Bill of Rights
Two hundred years ago the Forefathers wrote the United States of America’s Bill of Rights. They did a pretty good job and the Bill of Rights has served the U.S. well. But what if there was more to the story? Bill of Rights from Bucephalus Games ($29.99) gives you the chance to re-write the document that grants rights to United States citizens. In the game, you will use cards that allow you to take on the role of an activist of a particular ideology and vote on amendments that will better fit your way of life. During the course of the game, you fill up ten slots on the board with amendments and see who comes out ahead in the end.
Bill of Rights has a perfect niche. It is simple enough to teach non-gamers, but it has a deeper strategy for die-hards. The game is fun and should get everyone talking around the table as different bills get proposed, voted on and accepted. Plus, the game scales for up to eight players, so it is a great game to break out at parties or get-togethers.
Bill of Rights comes with a small box full of great sturdy components, a short rulebook, a game board, pawns for each of the ideologies, eight 6-card activist decks, four 40-card Amendment Decks, eight sets of 7 Vote counters, and eight quick-play reference cards. The game supports 3-8 players of ages eight and up, and takes between 20-40 minutes to play. Bill of Rights is part of Bucephalus Games’ Top Ten series and uses rules similar to their Ten Commandments game.
Players start by randomly choosing their Political Ideology – Warmonger, Peacenik, Social Conservative, Economic Conservative, Social Liberal, Economic Liberal, Totalitarian, and Revolutionary. They then randomly select their Activist card that tells them what kind of goals they will be looking for when trying to pass Amendments. These can range anywhere from Soup Kitchen Preacher for the Economic Liberal, which favors The Economic Liberal Amendments and disfavors the Economic Conservative ones, to the Neo-fascist for the Totalitarian Ideology that favors the Totalitarian amendments and disfavors the Revolutionary ones. These Activist cards will make every game goal slightly different, and players keep them secret to keep opponents guessing what their true agendas are.
Players then draw a card from each of the four amendment decks. These decks are weighted, so the common cards are worth fewer points, and the rare cards are worth more points. The more common a card is the more likely it will appeal to everyone, while the rare cards are the ones that you will have the most trouble passing. Each card has a quote on it to add flavor, and instructions that activate when it passes. For example, the “Right to Die” Amendment card is worth four points, appeals to Economic Liberals and Warmongers, and if the Amendment passes the special instructions on the card allow the player with the fewest points to discard their hand and redraw that many cards.
Each round, players draw one Amendment card from any deck and play it in the center of the table, face up. Players can try to convince the others to join their cause during this process. Then each player takes their vote counters, which are equal to the number of players minus one, and puts them on the amendments in the order they favor them. If duplicate Amendments are played, their votes are added together, giving those Amendments a better chance of passing. Amendments that have already been played are discarded. The votes are tallied and the winning Amendment is placed on the board. When all ten slots are taken up, the game ends.
Scoring is straightforward, with the owner of the winning card getting points equal to the vote counter he played on the card (up to one less than the number of players) and the point value of the card. At the end of the game, the players go through each Amendment, and use their Activist cards total their scores. In our above example, the Neo-Fascist scoring the “Right to Die” Amendment would get +0 Points for the Economic Liberal Icon on the card and +2 points for the Warmonger Icon. These points are added to the player’s current score, and the winner is the player with the most points.
If you don’t like the political theme, Bucephalus Games also has The Ten Commandments in their Top Ten Game Series, which uses the same rules system but changes it to a biblical theme. Players vote on commandments that best fit their organizations goals, just like in Bill of Rights.
Bill of Rights is a great start from a fairly new game company. The game is simple and easy to learn and a good gateway for non-gamers. I plan on teaching it to my wife and other non-gamer friends next time we have a party. If you want a great game to this is a good place to start.