The President

A roll & move style game based on the US Presidential election process. Players move around a large board attempting to win a party nomination, then gain newspaper, TV and radio promotions, then finally win a "majority" of states which is defined as 15 or 20 states depending on the number of players (there are no electoral votes in this game). Most of the play centres on the use of a "percentage" die which is a six sided die with 20%, 30%, 40%, 70%, 80% and 90% printed on it. Nominations and states are won by rolling more than 50% on this die with no other modifiers (i.e. there is always a 50-50 chance of winning or losing a given contest). Every time the die is rolled, the player must stake money to do so, and if a loss occurs the money is lost to the bank or opponent when challenging for an already-owned state. Players have a supply of map markers equal to the number of states they must win (15 or 20) and must leave one of these as a deposit with the bank if they take out a loan; therefore it is impossible to win with loans outstanding but as loans are repaid with interest it is necessary to defeat opponents who challenge for your states and therefore end up paying you the money they stake. Interestingly the game defines the Aleutian Islands as one of the "states" to be won, in addition to the 50 usual states (the District of Columbia is not treated as a state, unlike many similar games).