Main Catalogue |  BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES |  Z-Man Games |  1960: The Making of the President

1960: The Making of the President Price: £39.99 PLEASE NOTE: Due to the excessive weight of this item we are having to charge extra p&p to ship to addresses outside the UK, which will be added before your order is charged, but the extra charge will NOT appear on the order confirmation. Overseas orders will be charged at cost - we will contact you to agree this before charging/shipping. Currently unavailable Board Game; 2 Playersl Ages 12+ by Z-Man Games All elections are turning points, but the presidential election of 1960 holds a special place in American history. The 1950s had been a period of unparalleled economic growth and US global power. Richard Nixon served as President Eisenhower\'s Vice President through most of the period. Nixon\'s humble origins gave him a common touch that appealed to the small town, idyllic America encompassed by the spirit of the 1950s. John F. Kennedy, was Nixon\'s mirror image: charming, Harvard educated and the scion of an American political dynasty. Kennedy challenged Americans to confront the uncertainties and tumult that were already emerging in 1960. He set his vision not in the past, but on new frontiers. In 1960: The Making of the President, you take on the role of one of these great protagonists vying to lead America through an era of turbulent change. The candidates must contend with all the great issues of the day, from the Cold War to civil rights to voters\' pocket books. This is an election that will turn on positioning and momentum. The contest is fought on an electoral map of the United States as it stood in 1960. Using a card-driven game system, all the major events which shaped the campaign are represented: Nixon\'s lazy shave, President Eisenhower\'s late endorsement, and the \'Catholic question\' are all specific event cards. The famous televised debates are also an important component of gameplay. As with a real election campaign, the challenge is to adapt your game plan as the ground shifts out from under you. There are never enough resources or time to do everything, but you need to make the tough calls to propel yourself into the White House. This fast-playing strategy game for two players challenges you to relive the most significant political contest of the Twentieth Century. Will you recreate history, or rewrite it? 1960: The Making of the President provides you the opportunity to do both Contents: 1 Game board, 108 cards, 150 wooden support cubes, 2 Candidate pawns, 50 State seals, 12 Momentum markers, 8 Endorement markers, 3 Issues marker, 2 wooden Turn/Phase cubes No. of players: 2 Ages: 12+ Playing time: 90 minutes ----------------------------------------- COUNTER MAGAZINE REVIEW 2 players, 90 minutes designed by Christian Leonhard and Jason Matthews reviewed by Ben Baldanza This much-anticipated game has lived up to all the hype. The setting is the pivotal 1960 US presidential race between the young and popular Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy and the more experienced but five o\'clock shadowed Republican Richard Nixon. Interestingly, both have firm places in history less for this contest than for their surprising falls from power in obviously very different ways. Yet the election of 1960 was held during very trying times for the US and the world and helped to set the stage for what would happen over the next 20-30 years. As such, no US political game could be richer for a game theme. The winner of the game is the player who wins the presidential victory. The board shows, expectedly, a map of the United States with the states grouped into four large regions. Each state also shows the leaning of the population\'s opinion (for Kennedy or Nixon), the starting influence for each player, and most importantly the electoral votes at stake. In case all readers don\'t fully understand this system, it\'s worth a quick explanation. The US does not elect its leader based on a plurality of votes. Each state is assigned a number of ``electoral votes\'\' based on the state\'s population, and the winner of the vote in each state is awarded 100% of that state\'s electoral votes. This makes winning the big states more important, and this holds true for the game as well. The large board also has places for some of the cards, media spots for each of the four regions, a turn and phase track, spots for the three key issues of the economy, defense, and civil rights, and areas for each candidate to track their rest points. The players win the states, and thus the electoral votes from those states, by leading or controlling the state on Election Day. This is tracked by cubes placed in the states, and importantly each state will only ever have one player\'s cubes at any given time. As influence shifts, cubes are added or removed as appropriate. For example, if Nixon deploys three influence cubes in Michigan and already has one there, he will end with four influence cubes in the state. But if Michigan began that turn with two Kennedy cubes, the first two Nixon points would remove those cubes and the state would end with one cube for Nixon. Every action in the game is geared toward affecting influence either directly or indirectly with events, issues support, or media support. The game is driven by the campaign cards, and this is where the comparison to Twilight Struggle will begin for many. Both Leonhard and Twilight Struggle co-designer Matthews are quick to point out that this game is not that one and feels quite different, and they are right. Yet the dual use cards will be quickly familiar as they can be used for their event or for their campaign point value. In seven of the nine game rounds, each player starts with a hand of cards and alternate plays with most of them. The events can be biased to help one of the two candidates or be more neutral to help either or neither depending on the game position at the time that the card is played. If the event is used, the card is out of the game. Alternatively, the card can be used for its campaign point value and the opponent has the option to trigger the event if they choose. Whether used for the event or the points, cards offer the candidate rest cubes and these are placed in the rest spot on the board. Campaign points can be used in three ways. The most direct is to campaign directly in states and the influence cubes are adjusted as described above. Each candidate has a token identifying where the candidate is, and they can only campaign in the region they currently are visiting. Their token moves to the last state they campaigned in for that play. The candidate token can also move to other regions by using the campaign points, and then any remaining points can be deployed in states from the newly entered region. If not used for campaigning, the points can be used for advertising or for issues support. In any one turn, the campaign points are used for only one of these three purposes. Advertising in a region benefits a player in two ways. The first is to make it more difficult for the opponent to campaign in the region by requiring ``support checks\'\' before placing influence cubes (explained shortly). The second is during the momentum phase of each round, which takes place after the card play in the round. In this phase, the player with the most media cubes can affect the relative importance of the three big issues. Supporting the issues has its own benefits. Certain events benefit the player who is the support leader in defense, economy, or civil rights. During the momentum phase, the support leaders earn momentum markers and/or endorsement cards. Within this framework, the game employs a series of mechanisms that add to the realism and the game strategy. One of these is the political capital bag. This is an opaque bag that is initially seeded with 10 cubes from each player. Each round begins with an initiative check - drawing cubes until one player has two in their color. The player with the initiative in the round determines the start player for the card play, and has similar importance in the debates round and even more on Election Day. More significant is the ``support check\'\'. This is required in certain situations to determine how effective a campaign action is. When a player is required to perform a support check, they draw cubes equal to the number of campaign points they are expending. Only cubes in their color result in points, so campaigning with support checks is typically not as effective as when this isn\'t required. Support checks are required when campaigning in a region where the opponent controls the media, in a state where the opponent\'s token sits, or in states ``controlled\'\' by the opponent. Control of a state is defined as having four or more influence cubes in that state. The political capital bag is restocked with the players\' rest cubes at the end of each round. Momentum Markers are necessary to trigger events when the opponent plays a card for its point value, or to prevent such a triggering. Endorsement cards offer a player a media endorsement in a specific region, or some allow choice of region. Having an endorsement in a region is especially helpful on Election Day, when any ``empty states\'\' (no influence cubes) will be awarded to the candidate that has an endorsement in the region. Each player has a candidate card worth five campaign points. This card can be played instead of a hand card, but after the play the candidate is exhausted and only certain events can refresh them. The events themselves are widely varied, historically accurate, and affect the game in major ways. Some events are persistent, in that they render other events unplayable, or specifically affect the debate round or Election Day. Understanding the effects of the events becomes clearer after several plays, and once all the events are well known a better strategy for card use can be employed (also like Twilight Struggle). In each of the first five rounds, each player holds back one card for use in the debates round. In rounds seven and eight players hold back two cards for use on Election Day. Each of these special rounds must be planned for and this adds considerably to both the strategy and the card play options. Round six is the debate round, and this is a fast playing round where players debate over the three big issues. This entails playing cards against each of the three issues, and first player to get two cards onto an issue wins that issue. Winning an issue earns the player support cubes that can be used immediately, and also determines the order in which the issues are ranked. Debate events played during the first five rounds also take effect in this round. On Election Day, the players place influence in states based on the cards held back in rounds seven and eight, and this can cause a surprising change of influence. Election Day events are triggered, and undecided states are awarded to the player with endorsements or otherwise to the state\'s natural leaning. The players collect the state seals from each state they hold and tally up the electoral votes to determine the winner. The game flows very well and the shifting of influence across the landscape creates the feeling of a real election. The events are expertly crafted and while no one event can swing the election, the cumulative effect of several events can cause a significant shift. The game clearly rewards the player that uses the cards best throughout the game, including playing cards for points when the opponent has no momentum to trigger the event, choosing the hold-back cards, and choosing when to bypass the event in favor of the campaign points. The game was well play-tested and this is evident in the fine balancing of the multiple mechanisms, and the natural ``outs\'\' that are offered in terms of the issues and media support. Z-Man has dome a super job with the production, with a large colorful board and high quality cards with great graphics. At Essen I heard many comments that this game may not be as interesting for the European audience because of the theme. This would be a premature assessment as the game\'s concepts and strategy transcend the historical basis. After all, plenty of people across the pond play Die Macher even though the history of the parties may be unknown or the regions nothing more than names on chits. 1960 is a very strong two player game that should have a greater audience than Twilight Struggle simply because the theme is more approachable. This is clearly the two-player game to beat in the upcoming awards year. More ...

Main Catalogue |  BOARD GAMES & CARD GAMES |  Z-Man Games |  1960: The Making of the President