Buy the Vote is a 15 minute blind bidding game where candidates win states by spending the most campaign dollars. Players are presidential candidates running for president with the goal of collecting as many electoral votes as possible. At the end of the game, the player with the most electoral votes becomes the presidential nominee and the player with the second most electoral votes become the running mate; together the presidential nominee and the running mate need 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency!
To campaign for states, players will select states to spend their campaign dollars on behind voting booths, and when ready, all bets are revealed. The player that spends the most campaign dollars on the state wins the state's electoral votes. Once that money is spent, win, tie, or lose; that money is gone. Big advertising networks thank you for your campaign dollars.
The game starts when the 15 minute timer begins, and with every new round, time pressure escalates as more states will be up for grabs. Ties on state cards leaves the state card and creates stacks of state cards for rebid in the next round. Swing states let you steal the last won state from other candidates. And every player gets more money as rounds pass plus bonus money as you win more states.
Think you have what it takes to win the presidency in 15 minutes?
—description from Coozies Games
Just because it's a bit of a dark horse, that doesn't mean it's not a winner. Find out if Andrew's review of Buy the Vote! will influence which game you elect...
It isn't a realistic representation of the US elections, but I don't care. It's a perfectly fine 15-minute auction game. Check out our review to learn more.