Annotated games: 8 players

This game was played during testing. The player decisions were either derived through reasoning (based on what players should know about the cards) or randomization (if no option seemed better than another). The following formats and abbreviations have been used:

• Goal
• Black: Reformist
• Red: Repressionist
• Gray: Nationalist
• Action: Actions of the turn (Seat, Vote, Purge, Coup)
• Suspects: What the player suspects alone
• Suspected: What is generally suspected about the player

Setup

The game is setup with 3 Reformists, 2 Repressionists and 3 Nationalists. Their goals are very conflicting so a tense game is expected.

Round 1

The players place their seat tokens next to crises corresponding to their goals while also avoiding too early votes. Already the first round offers some clues as Teal, Yellow and Pink choose crises with common resolutions, e.g. both Teal's cards have Economy.

Round 2a

As the players occupy their second seats, some conclusions may be drawn from the common symbols, e.g. both of Green's seats cover Military. Teal sees an opportunity to cover both Military and Economy while also trigger a vote at a crisis which she has no interests in.

Blue and Pink both have the goal Military and since Teal suspects that at least Pink has that goal, she also votes Military. The result is a unanimous vote for Military and all the other players now think that all three have that goal.

Round 2b

Yellow can't avoid triggering a vote and, expecting Blue to vote against Military, decides to test Green's loyalty in the Military/Security crisis. She also covers a strategically important Military/Security crisis. Blue votes Security as expected but both Green and Yellow votes Military so a purge follows. Given the result in the previous crisis, Yellow convinces Green that Blue is the dissident so Blue gets purged and the crisis remains unresolved.

Round 2c

Pink decides to go for Security next and places her Seat token next to two such crises, triggering both of them. At the first vote, Green also votes for Security but Orange votes for Economy. To make things worse, she also blames Pink and gets Green on her side. Pink gets purged and the crisis remains unresolved. This also means that the second crisis is no longer fully occupied.

Round 2d

Orange hesitates. She could claim more seats covering Economy and Security but that would trigger votes and she's not ready to reveal too much of her goals yet, nor to turn them red so early in the game. Instead, she goes for a Military/Security crisis instead, hoping too test Pink's loyalty again (Repressionist or Nationalist?) and purge Green (Reformist?). Pink votes Military together with Orange while Green votes Security. Orange and Pink agrees to bury the hatchet and purge Green.

At this stage, 4 players are suspected Repressionists but only 2 of them really are (Blue and Orange). Unknown to the others, Pink is now pretty sure that Orange is a Repressionist while Orange is pretty sure that Pink is a Nationalist

Round 2e

Brown is now convinced that Green is a Reformist but how about Yellow and Purple? To find out, she occupies a Economy/Security crisis where Yellow and Orange are seated. Orange realizes that a Security will most likely get her purged and decides to vote Economy to keep her seat and spread some confusion. The vote is unanimous and the crisis resolved but Orange may find it difficult to convince her fellow Repressionists that she's not a Nationalist.

Round 2f

Purple now faces a dilemma. Brown, Green and Orange seem to have an understanding and may stage a Coup as soon as possible while none of her goals are fulfilled yet. She decides to hit two birds with one stone by triggering first a Military vote and then a Security vote, which will not only fulfil both her goals but hopefully tempt the Reform faction to stage a Coup with her.

Since Teal also has the goal of Military, the first vote in unanimously resolved in favor of Military and the Military state token is removed since it no longer has a majority. Brown suddenly has two more Reformist candidates; Purple and Teal.

In the second vote, Orange and Blue are happy to vote Security, but since Purple expects this, she goes against her goal and vote Economy. Purple is purged but the crisis remains unresolved - just what Purple wanted.

Round 3a

For the third round, Green and Yellow want to convince Brown that they are the true Reformists and not Teal and Purple while Orange wants to convince Blue that she and not Pink is the true Repressionist.

Green decides to test Purple and Teal at the Military/Economy and then Yellow at the Economy/Military crisis. However, those tests don't tell much, since all the players are interested in reforming the respective departments and both the votes are unanimous.

Round 3b

Blue tries to put Orange and Pink against each other in the Security/Military crisis but they all vote Military so the turn give no further clues.

Round 3c

Teal continues to appear as Reformist by picking crises without any known Repressionists (Security/Military and Military/Security. With that, all state departments are Reformed and Coups possible.

Brown reveals that she's Gorbachev. Since she's still unsure about Purple and Teal, she decides to test them both and names Green, Yellow, Purple and Teal. The Coup fails with 2 fail votes since both Purple and Teal are Nationalists but this is still a good result for the Reformists, since both Purple and Teal can now be suspected to belong to another faction.

Blue decides to to take the risk of a Countercoup, reveals herself as Kryuchkov and names Pink and Orange as Repressionists. The Coup fails with 1 fail vote since Orange is a Nationalist.

Thus two Coups have failed, outing Brown as Gorbachev and Blue as Kryuchkov, and there is still confusion regarding which factions some of the players belong to. The game is still very open...

Round 3d

Yellow is frustrated at the failed Coup and decides to prove her loyalty while also discrediting Teal by picking the two crises Security/Economy. First, Green and Yellow vote for Security and purge the dissident Orange.

Then she proceeds with the next crisis where Yellow declares her intention to vote Security. Teal, realizing that this action may make Yellow more trustworthy than she, declares the same while Blue, unwilling to get purged, also declares the same. However, both Blue and Teal secretly vote Economy and a heated argument follows where each player accuses the other two. The result is that they point out each other so nobody is purged and the crisis remains unresolved. Nevertheless, Teal managed to add confusion and prevent additional Coups so the game continues.

Round 3e

Pink is in a poor situation since there are no crises left to resolve with Military so her only chance of winning is to provoke a failed vote. Thus, she places her seat token at the Economy/Security crisis, not because wants to vote for Security but because that it's her last chance to convince the other players that she's a Repressionist.

Round 3f

Orange takes the last opportunity to get a red Vote at the Economy/Security Crisis and gets both the Blue and the Pink vote. She then tries to get another red Vote at the Security/Economy crisis but as expected she gets voted down and purged by Green and Yellow. However, her actions provoke the Reformists to turn Security black again and give the Repressionists one last chance to stage a Coup.

Round 3g

Brown must have all three State departments reformed to win and is forced to trigger another Vote at the Economy/Security Crisis. Green and Yellow supports her but this isn't enough for Brown to risk everything at a Coup.

Instead, Blue is given the opportunity to stage a Countercoup. Since she doesn't think that Teal is a Repressionist, the only explanation of the previous Coup failure is that either Pink or Orange is lying. She gambles that Orange is lying and stages a Coup with only Pink and herself. Unfortunately this fails too since Orange is on her side while Pink is not.

Round 3h

Purple's only option is to trigger a Vote at the Military/Security Crisis but as expected, Yellow votes for Military and although she gets purged, she does manage to maintain the Security resolution.

Thus, the game ends with all three State Departments and a victory for the Reformists. However, it was a close call. If the Repressionist Coup had succeeded, they would have won. If the Reformists had risked (and failed) a Coup, the Nationalists would have won.

P&P (PDF, A4)	P&P (PDF, US Letter)

Annotated games

• 8 players

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