Can anyone recommend, or does anyone know of a computer game that is a kind of simulated political/campaign game? Kind of like SimCity, but running a presidential or congressional campaign? I think I came across a real primitive (but fun) game on shareware once, but I haven’t seen anything else since. I’d love to know if there is a sim game out there called “Campaigner” or something.
If there isn’t, will some of you computer people start making one?!
There certainly used to be one, because I used to play it in college. The name of it completely escapes me.
You could either run a campaign against two (or more) political figures from world history at any point in American history (Adolf Hitler vs. Thomas Jefferson in 1860, for example), or you could play against another person.
You were asked a series of questions to establish your platform, you then had to go out and raise money, give speeches, woe contributors, make deals, and even respond to crises (I recall that war once broke out in some far off region when I was playing. I gave an interview to the Washington Post). At the end of the campaign a vote tabulation was made.
Thanks.
Sounds interesting. I can’t believe there isn’t a game like that on the market. Especially after the 2000 fiasco. The electoral college really is kind of a game itself, collecting points and adding them up.
Does anyone know of the game that plnnr is talking about? or another similar game?
Hmm… there is one recent game I know of that MIGHT fit the criteria, Republic: The Revolution. I’m not really sure what it’s like, but it seems to be politically-oriented. It’s a game about a Soviet-era revolution that you are a part of, and you have to try and rise to power. I wish I could tell you more, but I never played it before… just saw it in a game store. If you look through the website, maybe you can decide whether you’d be interested in it.
I think you’re looking for some exclusively political games, and I can’t think of any others… but if you’re interested, some nation-building games might have slight political/diplomatic elements to it. Things like Tropico and Civilization come to mind. I don’t think they are really what you’re looking for, though.
Wish I could be of more help, sorry.
Maybe folks got discouraged after the 2000 Selection?
Well, SSI did have President Elect, but it’s rather dated. Not sure if that’s what plnnr had in mind, tho.
Yep, President Elect. That was it (I guess I’m “rather dated” too. Oh well).
Actually, from plnnr’s description, the game he meant wasn’t President Elect. Unless he’s misremembering it.
I have fond memories of President Elect (on my old Apple IIc). I didn’t think it could run an election pre-1948, but Hitler vs. Jefferson would have been an option. I have fond memories of a Darth Vader vs. Billy Idol faceoff.
Beyond the graphics being dated, its main shortcoming today is that its issue ratings, and associated Q&A evaluations, were rendered kind of obsolete by the end of the Cold War. It’s therefore a bit weak simulating elections after 1988 (being “strong on defense” garners a lot more votes than it did in the real 1990s).
I can think of other old games I’d love to see updated. Ideally I wish someone would develop a game-oriented modular programming system that would readily allow people to construct their own games with minimal programming knowledge. Anyone know of anything out there or in the planning stages along those lines?
I remember seeing a Doonesbury-themed “presidential election” game in a software store once, circa 1996.
It wasn’t for the Mac, though. :mad:
Hrm, my Poli Sci textbook had a companion website with a few different political simulators. If I can ever find the book I can give you the website (and registration code, if necessary). You may want to do a general search of this type for other companion websites.
There’s some freeware stuff available out there. Try the Underdogs (not sure of legality of posting linkage, although it’s probably allowed).
Both Political Tycoon and Tropico are currently available.
The former is a sim geared towards American politics. The latter puts you in the position of ruling a small Caribbean island. I have no personal experience with either game, though.
Tropico is great fun, though there are only elections every so often. You’re the dictator of a far away island, and you implement policies – including allocating money to build buildings, industries, pay wages, or setting foreign policy to be pro-American or pro-Russian. You have to keep the various political groups on your island at least somewhat happy. You get to choose what crops your farms grow, what materials your industries build. You have to keep you rmilitary happy, or they will coup you. And every so often, your people force an election on you, which you can cheat in (up to 20% of the ballots), but you still have to be reasonably popular to be able to win.
You can really play out the effects of different political theories in Tropico. You get yearly reports on GDP growth, income disparity, voter unrest, tax proceeds, trade deficits, etc. It’s a lot of fun. You can set all wages fairly flat, and have the Communists love you – and then at the last minute, warp the economic world by suddenly stratifying the society! And no one can stop you… unless you’re popular with less than 30% of the folks on the island come 7 years since the last election.
I highly recommend Tropico for anyone who likes politics or Sim-type games. Or who has a God complex.
Owner of the Doonesbury Election Game. It is pretty fun to play, with a wide variety of options to make it as in-depth or hands-ff as you might want. It was current as of the '96 elections. You can essentially choose any major candidate from the 1920’s to 1996, with lots of potential candidates (Ted Kennedy, Sonny Bono, David Duke) thrown in.
I’m a big fan and break it out every few months to run a campaign or two.
I must be mis-remembering portions of the game, because it was President-Elect. Of course, I last played it in 1986 so I can probably be forgiven if the details are a bit sketchy.
Several years ago, I spent lots of time at work playing Balance of Power: 1990 Edition. No elections here, you just play POTUS or the Premier of Russia for four (maybe 8) game-years. You take turns providing aid, mobilizing troops, using the CIA (or KGB) to destabilize countries, etc., and reacting to what your opponent did during its turn. If your opponent did something that you don’t like, you could go to DEFCON 4 and hope they back down; if they do back down, you get points depending on how long it took for them to do so. If they don’t back down, you end up in World War III and the game is over.
One game, I made the Russians look so bad that even China started leaning towards the right. 
Balance of Power is definitely available at the Underdogs site. I enjoyed it too, though the current computer version seems to have some problems in the influence/destabilization routines (i.e., they’re like flipping a coin).
I agree Tropico is great fun. Though its elections are a far cry from a major U.S. campaign. There’s no campaigning, but there can be a fair amount of tension in deciding what you can do to effectively pander to the electorate in the preceding months (tax cuts, street festivals, etc.) and whether/how much to cheat in the election itself. I’ve found that a good strategy is to preemptively throw into prison anyone who dislikes me and doesn’t have a family to be offended by it. On the other hand, assassinating the opposition candidate is generally counterproductive.
About 13-14 years ago I was hosting a course at a hotel in Washington D.C… In the adjoining ballroom there was a group (I’m not sure of the affiliation) that was running a computer-assisted simulation of congressional politics. I scavenged some of the handouts and paperwork after they left. Teams of 4 or 5 people acted as the staff of a freshman Congressperson. They decided on their Representative’s actions and responses to events – everything from voting on bills to what kinds of home district events to attend, and whether to answer requests for assistance from aggrieved constituents – all leading up to the reelection campaign two years later. I’m sure it was great fun to participate in. I only wish I knew who ran it/whether it was open to the public/whether they still do it.
I found a game called President 2000 while looking for another game I was trying to remember from way back when (no luck so far).
Looks interesting, but I haven’t played it yet.