There’s a lot of overhaul and attention that we wanted to give to this iteration of The Political Machine series. From updating the art to modernizing issues, we’ve also made it a goal to innovate what we could do with the mechanics of game to keep things fresh and interesting. This brings us to one of the new systems we’ve introduced: the Political Action Card system or PACs for short!
Why did we name them PACs? If the abbreviation looks familiar, it’s because it is - PACs in terms of the US general election are called Political Action Committees. Overall, they play a significant role in the U.S. electoral process by mobilizing financial resources and amplifying the voices of various interest groups, shaping the political landscape and impacting policy decisions.
During the initial design documentation and discussion of the game, we figured out the “PAC” pun and applied it to Political Action Cards and Political Capital. Especially with the dev team’s enjoyment of other card games, we were excited to figure out a way we could iterate on systems like operatives and ideologies and combine them into a unique game design mechanic our players can enjoy.
We first started introducing a set of common cards to revive the functionality of previous iterations of operatives and reintroduce systems like endorsements:
For example, in my playthrough as Trump against Biden, I wanted to win Michigan, so I made sure to play an Intimidator card so my Biden’s building giving adjacent enthusiasm from Ohio gets cancelled out on and added an ad on top of that to ensure I’m gaining more than my opponent per turn.
Doing so I managed to flip the state back to neutral polling in a shorter time.
Finally we wanted to have cards that could modify your effectiveness in state actions as well as introduce card stealing, and raise issue importance. With this basis we started to create decks based on the ideologies and started to make unique cards that set them apart thematically based on what the ideology stands for:
For example, in my playthrough as Biden against Trump, I saw Trump play his America First Rally Arizona, which if it triggers will let Trump talk on issues he has a high score in, increasing his chances to win.
Luckily I had a Maverick Reformer in my hand that gets rid of all effects from a target state. Once I played it in Arizona, I had a sigh of relief.
A con of this new system is that the player no longer has the convenience of being able to get rid of in-state effects buy just buying a Fixer - it’s by chance that you’re able to have at least one removal-type card in your hand. However the pro in turn it gives the players more interesting decision making - if I have a removal card in my hand, do I spend the one card that erases that effect, or do I save it for something more drastic? I know that an America First Rally is a more expensive card, so do I go all in with my own effects while my opponent doesn’t have political capital to counter me?
With the playtest now out, we are looking to improve the system and with your help by giving feedback. For those who have played and have done so already, we want to say thanks - know that we are heavily considering your feedback in our improvement process. Please look forward to the ability to view your deck in detail as well as content updates for new cards and decks to play with in future updates!
