Our Buy The Vote review, what we have to say about the quick fire electoral vote bidding game. Strategically use your money (in each round’s secret bidding turn) to outbid your opponents. But watch out for the golden swing states cards that can really alter the game! After Round eight (or when time is up), the candidate with the most electoral votes becomes your party’s nominee. If you and the second highest candidate collect 270 or more electoral votes, the two of you become President and Vice President of the United States.. The game has a simple mechanic at it core but gives you tons of freedom and makes for a great experience.
We took a look across fun, replayability, player interaction, quality and art & style to come up with the overall score for our Buy The Vote review. See the breakdown by category below.
FOR MORE: Buy The Vote Page | How To Play Buy The Vote | Games Like Buy The Vote | Purchase Buy The Vote on Amazon
– CATEGORY BREAKDOWN –
Fun (7 out of 10)
For the fun section of the Buy The Vote review, we award a great 7 out of 10. It is hard to find a game that is both purely one thing and very fun, but this is one. This is a pure secret bidding via resource management game. You have money, things to bid on and nothing else. To keep things interesting it is set against a 15 minute timer. This keeps things tight but also adds tons of chaotic decision making which makes for some crazy themes.
There are eight rounds where state cards come out. These represent all the states in the US and their associated electoral vote counts. California, for example, is worth 55 while a smaller state like Vermont is worth 3 votes. You get infusions of cash at different rounds and behind a shade, you get to put any amount of cash you have on hand on any spots. If you have the highest total when bids are revelead, you get it. That is all, there is pretty much nothing else. But, because there is so much freedom in your choices and so many different ways all the bids could go, this comes out to be a very fun experience.
Replayability (6 out of 10)
For the replayability section of the Buy The Vote review, we award a solid 6 out of 10. The best thing the game has going for it in this area is that games are specifically built to be quick and as an extension chaotic. Given the 15 minute clock and how easy it is to jump in and out of this one, it is very easy to play over and over again.
With any game, however, that is so specific, the novelty will wear off. The fact that such a dramatic mix of cards fall each round makes games play out incredibly different every time, but in the end, you can only become the President of the United States so many times before you are ready to move on.
Player Interaction (6 out of 10)
For the player interaction section of the Buy The Vote review, we award a good 6 out of 10. This is a fight to win and if you get second place, you are going to lose everything. Stakes are high and mind games are necessary. If your opponent can figure you out, they will have a huge advantage. There are so many different approaches you can take, and not just that, knowing when to shift is what is going to separate the players from the champions. You can bid on anything and properties will vary dramatically in value. Do you go for the lower point property because there is less competition or do you go hard to go for the big points? Reading others and making the right decisions is everything.
Everything happens simultaneously. There are no turns where someone is active while the others sit back. Everyone is in the game at all times. When the action is so prevelant all the time, players but heads and really need to get in there to fight for the best stuff. This is a quick fire match and will feel like you have been through war by the time the 15 minute timer ticks to 0.
Quality (8 out of 10)
For the quality section of the Buy The Vote review, we award a fantastic 8 out of 10. The game is incredibly tight and well balanced. For something so simple, it is beautiful, interactive, entertaining, supported by a great theme and will take you through a sea of emotions. For something that only takes 15 minutes, you go through lots of different stages and will experience many twists and turns.
It would have been great to see a box that could hold the tons of different token components the game has, but conversely, this may be one of the most efficiently packed game boxes of all time. You can feel the weight of these quality pieces and they got the aptly sized game package perfectly.
Art & Style (9 out of 10)
For the art & style section of the Buy The Vote review, we award a nearly impossible to bear 9 out of 10. How the theme ties into the gameplay are brilliant. This is a funny social commentary on the US presidential election, saying that votes are basically bought (advertising, data consultants, etc) instead of won. It is cheeky but it is also educational and what’s best is that it is the perfect container for the game it hold. Using a blind auction as the buying base for electoral votes is brilliant.
The game is very well designed. From the use of color, space, typography and design elements, all things are top-notch. The box art is striking, with fantastic elements of gold foil worked in and even things like the money tokens cram in tons of well-placed information and tight design. Clearly, this was all planned and well thought out.
– IN CLOSING –
Buy The Vote Review | Board Game Halv
Buy The Vote is a great pure secret bidding game that is set against the backdrop of a satirical take on the US presidential election. Even though the game is simple and plays very specifically in 15 minutes, there is so much gameplay and fun to be had. This is a well oiled machine with great interaction, design and overall balance. A great example of how to execute a very specific auction game. This has been our Buy The Vote review, we hope you liked it!
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See the full explanation of the judging criteria here.
