I’ve been thinking a lot about The Settlers of Catan, and even more about Congress. This evening, while meditating in the shower, I realized that by pairing together the rhetoric of these two games, you just might have an award winning board game. Even better, developing such a game would support job growth within the United States – mostly by employing copyright/trademark lawyers. Whatever.
Think about it, it’s all about resource management, chance, and conniving game play. Thus, with a few adaptations to the game, you too can host a rousing game and rule Congress! Wow. Sham-Wow!
All of the rules for Settlers of Catan apply to Settlers of Congress, with the following exceptions:
Constituents = Road (0 Victory Points)
Settlement = House Of Representatives Seat = Settlement (1 Victory Point)
Senate Seat = City (2 Victory Points)
Legislation Card = Development Card (Variable Victory Points)
- Wall Street = Market (1 Victory Point)
- The Liberal Media = University (1 Victory Point)
- The “Other” Media = Library (1 Victory Point)
- Massive Campaign Contribution = Chapel (1 Victory Point)
- Capitol Building = Palace (1 Victory Point)
- Constituent Building Card = Road Building Card
- In addition to the development cards above, each year an expansion set provides 10 current issues that can affect game play. Examples include, “The The Tea Party Issue”, “The SOPA Issue”, “The War In Afghanistan”, “The Gay Soldier Issue”, “The Recession”, and many, many more. It is even possible to buy historical expansion packs that bring game play back to the 50’s, 20’s, 70’s, and many, many more! Sham-Wow!
Constituency Card = Longest Road (Whoever has the most constituents can hold the Largest Constituency card, worth 2 Victory Points)
Corporation Card = Knight Card (Whoever holds the most Corporation cards can hold the Largest Corporation card, worth 2 Victory Points)
The “Lobbyist” game piece will serve the same function as the “Robber” piece. Every time a seven is rolled, any legislation enacted, no longer produces/modifies resources.
The first person to control Congress wins! Good Luck!