Puerto Rico vs The Voting Game

The basic game flow of choosing Governor roles each round is easy to grasp, but in its simplicity, it offers much depth. Sometimes choosing between a role which will benefit you at the moment versus a role with the bonus money can make you pause and plan ahead. Perhaps you might even consider taking a role that you know your opponent wants, just to prevent them from getting ahead. This constant analyzing allows for plenty of strategy to take hold even if the game play itself is rather simplistic.

Building new buildings, trading goods, and taking control of the shipping market can offer some intense gameplay. Deciding what role to take each turn for maximum benefit can be exciting - there is a limited supply of everything. Goods take time to produce and there is only limited ships for use in exporting them. If someone else takes the role you wanted that turn and ruins your shipping or trading plans, you'll have to adjust your strategy on the fly. This can result in some pretty exciting gameplay where you're always thinking of multiple paths to victory.

On each round, players go around the table and choose among seven Governor roles such as builder, captain, trader, and more.

Each role has its own special ability and benefit - for example, builders can erect buildings with money and captains can ship goods. At the end of each round, there will always be three or more roles which were not chosen. These roles are given bonus money for the next round in order to encourage players to choose them on the next round. It's a simple mechanic, but being able to try a new role every round ensures you'll have plenty of ways to play out each round.

Additionally, there is a Governor token that is passed to a new player every turn. This token allows you to choose all roles on the round you're in possession of the token. This has to the potential to be a very fun and lucrative turn.

There are several aspects of balance that make the game play out incredibly smooth.

First of all, each role can only be selected by one player per round. No two players can choose Captain on the same round, for example. This means no one player can ever dominate a role since it's likely they won't get to choose that role during the next round. The addition of the tempting bonus money to unused roles from the previous round pretty much means all roles will get used eventually.

Secondly, when you go to ship your goods if you choose the trader role, each ship can only hold one type of good. So if you are focusing on sugar exportation, you won't have to worry about your opponent who is farming something else hogging all the ships.

Lastly, while players go around the table and roles are executed in order, their benefits do not take place until after the round is over. This means even if someone acted before you that round, he or she will not necessarily have the advantage.

While there are intricacies and strategies that are learned over time, the basic premise and simple rules are very easy to teach. Getting your friends into the game is quick and easy, even if they've never played before.

Score chips are placed face down on the table and are worth 1 or 5 points. Only you will know your own score. Even if you know how many chips your opponent has, you won't be able to tell their point total since the chips are worth variable points. This keeps things tense from start to finish.

Time wise, the game never feels dominated by a single player. Everyone gets to choose a role for their turn and there's never any scenario or situation where a player is left out or forced to sit out a round. This makes it a great game for any group or get together.

Players are constantly socializing with each other, be it by laughing along at the questions and results or explaining their choices. This leads to many stories being told throughout the whole game, which can also lead to inside jokes and throwbacks in the next questions, making the game a memorable and fun experience for everyone involved.

The Voting Game is highly replayable because of the large amount of possible house rules and four official expansions.

There are some rules mentioned in the official instructions that can help change up the game, for example, by allowing players to vote for themselves or transforming the game into a drinking game. You’re also free to add your own house rules, change the win condition or just play for fun.

The Voting Game has four unique expansion packs – NSFW, Fill In The Blank, Political, and Create Your Own Expansion. Each of these brings new thematic questions to the table that adds to the replay value and fun. For example, the Create Your Own Expansion lets the players themselves create some unique questions before the game begins, whereas the Fill In The Blank expansion adds question cards with blank spaces that are filled in when it’s your turn.

If you’re playing the game just for fun without a win condition, then players can join or leave as they please without impacting the game too much. It is very easy to deal in another player to a game already in progress once a question is finished. Similarly, if someone has to go, then the game can continue without interruption simply by removing the player’s number from the other player’s hands.

The Voting Game is great for a larger party with a lot of people because it’s made for a maximum of 10 players. This means that usually nobody will be left out of the fun.

The game is very straightforward and easy, making it possible to teach it to anyone in a few sentences. Each player is assigned a number and given a deck of number cards with the same amount of cards as players in the game. Every turn a new question is revealed, for example, “Who would find a way to break out of prison and succeed?” The players then vote for the player who, in their opinion, fits the description. The player that received the most votes gets a point. If it’s a tie, then the reader decides the winner. The first player to get 10 points wins the game.