Don’t buy a single vote more than necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide. —Joseph P. Kennedy
Buy the Vote by Coozies Games, a landslide is not achieved readily. This swift to learn game brings the strategy and skulduggery.
This game is on Kickstarter for a few more days and worth a look.
There is no rulebook; instead, it provides an instructional video. This is a real-time game, and a link to the Buy the Vote timer is provided. Each game is fifteen minutes long. The playing board serves as a quick guide for play.
It is campaign time, and you have ten million dollars to start and gain additional money on rounds four through seven. Once the money is allocated, the random states for auction are placed between the players. Time to secretly bid behind your voting screens. Once ready, place your hand on the table to acknowledge you are finished. When all players have their hand on the table, lift the voter screen, and reveal the results. The highest bid wins the state and its electoral votes. If a tie, the state remains in bidding, and another state is placed with it for the next round. The states are Blue and Red, with a few Gold states that are swing states. Once won, they can let you steal state from an opponent.
Each state card is worth a different number of electoral votes. At the end of the game, the player who has the most options are named the party nominee, while the player who came in second is their running mate. If their combined electoral votes hit 270, they are also considered to have won the election!
Our thoughts
Buy the Vote is swift to learn, portable, and stressful in a good way.
The timer provides the game what it needs to be more than just a filler game. There is a dash of intimidation and strategy during the auction phase. I generally try to bid fast and slam my hand on the table to stress out my opponent. This leads to wasted campaign funds because once they are used, even if you don’t win the bid, they are spent and go back to the bank. After a few games, I did lean towards planning ahead for the higher electoral college states, however, with the time clicking down, we all were frivolous towards the end.
We found the high jinx of blind betting and a race to beat the timer delightful.
Coozies Games
2-5 Players
15 Minutes Play time
Let’s be honest; there is still a bit of drama when we play.
Sit Down -Grab a Drink – Join the Game
Suzzan Smith