Gaming the Vote!

When asked about the inspiration for his gameplay model, the creator of President Forever, Anthony Burgoyne, sheepishly admitted he hadn't even looked at other election games. "If anything, President Forever was influenced by strategy games involving conquest of territory, such as Nobunaga's Ambition.

"2000 really woke people up to the fact that the Electoral College is what it's all about," says Wardell. "And once people recognize that, a strategy game that really gets into the mechanics of the different states looks pretty enticing."


Wardell's The Political Machine has its roots in a unique series of games about territorial conquest. The Corporate Machine (nee Entrepreneur), which was the basic model for The Political Machine, was all about controlling locations by capturing the hearts and minds of their populations. In those games, you developed a commercial product like shoes or soda. Then you improved and advertised it to try to acquire the majority market share in a state. From there, it's not too hard to tweak the gameplay for an election. From commercial products to political messages; from market share to voters' ballots; from advertising to... Well, okay, so you don't have to tinker much with the advertising thing. If there's one thing The Political Machine demonstrates, it's that perception is nine-tenths of reality, whether you're talking about toothpaste or the fate of the country.