4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It takes two to tango., 29 Jan 2009
By Konstantin Papushin - Published on Amazon.com
= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Z-man Games 1960 The Making Of The President (Toy)
My 2 kids were constantly whining that they don't have any interesting games to play so I let them choose one game each. My older (11 almost 12) son picked "1960: The Making of The President". It was rated pretty high on boardgamegeek.com. So I took the plunge.
Game's box is bigger than a typical board game (50% longer than the box of "Settlers of Catan") creating potential problems with storage. Neatly packed inside are the rule book, big board representing the US Map, huge pile of red and blue wooden cubes, two wooden pawns for candidates, two white wooden markers to track turns and phases of a turn, big deck of playing cards of two sorts, two cards for candidates, and cardboard markers for states, momentum, and endorsements.
Setting up the board is relatively time consuming but the board is big and despite number of things on the board there is plenty of space to put everything.
Rules need to be read a few times but in the end end of the day they are relatively simple. There are a few issues we didn't resolve and I wish they were explained better in the rule book (does lowest possible place refer to a lowest number as I say or the worst place as my kid and wife think? I used my authority to make it the former but who knows if it's right).
The goal of the game is to win the election. For those unfamiliar with American election system it mean to get more electoral college votes than other player. Each state has a certain number of votes which need to go one way or another. In game terms you need to have wooden markers of your color representing state support on the state marker in the end of the game to get this state's votes. You have multiple means to gain support - campaigning, advertising, playing "events", etc. with one goal to get more points in the end of the game. Some actions have immediate results and some shift momentum or give you advantage later. Remembering what happens during each state of the game is essential to make good choices.
The game is well balanced and choices are very close in value and hard to make but after first play I'd question relative value of different actions and game events but probably we'll figure it out better after playing a few more games. The game is interesting but probably not for young kids because of the theme. I assume if you read text on a card it'll be a good history education for teens and even if you don't it's very good tool for understanding of American political system. The game represents very well flow of presidential campaign, you really feel like a candidate making tough choices.
Overall it's probably not as entertaining and fast paced as Settlers of Catan. But it's faster than Risk, deeper than most games, and it should be a good choice for two (and only two) players.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Complex, Geeky Entertainment, 16 Nov 2010
By A. Free "Addy Free" - Published on Amazon.com
= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Z-man Games 1960 The Making Of The President (Toy)
This game is quite complex and has a very long play time (our first game was five hours long, though I'm told the second game will be much shorter).
The theme of the campaign between Nixon and JFK is right with opportunities and the game takes advantage of those opportunities, giving us the chance to hear a little bit about different events going on during that campaign. Wikipedia was a lot of fun at night after playing the game--reading up on what some of the cards were referring to.
It will be difficult for some people to convince others to play this game, but I think once they have played it, it won't be difficult to get them to play it again sometime.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great game, 4 Aug 2011
By DubCee83 - Published on Amazon.com
= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Z-man Games 1960 The Making Of The President (Toy)
I am a history/political geek. Even I was learning new information about this groundbreaking campaign. Both sides are well balanced which is rare in this genre of games. Great construction. You will want to keep the rulebook handy as it took a few playthroughs to get all the rules figured out. It is not a knock on the rulebook which is well done. Its just there is a lot to recall.