The objective is to win the Federal election by scoring the most points under the formula

( 10xM + 10xU + P ) x S

M = number of media counters in Bonn
U = number of your party policies matching Bonn Public Opinions
P = number of party bases in Bonn
S = number of votes for your party in Bonn (figured per region)

Plus each player receives a Party Base for each Party Opinion matching a Bonn Opinion as well as cash equal to 10x the number of votes gained in the regional election, plus 100 per party base.

So how do you win a regional election?

( M + U ) x S

M = Mandate from the region card based on number of votes accrued
U = number of party opinions matching the region's opinions
S = number of votes in region (max. 50)

Things you can do to get them:

1. Place wisely initially. You get 15 votes and 9 campaigns to distribute over 4 regions. You can buy more campaigns later (100/cube).
2. Hold a Party Conference. If your policies are out of line with the region or with Federal Public Opinions, use this to change one or two party policies. Or instead use to get three more party bases in Bonn. After the conference, you can garner more bases if your policies are in agreement with the current region. (Limited to one ordinary and two special conferences per game.)
3. Send Politicians to the regions to do various things (costs printed on politician cards).
4. Buy and place Media Tokens (cost 400) in regions. At the end of placement, any player with a plurality of tokens has media control and can exchange an Opinion (unless a x2) from the open Opinion deck. Also this player's Trend Discs cannot be turned downward in this region (proof against smear campaigns and negative polls).
5. Buy campaigns – max 4 per region, max 10 total per region – at cost of 100 each. These later get turned into votes.
6. Buy opinion polls, by auction. This lets you affect Trend Discs. Polls are purchased unseen and the buyer can choose which to make public. Polls specify four Trend Disc actions: a party to turn up twice, a party to turn up once, a party to turn down once and a party to turn down twice. The poll buyer must perform two of these, choosing one from the up category and one from the down category.
7. Assess results in upcoming regions. This is where you can convert some or all campaigns into votes (useful since player with most votes in current region goes first). Formula is

   Votes = C x T x A

   C = number of campaigns
   T = Trend Factor:
   x2 if up
   x1 if horizontal
   x0.5 if down
   A = Agreement Factor, i.e. number of party policies agreeing with region Opinions (ignore if less than 1)

   This is also another way to change regional opinion. If your party has the majority of all votes in a region, you can change one opinion of that region by replacing it with a card from the undecided opinion stack.
8. Request donations. You can improve your finances by asking for handouts. There is a potential however in that you may lose some political bases as a result of public disapproval. Regions (listed in order of size)
   1. Nordrhein-Westfalen 8-13
   2. Bayern 7-12
   3. Niedersachsen 6-11
      Baden-Württemberg 6-11
   4. Hessen 5-10
      Schleswig-Holstein 5-10
   5. Rheinland-Pfalz 4-9
      Saarland 4-9
   6. Berlin 3-8
   7. Hamburg 2-7
   8. Bremen 1-6

Shadow Cabinet Analysis

Cost	Name	S	R	M	P	H	Coalition
2500	Kanzler	10	R	M	+3	-3	K
1500	Parteiboss	10	R	M	+2	-2	K
1000	Fraktionsführer	8	R	M	+1	-1	K
500	Außenminister	8	R	M	+1	–	–
500	Innenminister	8	R	M	–	-1	–
300	Generalsekretär	5	R	M	–	–	–
300	Hinterbänkler	5	R	–	–	–	K

S – a popular speaker. He will bring in the listed number of votes in this region.

R – a debater. He will raise the importance of an issue making this issue twice as important as any other in the region visited. (There can only be x2 region in the game at any one time and this cannot be changed until the region's election is over.)

M – Substitute your Media token for another player's. Pay player 800.

P – Popular speaker who boosts the party image. Turn up your Trend Disc by the specified amount.

H – Smear campaign. Turn down the Trend Disc of another party by the specified amount.
(The higher the Trend Disc, the more votes your campaigns produce.)

K – a coalition builder. If both parties send a K and have at least two policies in common, they may form a coalition. If 3 policies in common, one party can force another into coalition. This means the parties' votes will be treated as one in the regional election.

At the start of play, you must discard two of them. Which?

The Kanzler seems too expensive and how much do you need to turn the Trend Factor anyway? It seems like one can usually buy a poll to get about the same result.

The Fraktionsführer is too expensive for what he provides, i.e. only a +1/-1 change to the Trend Factor and no more votes than the 500 DM guys.

See also ...

• First edition chart
• Second edition Summary
• Notes
• Variant
• Reviews