Pyramid Review
Campaign Secrets
Published by The Game Crafter
Designed by JT Smith
140-card full-color deck; $17.95
For those of you that have not yet noticed, 2004 is an election year. That is, for the position of President of the USA, which, for all of its razzmatazz and hoopla, it is no surprise that it has become the subject of a game or two. Having got through the Primaries, and as we roll towards the election itself, the expected -- and now almost traditional -- Cthulhu for President 2004 from Chaosium has yet to arrive. But in the meantime, The Game Crafter offers us the chance to stand for the highest office ourselves with Campaign Secrets. And that includes anyone ineligible to stand, so with this card game, both Arnold Schwarenegger and myself are in with a chance.
Designed for three to six players, Campaign Secrets is a card game of political satire, in which the candidates battle for the top share of electorate through the Primaries and then onto Election day itself. Along the way, they try to uncover as many of their rivals' dirty little secrets as they can, invariably resort to underhand tricks, and all this while trying keep their own dirty secrets from the eyes of the electorate.
The game consists of 140 cards, which are broken down into a 100-card play deck, 38 score cards, a rules card, and a share card. The latter is not part of the game, but more a piece of advertising, while the score cards are marked with either 1%, 3%, or 5%, and represent a share of the vote. . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: July 9, 2004
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