The Makers

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Object
Parties get VPs by winning seats in state elections, coincidence between their Party Platform and National
having influence over the National Media, having Opinion. Game ends after the 7th round.
strong Party Membership, and having a strong
Party Setup – Each party gets the following:

4 Coalition tiles 7 Shadow Cabinet Cards 1 Starting Marker

1 Score Sheet
€25,000 5 Contribution Cards

18 Meeting Markers
5 Party Policy Cards face up redeal any contradictory card
5 Media Markers

9 Party Markers 3 Party Policy Cards in hand deal face down

State Boards Setup

Setup all 4 as shown at the bottom left.
™ Markers: In each state, each party puts: › State Cards: Shuffle the
1 Party Marker on their Popularity Scale 16 State cards, place 1 on
(space 0) each state board, with its
1 Party Marker on the Vote Track (space 0) matching state tile.
1 Meeting Marker on a Meeting space Remaining cards go face
š Public Opinion: Choose a state with a Party down on the Organization
Membership Payout tile space to have the 1st board, along with the
election. Deal 4 Public Opinion cards to it, face remaining state tiles.
up. Replace any which are identical or
contradictory. œ Payout Tile: Put the Party
Give the remaining boards, clockwise: Membership Payout tiles for
1st Board: 3 face up, 1 face down round 1 and round 3 on their
2nd Board: 2 face up, 2 face down spaces on the 1st and 3rd
3rd Board: 1 face up, 3 face down board.
Replace any identical or contradictory.
Put the remaining cards, shuffled, on the
Organization board.

All 4 State Boards National Board Setup

Each party puts a Party Marker on space 5 of the Party
Membership track.

National Media Markers National Opinion Cards

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Organization Board Setup

Tiles: Place the remaining State Tiles, Key Issue Tiles,

No-Coalition Tile, Round 5 Party Membership Payout
Tile on the top left, followed by the State tiles.

Draw Piles: Place the Party Policy cards, Public Opinion

cards, and Opinion Poll cards as face down draw piles in
the center. Put the State cards draw pile in the top right.
Each draw pile has a grayed-out discard area as well.

Exchange Pool: Deal 6 Public Opinion cards face up

along the bottom. Duplicate and identical cards are
allowed within the Exchange Pool – place these on top
of each other but slightly offset so all cards can be seen.

Preliminary Phase (Beginning of game only – then continue to the Election Round Sequence)
The score sheet has 2 columns, each
with 3 or 4 boxes of options. Each
party secretly chooses for free ONE
box of options from each column by
checking its circle, and for each option
in the box, write down the state for
which they want the selected option
(Increase Party Membership does not
correspond to a state). The same state
may be chosen multiple times.

Column 1 Options
Increase Party Popularity +1
Gain Party Meeting Markers
Column 1 Example: This party moves their Party Marker +1 on Bayern’s
Gain Votes Party Popularity scale, places 6 Party Meeting Markers in Hessen, and
moves their Party Marker to 6 on the Bayern board vote track
Column 2 Options Column 2 Example: Party puts 2 of their Media Markers on Berlin board
Gain Media Markers and moves their Party Marker from 5 to 9 on the Party Membership track.
This is the only time in the game when more than 5 Media Markers may be
Increase Party Membership
put into a state.

Election Round Sequence 1. Starting Party Bid

™ Starting Party Bid Procedure: Each party secretly writes an amount of money on
š Party Platform Conference their score sheet. Highest bidder pays their bid to the
› Shadow Cabinet Actions bank and chooses which party is the starting party
œ Form Coalitions this round. Place the starting party’s Starting Marker
 Buy Media Markers on the Organization Board starting party space.
ž Organize Party Meetings If all parties bid zero then each rolls a die – highest
Ÿ Opinion Poll Auctions roll chooses a starting party.
  Convert Party Meeting Markers To Votes
¡ Score Current State (Round 7 ends here) Ties: Tied parties secretly bid again. Each must bid
¢ Collect Money at least as high as previously. If still tied then each
O End Of Round party rolls 1 die – high roll pays their last bid to the
bank and chooses the starting party.
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2. Party Platform Conference
Party Platform: A party’s platform is defined by the 5
Party Policy cards they have face up in front.
Procedure: Beginning with the starting party, then
continuing clockwise, each party may do the following.
™ If Party Policy hand size is less than 3 cards then
draw to 3 from the draw pile.
3. Shadow Cabinet Actions
Procedure: In turn, each party plays up to 4 Shadow
Cabinet cards, each face down next to a state, not
more than 1 card per state per party each round.
After all cards are placed by all parties, turn them all
over; each party pays the card’s cost to the bank.
In turn each party carries out 1 action per card for each
of their cards. Remove played cards from the game.
Coalition Icon: A telephone symbol in the top
right of a card enables a party to join a coalition
in the state – place a coalition tile for that party there.
Shadow Cabinet Card Actions
Move your Party Marker up the Vote Track in the
state by the indicated amount.
Return another party’s Media Marker from the
state to that party and replace it with one of your
own. Pay that party €4,000 and pay the bank €4,000.
4. Form Coalitions
Overview: Coalition partners add their votes together
this election. Coalitions may only be formed in the
current state, only involving 2 parties – though there
may be multiple coalitions. Only parties with a Coalition
Tile on the current state board may join a coalition.
Voluntary: 2 parties may form a voluntary coalition if
at least 2 of their Party Policy cards are identical. Both
parties must agree to form the coalition.
Forced: If at least 3 of their Party Policy cards are
identical then a party may force a coalition on another.
5. Buy Media Markers (Party with plurality in a state may exchange 1 Public Opinion card)
Procedure: In turn, each party may buy a Media
Marker for €4,000 and place it in any state. A party
may pass – this does not prevent them buying a Media
Marker later this phase. Continue until all parties
successively pass. 1 party may continue to buy Media
Markers even if all others have passed.
Max: Each state has 5 Media Marker spaces – once
full no further Media Markers may be placed there.
Media Control: Once all have passed, see if any party
has a plurality of markers in each state (more Media
Markers than any other). Starting with the last state in
line for elections then counterclockwise, a party with
control of the media may exchange 1 face up Public
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š Discard as many cards as desired from the hand.
› Again draw to a hand size of 3.
œ Party may now discard a face up Party Policy card
and replace it face up with a card from their hand.
Coincidence Rating: The number of coinciding Party
Policy cards to Public Opinion cards helps determine
the number of votes obtained in a state.
Move your Party Marker up the Popularity Scale
in the state by the amount indicated. Popularity
may never be greater than +3.
Move another party’s Party Marker down the
Popularity Scale in the state by the indicated
amount. Popularity may never be less than –3. Control
of the media does not protect against this.
Designate 1 issue in the state as a key issue –
put a Key Issue tile on 1 of the state’s face up
Public Opinion cards.
OR
Remove a Key Issue tile in the state, reducing a Public
Opinion card back to a normal issue.
Key Issue: Double the importance of this issue when
converting Meeting Markers to votes. Only 1
Key Issue Tile may be in effect in a state at any
time. An issue with a Key Issue Tile on it can't
be removed until it is reduced to a normal issue.
Procedure: Beginning with the starting party then
continuing clockwise, each party decides if they wish to
request a voluntary coalition or force a coalition on
another. Stack the Coalition Tiles of the 2 coalition
partners together.
A party already in a coalition may not enter into a 2nd,
whether voluntary or forced.
Cleanup: Parties not in a coalition take back their
Coalition Tiles; parties in a coalition leave their tiles
stacked on the Board.
Opinion card in the state with 1 in the Organization
Board’s Exchange Pool that is neither identical nor
contradictory to any face up cards already in the state.
A card with a Key Issue tile may not be exchanged.
Exchange: Take a Public Opinion card from the State
Board, place it in the Exchange Pool, then take a card
from the Exchange Pool and place it in the empty
space on the State Board. Place duplicates within the
Exchange Pool on top of each other but slightly offset.
There will be 6 cards in the Exchange Pool at any time.
Protection Against Opinion Polls: A party who
controls the media in a state is protected against the
negative effects of published opinion polls.
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6. Organize Party Meetings
Procedure: In turn, each party may buy up to 4
Meeting Markers per state, for €1,000 each.
Max: Each state has 10 Meeting Marker spaces per
7. Opinion Poll Auctions
Setup: Deal 1 face down Public Opinion Poll card to
the bottom of each State Board.
Bidding: Starting with the current state, starting party
may initiate bidding on the card or pass. Initial bid may
not be zero. Bidding continues clockwise until all pass
– each party must bid higher than previous bid or pass.
Parties who pass may not bid again for that state. If all
pass then discard the card face down with no effect,
without being revealed. High bidder pays their bid to
the bank – take the Public Opinion Poll card, look at it
and decide whether or not to publish the results.
Publish Poll: A party who publishes the results may
carry out up to 2 of that poll’s results. Move the Party
Markers for affected parties up or down the Popularity
Scale by the amount indicated. A party with a plurality
of Media Markers in a state is immune to negative
Opinion Poll effects there.
Do Not Publish: A party who does not publish rolls 2
8. Convert Party Meeting Markers To Votes (Central Point Of Game!)
Procedure: In each state in turn, starting with the 4th
state then counterclockwise, each party with at least 5
Meeting Markers decides whether to convert these
markers into votes. Starting party decides 1st in each
state, othes follow clockwise. A party may convert
some, none, or all of their markers. Converted markers
return to their party. Stack the Vote marker on top of
any party with the same score – last one scored goes
on top. Don’t convert Meeting Markers in the current
state; this state will be scored later this round anyway. Public Opinion cards is worth 0.
Example
Public Opinion Cards Æ
Party Platform Æ
(Policy Cards)
Minimum Multiplier: A party always receives a
minimum of 1 vote for every 2 Meeting Markers
regardless of how low their Coincidence + Popularity
actually is. Coincidence + Popularity can never go
below 0.5; round down any resulting vote fractions.
Maximum Votes: Any votes above 50 are not
counted. A party with 50 or more votes stays at 50 on
the Vote Track. A party who later also gets 50 or more
votes puts their marker on top of any previous markers
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party – once full a party may not buy any more in that
state. Existing Meeting Markers can be converted into
votes during phase 8.
dice – move its Party Marker up the Party Membership
Track by an amount equal to the dice total.
Example
Publish: Adjust either 1 or 2
party’s trends by the amount
indicated on the top half of the
card for each party.
Do Not Publish: Gain party
membership by an amount equal
to the total of 2 dice.
Cleanup: Put the Public Opinion card face down on
the Organization Board’s Public Opinion card discard
pile. Bidding then proceeds to the next state until all 4
cards have been auctioned off. When the draw pile is
empty, reshuffle the discards to make a new draw pile.
Votes = Meeting Markers x (Coincidence + Popularity)
Popularity Rating: Position on the Popularity Scale,
ranging from +3 to -3.
Coincidence Rating: For every Policy that agrees with
Public Opinion the party earns +1 Coincidence (+2 if
it’s a Key Issue). For each Policy that disagrees the
party earns -1 Coincidence (-2 if it’s a Key Issue). Any
Party Policy card which doesn’t correspond to any
In this example,
Coincidence is
+1, Popularity is
+2, Total = 3.
Red has 8
Meeting Markers
so the total votes
gained are:
3 x 8 = 24 Votes.
on the Vote Track. The last party to reach the 50 space
is the leader of the election.
Cleanup – Public Opinion Exchange: Immediately
following marker conversion in each state, a party with
more votes there than all other parties combined may
exchange 1 face up Public Opinion card there with 1
in the Exchange Pool on the Organization Board that is
neither identical nor contradictory to any face up cards
already in the state.
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9. Score Current State (The Election!)
™ Determine Seats
Beginning with the starting party then clockwise,
convert remaining Meeting Markers (even if less than
5) in the current state into votes as described in phase
8 above.
Votes = Meetings x (Coincidence + Popularity)
Use the State card to convert the number of votes into
seats. Note the number of seats on the back of each
party’s score sheet.
š Decide Election Winner in Current Election party or other coalition. A coalition is allowed a total of
Party with the most votes wins. If more than 1 party more than 50 votes. If a coalition ties with another
ties then the last party to get to that number of votes coalition then the coalition with the highest Party
wins by a nose. If 2 parties have formed a coalition Marker on the Vote Track wins; if 2 or more Party
then add together the votes for both parties. A coalition Markers tie for highest then the party or coalition
wins if it has more combined votes than any single whose Party Marker is on top wins by a nose.
› Election Victory Results In either above case there can never be 2 identical or
Single Party Victory: A single party who won by contradictory opinions on the National Board.
a number of votes (not by a nose) may place 1 Media If all 5 National Opinion spaces are full, the party may
Marker on the National Board. The party must already replace any one of the cards (if not secured) with a
have at least 1 Media Marker on the current state Public Opinion card from the current state. A secured
board – place that marker on the top row of the card can only be replaced by its opposite.
National Board corresponding to the current round.
Single Party Victory – By a Nose: The party may
The party may also move 1 or 2 Public Opinion cards
place 1 Media Marker on the National Board as above.
from the state to the National Board’s National Opinion
They may also move 1 Public Opinion card from the
row, in the 1st free leftmost space(s). Either card may
current state to the National Opinion spaces as above.
be placed on an occupied space, even if open spaces
are available, to Secure or Replace a card, as below. The party that was beaten by a nose may also place 1
Media Marker on the National Board as above, but
1. Secure a card which is already a National Opinion,
may not place a National Opinion card.
making it more difficult to remove. Put a Public
Opinion card from the current state on top of an
Victory By Coalition: Each partner may place 1
identical existing card. A secured National Opinion
Media Marker on the National Board if they had 1 in
card can only be removed by a contradictory Public
the state, and may also move 1 Public Opinion card
Opinion card.
from the state to the National Board as above, starting
2. Replace an existing National Opinion. Put a Public with the party that gained the greater number of votes.
Opinion card from the current state on top of a If both parties had the same number of votes then the
contradictory existing card, even if it is secured. party whose Party Marker is on top places 1st.
Discard the previous National Opinion card(s).
The coalition/party that lost by a nose does nothing.

œ Increase Party Membership

All parties see if any of their Party Policy cards match Example
any National Opinion cards. For each matching card, 1 of the party’s Policy cards
the party moves its Party Marker up the Party matches a National Opinion card.
Membership Track by an amount indicated above the Party moves their Party Marker up
matching National Opinion card. Treat secured the Party Membership track by 2.
opinions as if they are normal opinions in this case.

Nuclear Economic Social Speaker of Finance

Power Development Security the House Minister

Genetic Foreign Affairs Justice

Taxes
Engineering Minister Minister

War On Global Party

Wages Backbencher Chancellor
Terrorism Whip
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10. Collect Money (not on round 7)
Seats Gained Payout: Party receives €1,000 for each Party Membership Payout (Rounds 1, 3 and 5 only):
seat just gained in the current election. Parties receive €1,000 for each national party member.

11. End Of Round (not on round 7)

™ Setup For Next Round
1. Discard all cards on the current State Board.
Reset all markers to their starting positions.
2. Draw the top State card from the Organization
Board, place it on the cleared State Board along
with its corresponding State Tile.
3. Deal 4 new Public Opinion cards to the cleared
board, 1 face up and 3 face down.
4. Each of the other 3 State Boards now has one
more Public Opinion card turned face up. If this
results in identical/contradictory opinions then put
the last turned over card on the bottom of the deck
and deal a new one. Each face up card must be a
different issue.
The board with 4 face up Public Opinion cards is now
the current state, the board with 1 face up is last.
Special Cases
End of Round 1: After setup, place the Round 5 Party
Membership Pay Out tile on its State Board.
End of Round 3: When dealing new Public Opinions
to the prior State Board, deal 2 face up and 2 face
down. Put the No Coalition Tile on its Coalition space
(no coalitions may be formed in the 7th and final round).
End of Rounds 4, 5 and 6: After the current State is
cleared, remove its board from the game. Continue
with step 4 above for each of the next State Boards.
End of Round 6: Round 7 is very short. Immediately
after setup, proceed to phase 9, Score Current State,
for the final election.

š Outside Contributions (end of Round 1 – 5) Face Down: Each party in turn turns over their card
Each party in turn places 1 of their Contribution cards and rolls the amount of dice shown on the declined
in front of themselves – face up if intending to accept contribution amount – increase the Party Membership
the contribution; face down if intending to refuse it. Track Marker by the total amount on the dice. The
decliner of the largest contribution may roll 3 more dice
Face Up: Each party in turn takes the amount of
and increase their Party Membership by the total, in
money shown on the card from the bank. Roll the
addition to the increase already received. No one gets
amount of dice shown below the contribution amount –
this bonus if the highest declined contributions are tied.
reduce the Party Membership Track Marker by the
largest single number showing on the dice. Remove used Party Contribution cards from the game.
12. End Of Game – Final Score Sheet Scoring
™ Total Seats š National Media Rating › Party Membership
Enter the total Enter the sum of points for any Enter total Party Membership as shown on
number of seats National Board Media Markers, the National Board at the end of round 7.
won over 7 state given in the silver star. Later œ Bonus: Highest Party Membership gets
elections here. round Media Markers may score +10, party with 2nd highest gets +6. Any who
less than those placed earlier. tie get 16 points divided evenly among them
(rounded down), all others get nothing. Any
parties who tie for 2nd highest get nothing.

 Party Platform & National Opinion Coincidence

Each of a party’s Party Policy cards
that coincides with a National Opinion
card earns the points given in the silver
star below the National card.
ž Bonus: Earn +5 bonus points for
each coinciding card that is secured.

Ÿ Total Score
Sum all points and enter the total in the last row.
The Party with the highest total wins the game!
Author: Karl-Heinz Schmiel
Publisher: Valley Games, 2006
Players: 3–5
Duration: 4+ hours
Transcriber: Chris Conboy (Liumas)