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votes are counted up to determine parlia- mentary seats.
I Implementing
political goals
After a majority capable of governing
is negotiated, the backroom diplomacy starts. The first proposal belongs to the party with the most votes, and they make offers to potential coalition partners during this phase. Government posts and the advancement of political goals are all up for discussion. In addition to the Prime Minister, the posts of defense minister and finance minister are also awarded. The more crucial question is, however, who can implement the two achievable goals during the short legislature, because that’s the only thing relevant to victory.
After negotiations are complete, if the majority votes in favor of the Cabinet, then the office titles are distributed. If not, negotiations continue. If there’s a narrow majority, the coalition can lose its vote lead through action cards. In this situation, the opposition leader may pro- pose to form a coalition. At the end of each political year, cards are replenished, and the opposition parties each receive two cards, while those involved in the government only get one.
Presidential and parliamentary elec- tions only take place every second round,
while campaigning in the animal enclo- sures takes place every round. In contrast to the starting round, at least ten food tokens decide the majorities in the four- player game starting in the second round. That hippo enclosure with three tokens is no longer safe. Zoocracy typically ends when the End of Game card is revealed under one of the final event cards. The party with the most goals wins.
Zoocracy has its strengths and weak- nesses as a political simulation. The fight for majorities to distribute the seats, which takes place every round, is excit- ingly dealt with. Communications during the coalition negotiations, which take place every other round, are also appeal- ing and yet they also lead to roughly equal results when it comes to achieving goals. If the game was limited to just these parts, I would really like it. Haas, however, introduces too much chaos through the many action and event cards, which can overturn all your careful calcu- lations. This is fine to some extent. We are currently witnessing just how unforesee- able events can have an extreme impact on everyday political and economic life all over the world. For game balance, though, it feels like too much good for- tune if I win simply because certain cab- inet offices, in combination with special action cards, allow me to further advance
my goals. There are two such cards that give almost cer- tain victory towards the end, and there’s no point in pre- tending otherwise.
Regrettably, it is difficult
to work your way up again
if you make an initial mis-
take and get left behind.
The redistribution of food tokens based on the number of seats in the parliament only happens after every second round. If you only get six seats, you have to use them to contest one presidential election and two parliamentary ballots. Without some food tokens in reserve, that’s not going to be enough given the five-chip maximum. The two-action-card subsidy to which the opposition is entitled and the ability to act last are of limited help.
As an interactive negotiation game, Zoocracy works. The tactical phase where players vie for majority control is interest- ing. And everything looks great. It’s clear that Zoocracy has something to offer. There should have been some fine tuning, though, as there are a few things that a professional editor would have tightened here or rounded off there. It would even be worth it now, since Simon Haas’ con- cept provides us with a convincing model of real, everyday politics.
Wieland Herold/sb
Title: Publisher: Designer: Artist: Players: Age: Duration: Price:
Zoocracy
Haas Games
Simon Haas
Mihajlo Dimitrievski 2–6
about 12+ years
about 60–120 minutes about 45 €
Reviewer Playing appeal
Wieland Herold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Matthias Hardel* . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
* Nicely designed and ideally suited as an educational game about parliamen- tarianism. Less appropriate for enter- tainment and certainly not for you if you don’t like negotiation games. There’s no brilliant new idea here. Apart from event cards, there is no variety, and the latter have been more cleverly integrated elsewhere.
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