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REVIEW
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Hippo Votes FTW
In Zurich in 2015, Simon Haas started a new publishing house (still-relatively unknown today) to make easily accessible games with an educational bent. A typical example of this is the Facts series, which gamified geographical or food facts in the style of Anno Domini, but were graphically unspectacular.
H aas is breaking new ground, though, with the negotiation game Zoocracy. A successful Kickstarter financing campaign brought in the Macedonian graphic artist Mihajlo Dimitrievski, best known for his work for Shem Phillips and his contributions to the success of the West Kingdoms and North
Sea series.
With Zoocracy, Haas offers us an
alien version of politics full of presi- dential and parliamentary elections, along with negotiations to form a government. Players also try to advance their political goals, but those can repeatedly fail thanks to votes of no confidence. Dimi- trievski satirizes everyday political life through anthropomorphic animals, like a drooling crocodile as opposition leader, an over-dec- orated rhino as minister of defense and a lion king as head
of government.
Haas takes this all seriously, thereby
offering a real picture of elections and their
consequences, even though
Zoocracy is set not in Bern, but in a fictional
zoo. The animal democ- racy is turn-based and set to the rhythm of a two-year
legislature. The parties vying for the majority of the animal votes start
with just some of the zoo’s main currency: food tokens (between eight and 20, depending on the number of players). In addition, players are dealt a few action cards to keep up their sleeves and pull out when they need to get out of trouble. Event cards influence the course
of each round and ensure the game ends sometime between the sixth and eighth rounds.
I Two food tokens for the Prime Minister
Things get started with the presiden-
tial election, which eats up the first food tokens. Secret votes held in players’ fists determine who holds this office, which ends up being rather insignificant for everyday business, but nevertheless can be used to achieve political goals. And this is the point, after all: to advance the furthest on the goals achieved track. Who- ever wins the election becomes president and receives an action card in addition to moving a step forward on this track. Since everyone who participates loses half of their food tokens, rounded up, you need to be careful with your bid, but you also can’t give away the presidency too cheaply.
The parliamentary election campaign that follows is more interesting, as zoo animals in their enclosures are bribed with food donations to cast their votes. Winning the majority of the hippopota- muses brings a whopping six votes, while you only get two at the monkey enclosure. At least in the beginning of the game all players are equal when it comes to using
food tokens. With four
players, for example,
each gets five tokens each. They have to be placed carefully, as there are a total of nine enclosures offering up their votes.
A maximum of three food tokens can be placed per turn and per person on an animal species, so the order is of crucial importance. If there is a parliament and a government, the strongest party always starts and the weakest goes last. In addi- tion, cabinet officers get bonuses, which is why the Prime Minister can spend two more food tokens, and the opposition leader can exchange someone else’s food token with his own through “neg- ative campaigning.” Action cards can also be used in this phase, providing extra food tokens or otherwise influenc- ing the number of votes. The food tokens must always be placed in such a way that there’s a clear majority. Anyone who leaves three portions of food with the hip- popotamuses in the first turn will hardly be outspent the first
round in a four-
player game. But
then your oppo-
nents can secure
votes using less
effort in three or
even four other
enclosures. In
the end, the
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