Since the beginning of the Spring Semester, our main focus for our GCI project was to create a game that emphasized the importance of political corruption and gerrymandering. American politics itself IS a game, which involves chance and controversial transactions throughout a typical campaign. The goal of this board game is to not only be a source of entertainment, but to also educate and expose the malevolence that American politics can pose in a democratic process. While not completely identical to a congressional campaign, we have implemented some unique features and stipulations that mimic corruption, such as Mudslinger, which allows you to steal votes from opponents, as well as a higher voter base, which allows players with lower vote points to grab larger counties. Even though the game itself is still a prototype, we feel it is an important tool where players can experience political conflicts with others. On another note, there are ways to negotiate with a space that tells players to trade votes that they already have. On the other hand, players could undermine other player’s reputation through a smear campaign trump card, as well as steal votes from an opponent by landing on a gerrymandering space. These game mechanics are in the game to simulate strategy in the political world. The players are forced to size up their situation and make key decisions to gain or lose votes. This board game is aimed at educating the public so that people could enact change to the current political environment.

View the full poster here