The goal
Each side has a bill. Build its Support; the first bill to reach
30 Support passes and wins the game.
Setting up
- Each side has a 30-card deck of real members of Congress plus action cards.
- The first player starts with 3 cards. The second player starts with
4 cards plus a free Favor to make up for going second.
Your turn
- Your Political Capital grows by 1 (up to 10) and refills.
- Each of your Institution members adds 1 Support.
- You draw a card.
- Do any of these, in any order:
- Play a card by paying its cost (the red number) in Capital.
- Act with each member on your floor, once each: Lobby or Confront.
- Press End Turn.
Members
Members have Influence (gold) and Resolve (green). Played members take a seat
on your floor (up to 7) and can act starting next turn.
- Lobby
- Add the member's Influence to your bill's Support. Drag the member onto your bill.
- Confront
- Pick an enemy member. Each one deals its Influence to the other's Resolve.
Drag your member onto the rival.
- Unseated
- A member whose Resolve drops to 0 leaves the floor for good. Damage that doesn't unseat a
member wears off at the end of the turn, so finish a fight in one turn.
Keywords
Members earn keywords from their real careers.
- Leader
- On play, draw 2. Your other members have +1 Influence. Earned by party leaders.
- Whip
- On play, your strongest member that already acted may act again. Earned by party whips.
- Gatekeeper
- Enemies can't Lobby; they must Confront a Gatekeeper. Earned by committee chairs.
- Oversight
- On play, deal 2 to an enemy member. Earned by ranking members.
- Institution
- At the start of your turn, +1 Support. Earned by members with 20+ years served.
- Firebrand
- Can act the turn it's played. Earned by first-term members.
- Bipartisan
- On play, +2 Support. Earned by crossovers from the other party.
Members from the other party cost 1 more but gain Bipartisan. Independents can join either side.
Hard mode
In Hard mode every member also has a personal ability, marked with a gavel on the card.
Hover or tap a card to read it. Easy mode ignores abilities.
- When played
- Happens once, as the member takes their seat.
- When this Lobbies or Confronts
- Happens each time the member takes that action.
- When this is unseated
- Happens as the member leaves the floor.
- At the start of your turn
- Happens every turn while the member is on your floor.
- No trigger
- Applies the whole time the member is on your floor.
Action cards
| Card | Cost | Effect |
|---|
| Filibuster | 3 | Opponent gains no Support during their next turn. |
| Cloture | 2 | Remove Filibuster from yourself. Draw 1. |
| Earmark | 2 | +3 Support. |
| Committee Markup | 3 | Give a friendly member +2/+2. |
| Town Hall | 2 | A friendly member that already acted may act again. Draw 1. |
| Media Cycle | 3 | Deal 3 to an enemy member. |
| Primary Challenge | 4 | Unseat an enemy member that costs 3 or less. |
| Veto Threat | 3 | Opponent loses 3 Support. |
| Lobbyist | 3 | Draw 2. |
| Recess | 2 | Enemy members cannot Confront during the opponent's next turn. |
| Reconciliation | 6 | +6 Support. |
| Favor | 0 | Gain 1 Political Capital this turn. |
Limits
- You can hold 10 cards. A card drawn into a full hand is discarded.
- Drawing from an empty deck costs Support: 1 the first time, then 2, then 3, and so on.
- Support never goes below 0.