the effect, but it might still affect other players. Effects that count and compare things still include the immune player's cards in computing totals. If a player uses a superpower, they must pay the cost and they do not get their money back if their plans go awry. Also, if you chose to target a player and that player gained immunity from that effect, you cannot retarget that effect to a different player.

Q: When can I exchange five 1-megabuck notes for a 5-megabuck note, or vice versa? A: Players may do this immediately, at any time.

Q: Where should I keep my money? A: Money should be kept in your hand, hidden with your unplayed faction cards. The back of the card is the same as a faction so that your opponents don't know exactly how much you have unless they've been keeping track.

Q: If you get to take an opponent's faction and give them one of yours, what happens if they become immune? Do you still have to give them one of your factions? A: No, an immune player does not lose or gain factions.

Q: Can I use a superpower before my initial action? A: Yes.

Q: Can I take a main action before an initial action? A: No.

Q: Can I buy an investment, do something else, and then buy investments again, all during one turn? A: Yes.

Q: Can I buy an investment, flip over a new investment, and then buy the new investment as well, all on the same turn? A: Yes.

Q: When an effect makes multiple players send cards to the Cemetery, what card ends up on top? A: For simultaneous discarding or destroying, start with the FIRST PLAYER. Put cards that belonged to the FIRST PLAYER into the Cemetery first, followed by the next player, in clockwise fashion.

Q: An exploit says "destroy a Financial." Can I destroy an opponent's Financial? What if nobody has a Financial? A: You must destroy a Financial if you can, even if it is one of your own. But yes, you can destroy one in an opponent's coalition. If an exploit cannot be performed, it has no effect.

Q: When I "add" a faction to my coalition, do I get the exploit written on it? A: No. You only follow the exploit text when the card is added to your coalition via choosing the exploit main action. When the card is sneaked or added to your coalition by any other effect, you don't get to execute the exploit.

Q: What happens if a player is required to pay megabucks and they have no cards in their hand, or not enough cards? A: Once a player has no cards in their hand, they are exempt from further payments or discard effects. If they have only factions in their hand, they must discard a faction for each megabuck they cannot pay. In all cases, if they were supposed to pay megabucks directly to an opponent, that opponent is compensated by the Treasury for any amount the payment falls short.

Additional information on game rules can be found at: www.boardgamegeek.com