Political

To become important in society players have to rise in political-social position from laborer to the Secretary General of the ruling political party. The player who reaches this position wins the game.

Each player has 5 pawns and 3 action cards.

The players select an action and reveals it at the same time. The starting player will perform his action and in clockwise order the next players will.

Actions are:
Wahl (Voting): players role dice, winner moves up and takes a Wahl card.
Meuterei (Position challenge): players role dice, winners take higher position.
Beförderung oder Versetzung (Promotion or Relocation/Transfer): move a pawn up to higher position or place a pawn in another position on the same level.

When all positions in the center circle (Politburo) are filled, a vote for the highest function (Secretary General) can take place. The winner of that vote wins the game.

Gang of Four™ is an exciting game of Cunning, Strategy and Power. The game's premise is simple - be the first to rid yourself of all your cards and ascend to supreme power. But beware - a strategic misstep may find you in a struggle to survive.

History
The term, Gang of Four, was first used to describe four powerful radicals in Communist China that rose to power during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and dominated Chinese politics during the early 1970s. Led by Jiang Qing, a former actress and the power-hungry wife of Chairman Mao, the Gang of Four dominated political, economic and cultural life in China for years. One month after Mao's death, they were arrested and jailed, thus ending China's slide into radicalism.

The Gang of Four card game was first conceived during the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution. The game's inventor, Lee Yih, wanted to convey the mystery, intrigue and intense struggle for power that embodied not only China's recent political history - but also its past.
Like the political Gang of Four, the game embodies a never-ending battle for supremacy - where the weak perish and the strong dominate. Good players, like good politicians, must show cunning, flexibility and ruthlessness.

What's in the box?
Gang of Four features a special 64-card deck, illustrated using a traditional Chinese theme, plus 2 rules summary cards to make learning and playing the game easier, a full-color rules booklet, scorepad and a Days of Wonder Web-Card, providing you with access to Gang of Four Online at www.gangoffour.com

Gameplay
All the cards are dealt to the players. The player who was dealt the multi-colored "1" card starts the hand and must use this card on the first play. The players proceed taking turns clockwise and then counterclockwise on subsequent hands. On one's turn one must play the same number of cards but a higher ranked set than the previous player. A player may play more cards if those cards are four or more of a kind. A round continues until all players pass because they can not or choose not to play cards. All cards played are discarded and the winner of the previous round leads. The hand continues until one player has used all the cards in his or her hand. The other players are penalized points on an escalating scale according to the number of cards in their hands. The game is over when one player has scored one hundred and the player with the lowest score wins.

Democracy: Majority Rules is a game of debate, diplomacy and deal-making from Mark Rein•Hagen of Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse fame. Mark has taken his love and study of politics to create a game of power struggles, back door deals, and unscrupulous actions.

You play an activist, a power broker, or the leader of a political party – in any case, someone who organizes campaigns, games the system and wins elections. Your job is to make compromises, yet always stand by your principles, form coalitions yet still achieve your agenda. To succeed you must herd cats, spin facts into a web of deception, and speak truth to power.

Enter a world of mudslinging, dirty tricks and the crooks and liars who manipulate the masses, juke the system and corrupt the true believers in order to throw out the tyrants, make the world a better place, and save us all from ourselves. A canny and calculating political operative, you are battling to take over a country in crisis. The old-line political parties are weak and divided, primed for being taken over from within or pushed out of the way. Your movement has captured the imagination of a small but loyal few and now it's your job to grow it into a national force. The goal is to put your handpicked candidate into high office, lead the country, and put your mark on history.

Democracy: Majority Rules is focused on the retail work of politics at every scale: making friends, forging alliances, outmaneuvering rivals, deceiving enemies, building consensus, selling your point of view, creating a coalition, hiding resentment, feigning weakness, blindsiding foes, and turning doubters into believers. It's all in the game.

While the game plays 3-5, there is a Party Expansion pack that adds extra components, super supporters worth five normal supporters, and enough materials for up to 15 people. Currently, the Party Expansion is available only on the Kickstarter campaign.

From the author:

"Sometimes the history of a nation can be defined by the relationship between two individuals. The Election of 1960 is the story of two men, John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. One is the scion of a wealthy, politically powerful family from New England. The other is the son of a Quaker grocer in Whittier, California. While they belong to opposing political parties, they start out as friends. The complex development of that friendship, however, would shape a pivotal presidential election and cast a long shadow over American history for the remainder of the 20th century.

"In 1960: The Making of the President, you take on the role of one of these great protagonists vying for the right to lead his country into the heart of the Cold War. However, it is not just foreign policy that poses a challenge to American leadership; this is also an era of great social turmoil and progress. As the United States continues to build upon the promise of its founding, candidates must contend with the question of civil rights and balance their positions on social justice against the need for valuable Southern electoral votes. Of course, the ever-present issue of the economy also rears its ugly head, and both Nixon and Kennedy will compete to be the candidate with the voters' pocket books in mind.

"The contest is fought out on an electoral map of the United States as it stood in 1960—a map where Louisiana and Florida share the same number of electoral votes, as do California and Pennsylvania. Using a card-driven game system, all the major events which shaped the campaign are represented: Nixon’s lazy shave, President Eisenhower’s late endorsement, and the 'Catholic question' are all included as specific event cards. The famous televised debates and final election day push are each handled with their own subsystems. Candidates vie to capture each state’s electoral votes using campaign points in the four different regions of the country. At the same time, they must build momentum by dominating the issues of the day and attempt to gain control of the airwaves.

"As with any election campaign, the challenge is to adapt your game plan as the ground shifts out from under you. There are never enough resources or time to do everything, but you need to make the tough calls to propel yourself into the White House. This fast-playing strategy game for two players challenges you to run for the most powerful elective office in the world, at one of its most unique crossroads. Will you recreate history, or rewrite it? 1960: The Making of the President provides you the opportunity to do both."

The first expansion for Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, Pegasus adds two new supplemental game boards featuring the Battlestar Pegasus and the planet New Caprica, seven new characters, two plastic Basestars, as well as new Destination, Crisis, Loyalty, Quorum, Super Crisis, and Skill cards.

The new Pegasus board can be used by itself or together with the New Caprica board to create the game you desire – the Pegasus alone for the additional firepower she provides, or add the New Caprica board to simulate the rebellion on the new human colony, bringing the game to an epic level.

New rules introduce the ability to play as a new character type – the Cylon Leader, with a new Treachery Skill card type.

From the Box:
"On behalf of the officers and crew of the Pegasus, it's a pleasure to see you all. Welcome back to the Colonial Fleet." - Admiral Helena Cain

The arrival of the Battlestar Pegasus heralds a new era in the lives of the Galactica crew and the Colonial government, bringing badly needed manpower and firepower to humanity's ongoing fight against the Cylons. However, under the command of Admiral Cain there is no place for compassion or mercy. Now brutal necessity and hard choices erode humanity's moral compass. The Cylons, in turn, are changing as well. The more they are exposed to humans, the more their individual agendas begin to guide their actions. In a time of suspicion and desperate need, the line between right and wrong grows less and less distinct.

The Pegasus Expansion for Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game brings players the next chapter in the popular Syfy series. In addition to more Destination, Crisis, Super Crisis, Loyalty, and Skill Cards, this expansion introduces many new card types such as Treachery Skill Cards, representing the underhanded methods used to sabotage humanity's struggles. New characters in the expansion allow players to play as Cylon Leaders, who can win or lose based on their own mysterious motivations. New gameboards allow characters to explore both the Pegasus and New Caprica. Finally, with the New Caprica Objective Card and board, humanity will be subjected to Cylon rule, and must defend themselves from their oppressive overlords until Galactica can return to attempt a daring rescue.

"We fight 'em until we can't." - Kara Thrace

Expands:

Battlestar Galactica