COALITION

Version 1.1

© 2006 by David E. Cohen

1.         You control one of fifteen political parties (a “Party”) having seats in the parliament (“Parliament”) of the fictional central European nation of Ruritania.  The object of the game is to gain the most points through forming a parliamentary coalition (a “Government”) possessing a majority of all seats in Parliament (a “Majority Government”) and securing control of government ministries (a “Ministry”) through having your Members of Parliament (an “MP”) named Ministers in the Government.  Though it does not make a difference in play, players may name their Parties as they wish, set forth a platform, communicate and negotiate with other Parties, and in general, act like political leaders would in such a situation (so lying, double crossing and other dishonesty is allowed).

2.         Each of the Ministries to which an MP may be named has a point value, ranging from 25 for the Prime Minister down to 1 for each Minister without Portfolio (“MWP”).  A single MP cannot be named Minister of more than one Ministry, so there is an upper limit to the number of Ministries the smallest Parties can hold.  The point value of each Ministry is shown in the following table, but each Party may secretly give the Constitutional Monarch (the “CM”) the names of four Junior Ministries which will have doubled value (“Special Ministries”) for that Party if it holds that Ministry in the Government being scored by the CM.

                        Ministry (with Abbreviation):                 Point Value:

Prime Minster (PM)                              25

Defense (Def)                                       10                    )

Finance (Fin)                                        10                    ) Senior Ministries

Foreign (For)                                        10                    )

Agriculture (Agr)                                   3                      )

Education and Culture (E/C)                 3                      )

Environment (Env)                                3                      )

Fisheries and Forestry (F/F)                  3                      )

Health and Welfare (H/W)                    3                      )

Information (Inf)                                   3                      ) Junior Ministries

Justice (Jus)                                          3                      )

Mining and Energy (M/E)                     3                      )

Science and Industry (S/I)                     3                      )

Security (Sec)                                       3                      )

Trade and Economy (T/E)                   3                      )

Transportation (Tra)                            3                      )

Without Portfolio 1 (WP1)                    1

Without Portfolio 2 (WP2)                    1

Without Portfolio 3 (WP3)                    1

3.         The CM tabulates each vote of confidence (a “VoC”) called for by a Party, referees disputes, calculates the scores of the Parties, publishes anonymous and/or misleading press releases (all in the CM’s discretion), and makes other rulings, including setting the maximum length of the game.  The CM will tabulate each VoC to determine whether a Government has been formed and set deadlines for votes of the Parties to be received, but will hold a VoC on only one proposed Government at any one time.  Parties may abstain, and any Party not voting by the end of the voting period shall be held by the CM to have abstained.

4.         All Ministries must be assigned to a single MP of a particular Party in any proposed Government, with the exception of each of the three MWP positions.  The three MWPs may be named or not, in the discretion of the Parties forming the proposed Government, but, if named, each MWP must also be assigned to a single MP of a particular Party.

5.         Once a Majority Government has been formed or the maximum game length has been reached, the game is over, and the CM will determine the scores of the coalition members and announce a game winner. If the maximum game length is reached, and no Majority Government has been formed, the most recently formed Government having received a minority of votes cast (a “Minority Government”) will be the Government analyzed by the CM to determine the scores of the players.  If the maximum game length is reached, and no Majority Government or Minority Government has been formed, the proposed government voted down which had received the highest number of affirmative votes during the game (a “Caretaker Government”) will be the Government analyzed by the CM to determine the scores of the players.  If the maximum game length has been reached, and no Majority Government, Minority Government or Caretaker Government has been formed, then the game shall be a draw including all players. When scores are calculated, the point totals will be adjusted for the relative size of each Party, so each point gained by Party A would be divided by 8.2, each point gained by Party B would be divided by 7.5 and so forth.  

6.         There are 615 seats in Parliament, so a Majority Government must have at least 308 MPs.  The number of seats held by each Party is shown in following table:

                        Party:               Number of Seats:

A                      82

B                      75

C                      68

D                      61       

E                      55

F                      49       

G                      43

H                      38

I                       33

J                       28

K                     24

L                      20

M                    16

N                    13

O                    10       

7.         Proposed Governments submitted to the CM for a VoC should be submitted in the following format:

            Ministry:                       Party Controlling Ministry:

PM                             

Def

Fin

For

Agr

E/C

Env

F/F

H/W

Inf

Jus

M/E

S/I

Sec

Tra

WP1 (if named)

WP2 (if named)

WP3 (if named)