2022
This game has been designed after extensive research on the Brexit process for my PhD. It aims at simulating as closely as possible while remaining a rather simple (yet big) boardgame the various power shifts that we saw in 2019. (A playtest held a few days before the 2019 general elections saw the Tories win an absolute majority and getting rid of their coalition with the DUP... just sayin')
This is a political game focused on player interactions with half the game revolving around card play inspired by the Sun Tzu boardgame and the other half centered on players negotiating between them how they will vote on the Draft Bills proposed to the floor. It is a long and difficult game that requires a minimum of role playing as players take on specific parties' leadership with specific objectives. It is an asymetrical game where each player has a specific way of winning in order to show the various strategies deployed during 2019 by the real life parties.
The first one is the campaign map. Players compete each turn to gain popularity in 21 constituencies by playing cards and comparing their values. (Similar to the Sun Tzu game's mechanic.) Having more popularity than others gives players a chance to increase their number of Members of Parliament once an election is held. But only the Prime Minister can call for an election, with a little push from the opposition if needed...
The second battleground is parliament. Players propose Draft Bills to vote into the Brexit Deal. Those bills are policies that tackle Brexit-specific issues. Depending on how the issue is tackled and who proposed the bill, the Brexit Deal gets filled up with policies that grant Victory Points to players, or removes some. For that phase, players vote with all the might of their MPs in Parliament. This is why having an election at the right time can completely change the balance of power in the Westminster House of Commons, and change the face of Brexit as a whole !
The final competition takes place around those two phases as players get to play Spin Cards, showing how their political teams spin events and control the political landscape.
-description from the designer
